LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 Dr. J. Ross Stevenson 
 
 CO 
 
 TY 
 
THE SUPREME GOSPEL ^" 
 
 A Study of The Epistle to the Hebrews 
 
 BY / 
 
 HUGH THOMSON KERR, D.D. 
 
 THE WOMANS PRESS 
 
 600 LEXINGTON AVENUE 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 1918 
 
CopjTight, 1918, by 
 
 National Board of the 
 
 YoTJNQ Women's Christian Associations 
 
 OF THE United States of America 
 
\ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Study I j 
 
 Study II 21 
 
 Study III 4g 
 
 Study IV gg 
 
 Study V 87 
 
 Study VI 104 
 
 Study VII ng 
 
 Study VIII 138 
 
 Study IX 161 
 
 Study X I79 
 
THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 STUDY I 
 
 PROLEGOMENA 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews has been called "The 
 First Apology of the Christian Church." An apology 
 is a defense or vindication of that for which one con- 
 tends. The writer is the first Christian Apologist, 
 presenting the claims of the Christian religion to be 
 the complete and final revelation of God. This Epis- 
 tle preserves for us the first reasoned argument for 
 the truth of the Gospel. It calls itself "the word of 
 exhortation" (13:22). It was written to strengthen 
 wavering Jewish Christians who were in danger of 
 returning to their former faith. 
 
 I. The Theme of the Epistle 
 
 Memory Verses : 12 :l-2 
 
 "Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed 
 about with so gi*eat a cloud of witnesses, lay aside 
 every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
 
2 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 us, and let us run with patience the race that is set be- 
 fore us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter 
 of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him 
 endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat 
 down at the right hand of the throne of God." 
 
 The theme of the Epistle is the finality of the 
 Christian religion. Christianity is the supreme re- 
 ligion. In the setting of a musical symphony through 
 all the complexity of the music there runs the 
 familiar strain of a constantly recurring theme. The 
 theme dominates the music and binds all the parts 
 into an harmonious unity. It is so with the Epistle 
 to the Hebrews. The language is majestically and 
 grandly eloquent, and the argiTment flows on with 
 cumulative intensity, but always through the complex 
 and intricate thought there runs the simplicity of the 
 theme. The notes of the theme are struck again and 
 again. The theme is the supremacy of Jesus Christ. 
 After the introduction has gathered itself up into a 
 triumphant appeal the author proclaims his message : 
 "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly 
 calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our 
 confession, even Jesus" (3:1). When the argument 
 draws to its inevitable conclusion there is his fine 
 finish: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to- 
 day, yea and for ever" (13 :8). This note dominates 
 the thought of the book. Jesus is supreme. This is 
 the recurring theme in the music. He is appointed 
 
PROLEGOMENA 3 
 
 heir of all things, the very effulgence of God's glory 
 (1:3). 
 
 Jesus is supreme. All else is secondary. The 
 words "better than," "more excellent," are the key 
 notes in the theme. Jesus is "better than" the angels 
 (1:4) and his is a "more excellent" name (1:4). 
 Jesus brings men to a "better hope" (7:19), even as 
 He is "the surety of a better covenant" (7 :22). His 
 is "a ministry the more excellent" (8:6), and He is 
 also the "mediator of a better covenant" (8:6), the 
 offerer of a "better sacrifice" (9:23). In Jesus a 
 "better country" (11:16) is promised, and a "better 
 resurrection" assured (11 :35). The Epistle is one of 
 the most eloquent arguments in literature, and the 
 theme of the entire argument is Jesus. 
 
 Suggestion: Select references from the Epistle 
 that bear upon the theme. Relate the theme to the 
 words of the wonderful hymn attributed to Bernard 
 of Clairvaux (11th century), "Jesus the very thought 
 of Thee." 
 
 The theme of the hymn and of the Epistle are the 
 same. 
 
 II. The Purpose of the Epistle 
 
 Memory Vekses: 4:14-16 
 
 "Having then a great high priest, who hath 
 passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, 
 
4 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 let us hold fast our confession. For we have not 
 a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling 
 of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all 
 points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let 
 us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne 
 of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find 
 grace to help us in time of need." 
 
 Why was this Epistle written? We seek the an- 
 swer from the message which the book contains. The 
 author calls it "the word of exhortation" (13:22). 
 
 The people to whom the Epistle was addressed 
 were Hebrew Christians. Christ had been a reality 
 to them. They are addressed as "holy brethren" 
 (3:1). The "good tidings" had been preached to 
 them (4:2). They had been "enlightened" and had 
 "tasted of the heavenly gift," and had been "par- 
 takers of the Holy Spirit," and "tasted the good word 
 of God" and "the powers of the age to come" (6:4^ 
 5). They are u rged to "press on unto perfection" 
 (6:1), and are commended for their work and the 
 love which they showed "toward his name, in that 
 they ministered unto the saints, and still do minis- 
 ter" (6:10). Altogether their record has been com- 
 mendable. 
 
 Danger, however, threatened them. They had 
 endured a great "conflict of sufferings," had en- 
 dured "reproaches and afflictions/' and had taken 
 even "joyfully the spoiling of their possessions" (10 : 
 
PROLEGOMENA 5 
 
 32-34). But now they were in danger of losing 
 heart, and even in danger of "falling away from the 
 living God" (3 :12). The hope of the second coming 
 of Christ in which they trusted was being unduly de- 
 layed (10:35-38). 
 
 The writer fears they will "drift away" (2:1) 
 and "harden their heart" through "disobedience" 
 (4:7). He urges them not to refuse "God's call" 
 (12:25) lest they should "crucify to themselves the 
 Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" 
 (6:6). His admonition frequently reiterated is 
 "hold fast your confidence unto the end." 
 
 The reason assigned for this grievous state of af- 
 fairs is very evident. Their Chri stijm life had suf- 
 fered arrested development. They had ceased to 
 ".g row in grace." They should have become teachers 
 of others but were still in the kindergarten being 
 taught the first principles of the faith (5:12; 6:1). 
 Consequently they had lost interest in religion (2 :3 ; 
 6:12). They had become suspicious and critical of 
 their leaders (13:17), and a worldly spirit was 
 crowding out the Spirit of Christ (12:16). The 
 danger was imminent and the warnings were oppor- 
 tune. 
 
 T he situation here describ ed is the commonest of 
 all religious situations. Dr. Andrew Murray is 
 quite within fhe truth ^wHen he says that the con- 
 dition of these early Christians was very much what 
 
6 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 has been the story of almost every church. It is the 
 story of religious awakening, of difficult and danger- 
 ous conditions, of temptation ajjd trial, of neglect 
 and indifference, of the world being "too much with 
 us," of having trodden under foot the Son of God, 
 and having "done despite unto the Spirit of grace" 
 (10:29). For such a condition there is only one 
 safeguard, and it is found in the message of this 
 Epistle. "Having^Jhen a great high priest, who 
 hath pass ed thro ugh the heavens, Jesus^the Son 
 of God, let us hold fast our confession." 
 
 Suggestion: Tabulate the charges which the au- 
 thor makes. Kelate these charges to the words of 
 the ancient Litany: "That it may please thee to 
 strengthen such as do stand; and to comfort and 
 help the weak-hearted; and to raise up them who 
 fall; and finally to beat down Satan under our 
 feet; we beeseech thee to hear us, good Lord." 
 
 III. The Argument of the Epistle 
 
 Memory Verses: 13:20-21 
 
 "Now the God of peace, who brought again from 
 the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the 
 blood of the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, 
 make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, 
 working in us that which is well-pleasing in his 
 sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory 
 for ever and ever." 
 
PROLEGOMENA 7 
 
 The author is writing to Jewish Christians who 
 are in danger of falling away from the faith of 
 Christ. They are like ships at sea tossed by the 
 storms of persecution and religious doubt, and he 
 bids them lay hold again on Christ as the very 
 anchor of their souls (6:19). 
 
 His argument is simplicity itself, and he goes 
 on unhindered to his great conclusion. Cling to 
 Christ, he says. Hold Him fast. He is the final 
 revelation of God's own character, the effulgence 
 of his glory, and the very image of his substance 
 (1:3). All things head up in Christ. "Jesus Christ 
 is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and forever" 
 (13:8). Cling to Him. The world changes. Phi- 
 losophies change. JN^ations come and go. He abides. 
 It is a message for such a time as that through which 
 we ourselves are now living. In Him the things 
 that cannot be shaken remain (12:27). Jesus has 
 opened the way to God. He is the "new and living 
 way" (10:20). The final test of all religion is its 
 ability to bring us into the immediate presence of 
 God. "Jesus/' in the words of Dr. Bruce, "obtains 
 for us free, unrestricted, access to God." Wesley's 
 words are interpretive of the author's thought. 
 
 "Thou, O Christ, art all I want, 
 More than all in Thee I find." 
 
 Writing to Hebrew Christians versed in the Ian- 
 
8 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 guage of the Old Testament, the argument is set 
 in the mold of Jewish thought. It will he our pur- 
 pose to see the reality in the symbolism. Christianity 
 has supplanted Judaism by transforming and com- 
 pletely fulfilling it. Judaism was the shadow ; Chris- 
 tianity is the substance. Judaism was temporary; 
 Christianity is the abiding. Judaism was the ma- 
 terial; Christianity is the spiritual. Judaism was 
 the dream; Christianity is the reality. Judaism 
 was old and ready to vanish away (8:13); Chris- 
 tianity is a kingdom that cannot be shaken (12:28). 
 This contrast is reiterated. The law of the Old 
 Testament made nothing perfect (7:19), but Jesus 
 became "the surety of a better covenant" (7:22). 
 Christianity belongs to the age to come (6:5) which 
 has no reference to time but to the eternal realities 
 of the spirit. Religion is interpreted in terms of 
 a covenant relation. A covenant is a bond of 
 fellowship. Judaism is the old covenant or fel- 
 lowship, but Christ is the "mediator of a better 
 covenant — a better fellowship" (7:22). The old 
 was mediated by angels, but the new by God's own 
 Son (1:2). The old was inaugurated by weak and 
 imperfect men, such as Moses and Joshua, who prom- 
 ised the people rest but could never secure it for 
 them (3:11), but Jesus brings his people into the 
 very presence of God Himself (9:24). The priest- 
 hood of the old covenant was a changing, dying 
 
PKOLEGOMEN^A 9 
 
 priesthood, but Jesus "because He abideth forever 
 hath his priesthood unchangeable" (7:23-24). Ho 
 holds authority "after the power of an endless life" 
 (7:16). The tabernacle with its holy place was 
 built by human hands, but "Christ entered not into 
 a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the 
 true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before 
 the face of God for us" (9:24). The ancient sacri- 
 fices were of the "blood of bulls and goats" and could 
 never take away sin (10:4), but once at the end 
 of the ages hath Christ been manifest to put away 
 sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Through his sacri- 
 fice we, his brethren, may with "boldness enter 
 into the holy place (God's presence) by the blood 
 of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for us, 
 a new and living way" (10 :19-20). The end of true 
 religion is to bring men to God. Because Christ 
 does this, his Gospel is God's final revelation and 
 meets man's last need. 
 
 "This hath He done and shall we not adore Him? 
 This shall He do and can we still despair? 
 Come let us quickly fling ourselves before Him, 
 Cast at his feet the burden of our care." 
 
 Suggestion : Consider carefully what is involved 
 in speaking of Christianity as the final religion. If 
 you could truthfully say of Christ, "All I need in 
 
10 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Thee I find," would that prove the finality of the 
 
 Gospel ? 
 
 IV. The First Readers of the Epistle 
 
 Memory Veeses : 10 :24-25 
 
 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto 
 love and good works; not forsaking our own as- 
 sembling together, as the custom of some is, but 
 exhorting one another ; and so much the more, as ye 
 see the day drawing nigh." 
 
 The title of the Epistle in the Authorized Version 
 is "The Epistle of Paul, the Apostle, to the He- 
 brews." The title in the Revised Version is "To 
 the Hebrews." The Revised Version of course is 
 right. Who, then, were the Hebrews to whom this 
 Epistle was written ? The superscription of the 
 Authorized Version is "Written to the Hebrews from 
 Italy by Timothy." There is no superscription in 
 the Revised Version, and again it is right. 
 
 The reference, "They of Italy salute you" (13 :24) 
 may mean Italians in Italy, or Italians away from 
 Italy, and so we are left to search for the destina- 
 tion of the Epistle and the condition of the readers 
 from other references. 
 
 Where did these Jewish Christians live to whom 
 this important message was sent ? The conditions to 
 be fulfilled are found in the Epistle. These Jewish 
 
PROLEGOMENA 11 
 
 Christians had not received the Gospel from Christ 
 Himself, but from his immediate disciples (2:4). 
 This one fact would make it impossible for Jerusa- 
 lem to be the destination of the Epistle, for the 
 Christians of Jerusalem received the Gospel from 
 Christ Himself. They belonged, however, to the 
 first generation of Christians although their first 
 leaders had passed into the great beyond. In chap- 
 ter 10 :32-39, the former condition of the readers 
 is graphically pointed out. They had been happy- 
 hearted Christians until persecution and suffering 
 had worn out their patience and shadowed their 
 faith. They had, however, "not yet resisted unto 
 blood, striving against sin" (12:5). This passage 
 may refer to martyrdom, or be a metaphor, sug- 
 gesting the last limit of endurance. If it referred 
 to martyrdom then it would be difficult to consider 
 Rome as the destination, for there martyrdom was 
 early experienced and glorified. On the other hand 
 it is difficult to understand why the author should 
 send the salutations of those "of Italy" if the Epistle 
 had no connection with Italy, and if with Italy, then 
 with Rome. The readers are advised to keep up 
 their church worship, not "forsaking our own as- 
 sembling together, as the custom of some is" (10: 
 25), and the suggestion has been made that this 
 reference is to the habit of forsaking their ovna 
 church for other churches in the same city. The 
 
12 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 reference would then be to a single Jewish Christian 
 congregation in a large city. Rome more than 
 any other city meets the condition. There were 
 Jewish colonies there. Persecution and suffering 
 were common among the Jewish Christians of Rome. 
 The reference to Timothy (13:23) would be under- 
 stood. Certain it is that the first reference we find 
 to the Epistle is in Rome, and in Rome also we find, 
 as Dr. Davidson has said, "the consistent denial there 
 of its Pauline authorship." 
 
 SuGGESTioisr : Select passages which show clearly 
 that the writer knew intimately the people to whom 
 he was writing and identified himself with them. 
 JSTote the constant appeal, "Let us fear" (4:1), "Let 
 us give diligence" (4:11), "Let us hold fast" (4:14), 
 "Let us draw near" (4:16), "Let us consider" 
 (10:24). Are we best able to help those with whose 
 situations we are most familiar? 
 
 V. The Author and Date of the Epistle 
 
 Memory Verses: 4:14—16 
 
 "Having then a great high priest, who hath passed 
 through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us 
 hold fast our confession. For we have not a high 
 priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities ; but one that hath been in all points tempt- 
 ed like as we are, yet without sin. Let us there- 
 
PROLEGOMENA 13 
 
 fore draw near with boldness unto the throne of 
 grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find 
 grace to help us in time of need." 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews is anonymous. We 
 do not know and probably shall never know who 
 wrote the most eloquent and most fascinating book 
 in the New Testament. The words which Dr. Da- 
 vidson has used concerning the authorship of the 
 book of Job have been applied to this Epis- 
 tle. "There are some minds that cannot put up with 
 uncertainty, and are under the necessity of deluding 
 themselves into quietude by fixing on some known 
 name. There are others to whom it is a comfort 
 to think that in this omniscient age a few things 
 still remain mysterious. Uncertainty is to them 
 more suggestive than exact knowledge. No litera- 
 ture has so many great anonymous works as that 
 of Israel. The religious life of this people was at 
 certain periods very intense, and at these periods 
 the spiritual energy of the nation expressed itself 
 almost impersonally, through men who forgot them- 
 selves and were speedily forgotten in name by oth- 
 ers." 
 
 Attempts, however, to discover the authorship have 
 not been wanting. The first evidence we have of the 
 existence of the Epistle is about 95 A.D. in the 
 letter of Clement of Rome to the church in Corinth, 
 but no reference to the author is made. In the 
 
14 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Koman church it was not until the time of Jerome 
 and Augustine (4th century) that the name of Paul 
 was connected with the authorship. In the North 
 African churches, Tertullian, 220 A.D., assigned the 
 authorship of the Epistle to Barnabas. At Alex- 
 andria the authorship was early ascribed to Paul 
 with the explanation, however, that some other hand 
 than Paul's gave it to us in its present form. Origen, 
 of the third century, usually ascribes the Epistle to 
 Paul, with the suggestion that the thought is Paul's, 
 but that some other hand put it into its present form. 
 He says, "If I gave my opinion, I should say that 
 the thoughts are those of the Apostle, but the phras- 
 ing and composition are those of some one who re- 
 membered what the teacher had said. If then any 
 church holds this Epistle to be Paul's, let it be 
 commended for this. For not without reason have 
 our predecessors handed it down as Paul's. But 
 who wrote the Epistle, in truth, God knows. The 
 account that has reached us is, that some say it was 
 written by Clement who became Bishop of the Ro- 
 mans, while others ascribed it to Luke, the author 
 of the Gospel and Acts." 
 
 Why the name of Paul became associated with 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews is difficult to determine. 
 It is probable that the Jewish atmosphere of the 
 Epistle had much to do with it. The translation 
 of the Old Version of 10:34 had doubtless some- 
 
PEOLEGOMENA 15 
 
 tiling to do with it, wliere, instead of the reading, 
 "Ye had compassion on them that were in honds," 
 the words read, "Ye had compassion of me in my 
 bonds." The mention of Timothy also at the close 
 of the Epistle would naturally associate the writing 
 with Paul. The reason, however, may have been 
 that in the early history of the canon the book had 
 to come into its place under the cloak of an Apostle, 
 and was early associated with the Epistles of Paul. 
 
 But it is generally conceded that the book could 
 not have been written by Paul. Paul always au- 
 thenticated his Epistles. The book has more sus- 
 tained eloquence than is characteristic of the writ- 
 ing of Paul. Expressions and points of view are 
 different. It has been pointed out that whereas 
 Paul frequently used the words "Christ Jesus," oc- 
 curring as it does ninety times in his Epistles, that 
 expression is entirely absent in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. Apart from these reasons it would seem 
 as if the reference in 2 :3 is conclusive against the 
 suggestion that Paul is the author. Paul did not 
 receive his gospel from man, but from Christ Him- 
 self, and the note which Paul was always striking 
 concerning the gospel in its relation to the Gentile 
 •world is absent from this Epistle. 
 
 In regard to the authorship. Dr. Davidson says, 
 "Conjectures have multiplied, but no new facts have 
 emerged." Luther suggested the name of Apollos 
 
16 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 as the author, and many have been drawn to his 
 suggestion. Apollos was eloquent and trained in the 
 thought of the Apostle Paul. In recent years the 
 names of Aquila and Priscilla have been mentioned, 
 as well as Luke, whose language in certain respects 
 reminds one of Hebrews, but the authorship still re- 
 mains in obscurity, and it may be that it never can be 
 solved. 
 
 Concerning the date a few words will suffice. Jeru- 
 salem was destroyed A.D. 70. From the wording of 
 10 :1 in which the author speaks of "the same sacri- 
 fices year by year, which they offer continually," 
 it would seem as if those sacrifices were still going 
 on when the author wrote. This would date the 
 Epistle before A.D. 70. In 12:27 we have the sug- 
 gestive words, "And this word, Yet once more, sig- 
 nifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, 
 as of things that have been made, that those things 
 which are not shaken may remain." It would seem 
 as if the end of the Jewish economy were imminent. 
 Clement of Eome referred to the Epistle A.D. 90. 
 This is the earliest reference to it which we possess. 
 The Epistle should therefore be dated somewh^e 
 between the death of Paul and A.D. 90. It is more 
 frequently dated between the years 62 and 67. 
 
 Suggestion" : Would you consider the question of 
 authorship to be one of importance? Does the fact 
 
PROLEGOMENA 17 
 
 that the hymn, ''Come, Thou Almighty King" is 
 anonymous, take from it anything of value or power ? 
 In what way would the knowledge of the authorship 
 be helpful to us in the study of the Epistle ? 
 
 VI. The Outline of the Epistle 
 
 Memory Verses : 10 :35-36 
 
 "Cast not away therefore your boldness, which 
 hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need 
 of patience, that, having done the will of God, ye 
 may receive the promise." 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews divides itself naturally 
 into two parts . The second part begins at chapter 
 10, verse 19. The first part is mainly concerned 
 with doctrine, although after each doctrinal advance 
 there is a short practical exhortation. The second 
 part concerns itself altogether with practical exhor- 
 tation and warning. The outline suggested for study 
 in this text-book is here given. 
 
 Subject: The Supreme Gospel 
 
 Study I. — The Supreme Gospel — Prolegomena. 
 
 PART I: THE ARGUMENT (1:1 to 10:18) 
 
 Study II. — The Supreme Revelation (1:1 to 2:18). 
 The First Arjniment. 
 
18 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Study III. The Supreme Kedemption (3:1 to 
 
 4:13). The Second Argument. 
 Study IV. The Supreme Fellowship (4:14 to 
 
 6:20). The Third Argument. 
 Study V. The Supreme Personality (7:1-28). The 
 
 Third Argument (continued). 
 Study VL The Supreme Ministry (8:1 to 9:14). 
 
 The Third Argument (continued). 
 Study VIL The Supreme Sacrifice (9 :15 to 10 :18). 
 
 The Third Argument (concluded). 
 
 PAKT II: THE EXHORTATIO:^' 
 
 (10:19 to 13:25) 
 
 Study VIII. The Supreme Reality (10:19 to 
 
 11:40). 
 Study IX. The Supreme Culture (12 :l-29). 
 Study X. The Supreme Challenge (13:1-25). 
 
 Suggestion : Eead the entire Epistle through at 
 one sitting with this outline in mind. 
 
 VII. The Supreme Gospel 
 
 Questions and Conclusions 
 
 1. What is meant by calling the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, "The First Apology for Christianity"? 
 
 2. What is the theme of the Epistle ? 
 
 3. Is the purpose of the Epistle to prove an ar- 
 gument or to influence conduct ? 
 
PKOLEGOMENA 19 
 
 4. In this Epistle what relation does Christianity 
 bear to Judaism? Does Christianity bear a sim- 
 ilar relation to other religions ? 
 
 5. What were the circumstances and moral con- 
 ditions of those to whom this Epistle was first sent? 
 
 6. Give reasons for holding that the author of 
 the Epistle was not Paul. 
 
 7. How do you determine the approximate date 
 of the Epistle? 
 
 8. Give in outline the analysis of the Epistle 
 followed in this text-book. 
 
 Reference Books 
 
 Text: The Revised Version of the Bible. This is 
 essential and by following it many explanations 
 of the Authorized Version are rendered unneces- 
 sary. Moffatt's "A Xew Translation of the New 
 Testament," will be found suggestive and help- 
 ful. 
 
 Commentaries: A. B. Davidson, "The Epistle to the 
 
 Hebrews," Scribner (T. & T. Clark), $1.10. 
 
 A. S. Peake, "The Epistle to the Hebrews," The 
 
 !N'ew Century Bible, Henry Frowde, 90 cents. 
 
 Hastings Bible Dictionary, article, "Epistle to 
 
 the Hebrews." 
 
 Suggestions to Students 
 1. The first thing necessary to obtain a grasp of 
 
20 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 the Epistle is to become familiar with the Epistle 
 itself. Read it -until its words and messages are your 
 own. 
 
 2. The wording of many of the truths of the 
 Epistle are in the language of the Old Testament. 
 Words are symbols. Endeavor always to find the 
 reality behind the symbol. 
 
 3. Hide away in memory the great central verses 
 of the Epistle. Such memory work will aid both 
 diction and devotion. 
 
 4. Lift your thought occasionally from the way 
 in which the Epistle expresses a truth to the way 
 in which Jesus and the Apostles express the same 
 truth. 
 
 Praper 
 
 O Lord, Thy word endures amid the changes of 
 time. Its message abides because Christ abides. He 
 is the same yesterday, to-day, yea. He will be the 
 same forever. As a face through a lattice may we 
 see Him who was revealed to these first century 
 Christians, and may He who was their Leader bring 
 us into the abiding fellowship of the Father. Amen. 
 
STUDY II 
 THE SUPREME REVELATION 
 1:1—2:18 
 
 The first of three great sections into which the 
 argument of the Epistle is divided covers chapters 1 
 and 2. The second section, chapter 3 to the 13th 
 verse of chapter 4. The third section, from chapter 
 4, verse 14, to verse 18 of chapter 10. The first 
 section contrasts and compares Jesus as the only 
 revealer of God, with the revelation given through 
 angels and prophets. 
 
 The Epistle starts without introduction and pre- 
 sents Jesus as the supreme revelation of God. He 
 is "the effulgence of his glory, and the very image 
 of his substance" (1:3). The revelation of God, 
 in Him, is final and complete. All previous revela- 
 tion was piecemeal and fragmentary (1:2). Even 
 the angels were merely servants commissioned by 
 God to mediate his message to man. Christ alone 
 unveils the face of the Father. Compare II Cor. 
 4:16. 
 
 The purpose of this argument, as of all other ar- 
 
22 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 guments in the Epistle, is practical. Keeping in 
 mind the mental and spiritual condition of the first 
 readers, we shall be able to understand the urgency 
 of both warning and exhortation. The argument is 
 to the effect that if the revelation of God in Jesus 
 is supreme and final, the result will be disastrous 
 to those who, possessing this final and complete rev- 
 elation, "drift away" (2:1) from it and fall back 
 upon that which is incomplete, and which finds its 
 very fulfilment in Jesus. 
 
 Suggestion: Eead carefully chapters 1 and 2, 
 and note the important differences between the Re- 
 vised and the Authorized Versions. 
 
 1. The Fact of Revelation (1 :l-2) 
 
 Memory Veeses: 1:1-2 
 
 "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers 
 in the prophets by divers portions and in divers 
 manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto 
 us in a Son." 
 
 The first four verses of the Epistle are among the 
 most important in the whole Bible. A proper under- 
 standing of these will save Bible students many per- 
 plexities. The first three sections of this first study 
 will be given to the interpretation of these significant 
 verses. 
 
THE SUPKEME EEVELATION^ 23 
 
 Tlie outstanding fact of the Christian religion is 
 stated in the words, "God hath spoken." "There is 
 one striking difference between Christianity and the 
 other religions/' says Professor Glover in "The Je- 
 sus of History/' "in that the others start with the 
 idea that God is known. Christians do not so start." 
 Christianity is a revealed religion. Men have not 
 discovered God. God has disclosed Himself to men. 
 
 While it is true that humanity has always been 
 searching after God, it is equally true that God has 
 been searching for man, and the most fundamental 
 fact about the Gospel is that it discloses God. The 
 great Gospel fact is that God is a Seeker. The 
 words of Pascal are far reaching: "Thou wouldst 
 not now be seeking Him if thou hadst not already 
 been found of Him." 
 
 No man cometh unto God the Father save through 
 Jesus (John 14:6). The cry of the centuries has 
 ever been, "O that I knew where I might find Him" 
 (Job 23:3), and the accompanying answer has been 
 constantly repeated, "Canst thou by searching find 
 out God?" (Job 11:7-9). Across the page of his- 
 tory it is clearly declared that the knowledge of God 
 has come through God's imveiling of Himself; 
 through revelation, not through evolution. 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews begins by asserting 
 this great fact. "God hath spoken." The author 
 
24 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 takes for granted that the revelation of the Old Tes- 
 tament is all of a piece with that of the New Testa- 
 ment. The same God who spoke through the proph- 
 ets speaks also through the Son. The assertion of 
 the Psalmist, "The God of Jacob is our refuge" 
 (Psalm 46:7), is true for the children of God, 
 through all the centuries. Perhaps, in the Epistle, 
 this idea accounts for the frequent mention of God 
 as "the living God." 
 
 The fact of revelation takes for granted two great 
 ^ fundamental truths — the personality of God and the 
 y personality of man. If God is a true personality, 
 then He has not only the power but also the desire 
 to reveal Himself. Personality is the pledge of 
 revelation and revelation is the proof of personality. 
 All personality is self-revealing. By action and by 
 word, personality lifts the veil from its own face. 
 On the other hand, revelation involves a power of 
 receptivity on the part of man. It involves the ca- 
 pacity on man's part for fellowship and communion 
 with God, and the reception and comprehension of 
 the revelation. We understand God for the same rea- 
 son that we understand those who speak our language. 
 We are like Him. We are made in his image, after 
 his likeness. This likeness in life and spirit makes 
 possible the fact of revelation on God's part, and 
 the life of fellowship and prayer on man's part. 
 
THE SUPREME REVELATION 25 
 
 "Speak to Him thou for He hears, 
 And spirit with Spirit may meet ; 
 Closer is He than breathing, 
 
 And nearer than hands and feet." 
 
 Suggestion : The Epistle frequently refers to 
 Revelation as a "speaking" of God (2:2-3; 3:5; 
 4:8; 12:25). Thus it comes about that the Revela- 
 tion of God is called the Word of God (4:12; 6:5; 
 13:7). What God "speaks" men should "hear" 
 (2 :1 ; 3 :7, 16 ; 4 :2,7). Let us make this our prayer, 
 "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth" (I Sam. 
 3:9). 
 
 II. The Progress of Revelation (1:1-2) 
 
 Memory Verses: 1:1-2 
 
 "God, having of old time spoken unto the fa- 
 thers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers 
 manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto 
 us in a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, 
 through whom also he made the worlds." 
 
 The Epistle to the Hebrews claims that the rev- 
 elation of the Old Testament and that of the ]^ew 
 Testament are one revelation. The same God who 
 "spoke" in the Old Testament "speaks" also in the 
 New. There is, however, an essential difference be- 
 tween the two revelations. The Old is incomplete 
 
26 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 without the New. What is suggested in the Old is 
 fulfilled in the New. God began to speak forth his 
 message in times past, and concluded that message 
 in Christ, the eternal Word, the Word made flesh. 
 Christ is the completion of the revelation of God 
 carried on through the centuries. 
 
 This fact of progress involves the inadequacy of 
 the Old Testament revelation. In as far as it has 
 not been completed it is imperfect. Only in Jesus 
 does God perfectly disclose Himself, and only in 
 the New Testament do we find God's last word on 
 religion and morals. We will not expect to find 
 in the Old Testament the full developed doctrines of 
 grace revealed to us in the cross of Christ. What 
 we shall find there will be prophetic and suggestive 
 of better things to come. It is not enough to jus- 
 tify conduct by an appeal to Old Testament ethics. 
 Conduct, individual, social, and national, must be 
 judged in the presence of Jesus. 
 
 These truths are finely developed in these first 
 verses of the Epistle. The verses are balanced and 
 suggest far-reaching comparisons. The comparison 
 is fourfold. 
 
 1. In times past — in these last days. 
 
 2. TJnto the fathers — unto us. 
 
 3. In the prophets — in a Son. 
 
 4. Having spoken by divers portions and in divers 
 manners — ^hath spoken (once for all). 
 
THE SUPREME REVELATION" 27 
 
 We shall examine briefly each of these suggestive 
 comparisons. 
 
 1. The first comparison relates to the time ele- 
 ment. It is important to recog-nize that centuries 
 have elapsed since God first spoke to man, and in 
 Christ the same God still speaks. The revelation of 
 the Old Testament and that of the New recognize 
 the same fountain head. To the author of the Epis- 
 tle there are only two time periods, "the time past" 
 and "these days," the past and the present, the old 
 and the new. The one period belongs to the history 
 of the Old Testament, the other to that of the New 
 Testament. 
 
 2. The second comparison has to do with the re- 
 cipients of the revelation. The old was given unto 
 "the fathers," the new, "unto us." The fathers are 
 the Hebrew ancestors, for the Epistle is written to 
 Hebrews. The period represented covers the whole 
 of the Old Testament dispensation, while the period 
 represented by "unto us" relates to the definite his- 
 torical manifestation of Christ in the days of his 
 flesh. 
 
 3. The third comparison is highly important. It 
 is rather a contrast. The revelation in times past 
 was given unto men "through the prophets." The 
 final revelation was given "in a Son," who is the 
 very effulgence of his glory, the express image of 
 his person. It is necessary to understand what the 
 
28 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Bible means by "prophet." A prophet is one who 
 speaks for another. Aaron was Moses' prophet (Ex. 
 7:1). The prophet in the interpretation of the Old 
 Testament is one who speaks for God. Moses ex- 
 pressed the wish that all the Lord's people were 
 prophets (ISTum. 11:29). The prophet speaks for 
 God. He is God's mouthpiece, God's spokesman. 
 His mission is to report what he hears. He is a 
 forth-teller. The idea of foretelling is secondary. 
 Indeed, he is a fore-teller because he is a forth- 
 teller. The revelation of the Old Testament was 
 given through prophets who reported what they 
 heard. On the other hand, the revelation of the E"ew 
 Testament came through the Son. "Last of all He 
 sent a Son" (Matt. 21:37). Christ, then, is the 
 last and greatest of the prophets. 
 
 4. The fourth comparison deals with the method 
 of revelation. In times past God spoke "by divers 
 portions and in divers manners," or as it has been 
 translated "in various parts and in many forms." 
 The revelation of the Old Testament was piecemeal 
 and fragmentary. While the verse suggests the 
 "rich and varied fulness" of the Old Testament rev- 
 elation, it also suggests the idea of incompleteness 
 and inadequacy. The revelation in the past was 
 given only in part and in portions and could not 
 therefore be complete. ISTo one prophet completely 
 sets forth the Gospel. The revelation through the 
 
THE SUPREME EEVELATION" 20 
 
 prophets was given in many forms, in parable, in 
 psalm, in vision, in dream, in history, in miracle, in 
 human life. God employed, as it were, many lan- 
 guages in his endeavor to teach Himself. The rev- 
 elation in Christ, however, was final. Christ, Him- 
 self, was the Word made flesh (John 1:14). He 
 that hath seen Christ hath seen God (John 14:0). 
 The idea of progressive revelation is fundamental 
 to the proper understanding of this Epistle. It is 
 the principle of interpretation which the author ap- 
 plies to the great doctrines of the Gospel. The same 
 principle was set forth by Jesus. In the Sermon on 
 the Mount, again and again Jesus says, "Ye have 
 heard that it was said to them of old time . . . but 
 I say unto you," etc. (Matt. 5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43). 
 The Bible contains the story of "God's gradual edu- 
 cation of humanity." It contains many syllables 
 which, together, spell out one complete word, Jesus. 
 "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" 
 ''Eev. 10:10). 
 
 "God, who at sundry times in manners many 
 Spake to the fathers and is speaking still, 
 Eager to find if ever or if any 
 
 Souls will obey and hearken to his will ; 
 
 Who that one moment has the least descried Him, 
 Dimly and faintly, hidden and afar, 
 
 Doth not despise all excellence beside Him, 
 
 Pleasures and powers that are not and that are.'^ 
 
30 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Suggestion: The Bible begins with the words, 
 "In the beginning God." The Epistle to the He- 
 trews begins with the word "God." The same God 
 reveals his presence through all the centuries. His- 
 tory is God's story. 
 
 "0 God, the Rock of Ages, 
 
 Who evermore hast been, 
 What time the tempest rages. 
 
 Our dwelling place serene: 
 Before thy first creations, 
 
 O Lord, the same as now, 
 To endless generations 
 
 The everlasting Thou! 
 
 III. The Perfect Revelation (1:3-14) 
 
 Memory Vekse : 1 :3 
 
 *'Who, being the effulgence of his glory, and the 
 very image of his substance, and upholding all things 
 hj the word of his power, when he had made puri- 
 fication of sins, sat down on the right hand of the 
 Majesty on high." 
 
 The final revelation of God is found in Jesus 
 Christ. Whatever new light breaks forth from the 
 Word of God comes from the light of his face. He 
 is the reality of which all other revelation was but 
 the prophecy. This is the teaching of all Scrip- 
 
THE SUPREME REVELATION 31 
 
 tiire. It was the teaching of Jesus Himself (John 
 1:18; 4:26; 6:51; 8:12). It was the heart of the 
 teaching of the Apostles (II Cor. 4:6). It is the 
 consistent theme of the Christian hymnal. 
 
 ''No mortal can with Him compare, 
 Among the sons of men; 
 Fairer is He than all the fair 
 That fill the heavenly train." 
 
 Jesus is God's last and final word to men. The 
 great war has brought the ethics of Jesus out into 
 bold relief. The word "spoken" carries the sugges- 
 tion of finality. In Jesus, God has spoken, once 
 and for all, as the Greek word signifies. It is evi- 
 dent that this must be so on account of the character 
 v>f Jesus Himself. He is not a prophet. He is a 
 Son. His message is not by means of human words, 
 but by means of a perfect human life. 
 
 The author has shown how He surpasses the Old 
 Testament prophets, and now introduces the compari- 
 son with the angels. It is hard for us to realize 
 any difficulty in giving to Jesus a place superior 
 to the angels. We are not greatly interested in angels. 
 With the Hebrew people it was different — altogether 
 different. They not only believed in angels but held 
 the doctrine that the law was mediated to men 
 through angels. The word was spoken by angels 
 (Heb. 2:2). Paul asserts that the law was ordained 
 
S2 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 through angels (Gal. 3:19), and Stephen spoke of 
 the law which the Jews had not kept as "ordained 
 by angels" (Acts 7:53). The Hebrew literature is 
 full of angels. "No choir of angels sings God's 
 praises twice, for each day God creates new hosts 
 which sing his praises and then vanish into the 
 stream of fire from under the throne of his glory 
 whence they came." In our day it is customary to 
 compare Jesus with Buddha, with Confucius, with 
 Mohammed; to the Hebrews the comparison with 
 angels was doubly important and tenfold more real. 
 1. In the first place (1 :2-4) the author asserts 
 that Jesus has "a more excellent name" than the 
 angels. They are only ministering spirits (1:14). 
 He is the "heir of all things" (1:2). They are the 
 servants. He is the Son. In words of stirring elo- 
 quence he outlines the character of the Son. (a) 
 He is the supreme Lord, "the heir of all things," 
 for He sits on the throne of the majesty on high. (&) 
 He precedes and antedates all angels, for through 
 Him God made the worlds. He is the pre-existent 
 one. (c) He is the very effulgence of God's glory, 
 and the very image, the very character, of God's 
 nature. To see Jesus is to see God. (d) He is the 
 conquering hero. He holds in his hands the victory. 
 He holds his place because of moral achievement. 
 After he had made purification for sins and gained 
 the victory, He took his place on the throne. He 
 
THE SUPREME REVELATION 33 
 
 is not only the revealer, He is the redeemer. This 
 note sounded here will be heard clearer in the next 
 study. 
 
 2. In the second place, the author brings evidence 
 to support his claim that Jesus is the perfect re- 
 vealer of God. He appeals to the Old Testament, 
 the last authority of these first readers. In the pas- 
 sage 1:5-14, there are seven Old Testament refer- 
 ences and quotations. The angels are only messen- 
 gers, servants (1:14). They belong to another order 
 than does Jesus. He belongs to the spiritual order. 
 They belong to the natural. To-day they take the 
 form of wind, and to-morrow the form of a flame 
 of fire (1-^). The angels are worshippers, and the 
 object of their worship is the Son (1:6). He be- 
 longs to the moral order and is the Lord, the giver 
 of life (1:8-13). The angels are the Son's servants 
 sent forth to minister to those who shall partake 
 of the salvation which Christ, the Son, has achieved. 
 Salvation then is the end to which the movement of 
 history tends. Revelation is complete when it is- 
 sues in redemption. Christ is the only revealer, be- 
 cause He is the only redeemer. He alone brings men 
 to God. 
 
 If the Gospel cannot meet the needs of men, put- 
 ting an end to war as it put an end to slavery, then 
 some new Gospel will be born out of the necessity 
 
34 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 of the race. But the Gospel meets every need of 
 life and in the end will triumph. 
 
 Suggestion : The author of Hebrews quotes from 
 at least nine of the Psalms: Psalm 2 (1:5; 
 5:5); 8 (2:6); 22 (2:11); 40 (10:5); (1:8); 95 
 (3:7; 4:3, 7); 102 (1:10); 104 (1:7); 110 (1:13; 
 5:6; 7:17, 21). 
 
 While asserting the supremacy of the ISTew Testa- 
 ment revelation the author appeals to the Old Tes- 
 tament as also authoritative. 
 
 "The New is in the Old contained, 
 The Old is in the New retained ; 
 The New is in the Old concealed, 
 The Old is in the New revealed; 
 The New is in the Old enfolded. 
 The Old is in the New unfolded." 
 
 — Augustine. 
 
 IV. The Neglected Revelation (2:1-4) 
 
 Memoky Vekse : 2:3 
 
 "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great sal- 
 vation ; which having at the first been spoken through 
 the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard." 
 
 The argument of the first chapter is suddenly ar- 
 rested to give place to admonition and warning. It 
 is important to keep in mind that the primary pur- 
 
THE SUPKEME KEVELATION^ 35 
 
 pose of the author is not controversy but comfort. 
 He calls his letter a "word of exhortation" (13:22). 
 This is his method. Whenever he has proceeded far 
 enough with his argument to gain a hearing he al- 
 ways permits the argument to give place to exhorta- 
 tion. After each presentation of doctrine comes a 
 ringing call to duty. The section, 2:1-4, is the first 
 practical exhortation. 
 
 The exhortation is based upon a very simple ar- 
 gument. The law of God, given to the fathers, 
 through angels, was stedfast and every transgres- 
 sion received its just reward (2:2). There was no 
 escape. The "just recompense" never failed. If, 
 then, instead of the word spoken by angels, we have 
 the word of Christ, which offers to men "a gTeat 
 salvation," the word not of prophet or angel, but 
 of God's own Son, not a word of law, but a word 
 of grace, "how shall we escape if we neglect so great 
 salvation ?" The author pleads for concentration of 
 heart. He calls for the giving of "earnest heed" 
 lest his readers "drift away" from the saving truth 
 of Christ. If those who disobeyed the incomplete 
 revelation did not escape, how can we escape if we 
 neglect the perfect revelation which comes as the 
 offer of a great redemption ! 
 
 The greatness of this salvation is set forth in a 
 threefold appeal. 
 
 1. It has been spoken by the Lord. Jesus be- 
 
36 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 cause of his moral victory and the -winiiiiig of salva- 
 tion for men, is called "the Lord." This name is 
 used elsewhere in the Epistle (1:10; 7:14; 13:20). 
 
 2. The word spoken has been "confirmed." Those 
 who had taught them the Gospel — their first teach- 
 ers — had not only been eye-witnesses of his majesty, 
 receiving the truth from the lips of Jesus Himself, 
 but had also borne personal testimony to the power 
 of the Gospel in their own lives. Their first teach- 
 ers had not only seen Jesus, but had for themselves 
 proved the power of his Gospel. Notice that this 
 statement is evidence against the Pauline authorship 
 of the Epistle. Paul claimed to be an eye-witness. 
 
 3. The Gospel itself had been confirmed to these 
 Hebrew^ Christians by signs and wonders, and with 
 divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit (2:4). 
 These signs, wonders, miracles, gifts, sum up the 
 supernatural spiritual manifestations of power which 
 accompanied the Gospel, in the church of the first 
 readers of this Epistle. The exacting conditions of 
 life under which these Hebrew Christians were liv- 
 ing, and the imminent danger they were in of drift- 
 ing away from the truth of the Gospel, made this 
 admonition peculiarly pertinent. The idea of drift- 
 ing suggests the gradual moving away from the firm 
 anchorage of the faith. The admonition belongs to 
 the Church of all time. It becomes all Christians 
 to beware lest the hardship, the monotony of life. 
 
THE SUPEEME EEVELATION 37 
 
 the hostility of the world, or our own sense of fail- 
 ure, lead us to drift away from the safe anchorage 
 of the great salvation. The same warning has value 
 for us in these days when the faith of many is ready 
 to fail. 
 
 Suggestion: "To neglect is not to fail to at- 
 tend when first presented for belief, but to lose in- 
 terest in and decline from after having first known 
 it" (Davidson). Apply this principle to your own 
 life, and the condition of the Church of to-day. 
 
 V. Revelation and Redemption (2:5-9) 
 
 Memory Vekse : 2 :9 
 
 "But we behold him who hath been made a little 
 lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the 
 suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, 
 that by the grace of God he should taste death for 
 every man." 
 
 The author in 2 :3 has spoken of the "great salva- 
 tion." This salvation in verse 5 is spoken of as "the 
 world to come." This phrase is one of the keys to 
 the interpretation of the Epistle. "The world to 
 come," has no reference in the writer's mind to time. 
 Indeed "the world to come" is already here. It 
 came with the coming of Christ. By the phrase 
 the aiTthor means what Jesus meant by "the King- 
 
38 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 dom of God." It is the world of righteousness, joy 
 and peace in the Holy Spirit. It is the realm where 
 God is near and known and where the things of the 
 Spirit are the real things. "The world to come" 
 is the same as salvation. The marginal reading of 
 ,the Eevised Version "the inhabited earth" will rath- 
 er mislead than help. 
 
 In this world to come, this salvation, this King- 
 dom of God, the angels have no authority. They are 
 merely servants to help bring in this great redemp- 
 tion, but they neither initiate nor participate in the 
 redemption. 
 
 Salvation belongs to humanity. "The world to 
 come" is to be inherited by man. This truth is clear- 
 ly set forth in the Old Testament, and to that 
 authority the author makes his appeal knowing that 
 it is the court of last resort for the Christians to 
 whom he writes. His exposition of the eighth Psalra 
 is one of the finest interpretations of a portion of 
 the Bible we have. For a little while, the Psalm 
 asserts, man has been subordinated to the angels. 
 In reality, however, God has crowned humanity with 
 glory and honor, and put all things, nature and law 
 and angels, under his feet. Man is called to su- 
 premacy, and redemption demands lordship over the 
 world. It is a fine tribute to the dignity and des- 
 tiny of humanity, and to the hope that somehow 
 progress is an assured fact. 
 
THE SUPEEME EEVELATION" 39 
 
 This ideal, however, is not yet realized. "We 
 see not yet all things subjected to Him" (2 :8). Man 
 is still subject to the powers of this world. He is 
 driven by the forces of nature, and is the subject, 
 and not the lord of creation as he ought to be. 
 Looking upon Millet's painting, "The Man with the 
 Hoe," Edwin Markham gave expression to what we 
 have all thought : 
 
 "Is this the thing the Lord God made and gave 
 To have dominion over land and sea, 
 To trace the stars, to search the heavens for power. 
 To feel the passion of eternity ?" 
 
 Has God's plan then for man's salvation, for his 
 coronation, been frustrated? No. We see Jesus. 
 "We behold Him who hath been made a little lower 
 than the angels" and when we behold Him, He is 
 "crowned with glory and honor" (2:9). One man 
 at least — Jesus — has attained unto the goal. He has\ 
 attained to the "world to come" and brought in the 
 great redemption. He is "the highest, holiest man- 
 hood." Jesus is the world's liberator. He is the 
 hope of a world at war with itself. 
 
 And this is the important thing concerning his 
 attainment — he has attained, not for Himself alone, 
 but for all the race, of which He is a part. By 
 the grace of God He has tasted death for every man. 
 "Jesus does not come out of the race of man. He 
 
40 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 came Into it" (Davidson). "He is the strong swim- 
 mer who carries the rope ashore and so not only 
 secures his own position but makes rescue for all 
 who will follow" (Marcus Dods). His victory is a 
 personal, moral achievement, but it is also "our best 
 race asset." 
 
 Suggestion: The test of revelation is ethical. 
 Does it issue in redemption? "To know God" in 
 the New Testament is always ethical. Select pas- 
 sages from the New Testament bearing upon this 
 thought, and relate it to the phrase of F. W. Rob- 
 ertson, "Obedience, an organ of knowledge." 
 
 VI. The Perfect Salvation (2:10-18) 
 
 Memory Verse: 2:10 
 
 "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and 
 through whom are all things, in bringing many sons 
 unto glory, to make the author of their salvation 
 perfect through sufferings." 
 
 Jesus is the great revealer and the great redeemer. 
 He is the "captain of salvation," the leader of all 
 those who come into the knowledge and love of God. 
 He tasted death for every man. 
 
 The author in the concluding verses of this first 
 division of his argument (chapters 1 and 2) shows 
 how Jesus attained to his supremacy. It was a 
 
THE SUPEEME EEVELATION" 41 
 
 moral victory. "He was made perfect through suf- 
 fering" (2:10). It is necessary to understand the 
 author's use of the word "perfect," which frequently 
 occurs in the Epistle. To make perfect in the He- 
 brew sense is to make fit for the end in view. The 
 end in view may, or may not, involve a moral ele- 
 ment. When it is said Jesus was made perfect 
 through suffering, it is not to be inferred that be- 
 fore He suffered he was morally imperfect. The 
 expression means that through suffering Jesus was 
 fitted to fill the mission in life which He was seek- 
 ing. To miss this special meaning of the word per- 
 fect is to be drawn into limitless confusion. Be- 
 cause Jesus suffered He thereby became a faithful 
 high priest, a true redeemer, a sympathetic helper 
 for all who like Him are tempted. The temptation 
 spoken of is the temptation that comes because of 
 a life of suffering, of conflict, just such as these 
 Hebrew Christians were experiencing. Through his 
 death Jesus perfected the redemption which God 
 sought to effect for man. The attainment to the 
 position of leadership in the spiritual world involved 
 for Jesus, the Son of God, an ethical struggle with . 
 its consequent doubt and temptation. 
 
 Jesus, however, is not an isolated sufferer. He 
 trusted in God to the very limit of life and his vic- 
 tory of faith is a racial victory. Jesus belongs to 
 the race. This is the meaning of the great Christian 
 
42 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 doctrine of the Incarnation. Jesus mingled his life 
 with the life of the world. He is the Comrade in 
 White who leads on to victory. He also is a sharer 
 in "flesh and blood" (2:14). He took upon Him- 
 self the seed of Abraham (2:16). He was of Jew- 
 ish nationality. He is not ashamed to call the chil- 
 dren of men "brethren," for He and they are "all 
 of one" (2:11). He, too, being tempted has lived 
 a life of faith — faith unto the uttermost, and in 
 life's darkest hour upon the cross He confessed to 
 the statement, "I will put my trust in Him" (2 :13). 
 What is tru»e of Him may be true of all the race, 
 for through identification with Him, by faith, man 
 may become partaker of the great redemption. 
 
 Therefore, Jesus is the author and captain, the 
 leader of salvation (2:10). He not only attains for 
 Himself, but for all who follow Him. 
 
 This redemption is spoken of as possessing a 
 threefold significance: 
 
 1. He, the redeemer, gives forgiveness. He makes 
 "reconciliation for the sins of the people" (2:17). 
 Before He ascends the throne. He makes "purifica- 
 tion of sins" (1:3). 
 
 2. He gives freedom. He saves from the fear of 
 death. He tasted death for every man, and took 
 the sting from it. In his death faith triumphed, 
 and faith, not fear, became victorious. The Christian 
 
THE SUPREME REVELATION 43 
 
 life, in the words of Donald Hankey, is the fearless 
 life. 
 
 3. He gives power. He is able to keep those who 
 are tempted (2:18). This gi'eat verse speaks of 
 temptation that comes as a matter of suffering. These 
 Hebrew Christians were ready to fall away from the 
 faith. Their suffering had tempted them to doubt. 
 It is a situation often repeated. Life has been hard 
 and hope has nearly failed. How real this tempta- 
 tion has been in our day ! Christ, too, suffered and 
 was tempted through his sufferings. He cried, "My 
 God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Yet 
 his faith never failed. Even in death He looked 
 up into God's face, and, having been so tempted, 
 he is able to help all who are similarly tempted. He 
 is the great Saviour. 
 
 SuGGESTioisr : The author of this Epistle is not 
 only a great preacher possessing remarkable rhet- 
 orical eloquence; he is also a great teacher. He 
 has a true pedagogical instinct. He leads his read- 
 ers on from point to point. He throws out a sug- 
 gestion and apparently drops it, but returns shortly 
 to develop it fully. We shall have occasion to no- 
 tice this method again and again. He suggests the 
 idea of redemption in 1 :3, "purged our sins," and 
 before the first chapter is finished he has enlarged 
 upon the great salvation. At the close of the argu- 
 
44: THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 ment in chapter 2, he drops a word about the high 
 priest (2:17), which later forms the body of the 
 * argument of the Epistle and makes the transition 
 to the second division. 
 
 VII. The Supreme Revelation — Summary 
 
 1. Memorize, so that you will never forget them, 
 the memory verses at the beginning of each sec- 
 tion. 
 
 2. What is meant by the statement that Chris- 
 tianity is a revealed religion? 
 
 3. Explain the quotation from Augustine given 
 in the text, beginning with the words "The New 
 is in the Old contained," etc. 
 
 4. How can it be said that Christianity is the 
 final religion ? 
 
 5. Why does a true and perfect revelation of God 
 issue in redemption? 
 
 6. Why is Jesus called the captain, or leader of 
 salvation ? 
 
 7. Show how the idea of faith which dominates 
 the Epistle comes to the front even in this first 
 study. 
 
 8. What position did the angels have in the thought 
 of the Jews of I^ew Testament days? Are these 
 ideas confirmed in the Old Testament? 
 
THE SUPREME EEVELATION 45 
 Word Studies 
 
 Try to get in your mind a clear idea of the fol- 
 lowing terms used in the first two chapters of He- 
 brews. 
 
 Prophets (1:1) Signs, wonders, miracles, gifts (2:4) 
 Angels (1:4) The world to come (2:5) 
 Drift (2:1) Death (2:9, 15) 
 Neglect (2:3) Sanctified (2:11) 
 Salvation (2:3) The church (2:12) 
 
 a Cla00 ptaper 
 
 Heavenly Father, Thou hast loved us into life^ 
 and thy mercy never fails. Teach us that we would 
 not now be serving Thee if Thou hadst not first 
 served us, and that we would never have found Thee 
 unless Thou hadst first found us. We love because 
 Thou first loved us. Amen. 
 
STUDY III 
 
 THE SUPREME REDEMPTION 
 
 3:1—4:13 
 
 The second division of the Epistle, which forms 
 the second cycle in the argument for the supremacy 
 of Jesus Christ, occupies the passage covered by 
 the third chapter and the first thirteen verses of 
 chapter 4. The first section was concerned with a 
 comparison between the revelation of God given by 
 prophets and angels, and that given in the life and 
 person of Jesus. The prophets spoke piecemeal mes- 
 sages. Jesus' message was complete and final. The 
 angels administered the revelation as servants, while 
 Jesus was a Son, "the express image" of the Father. 
 
 The first section spoke of redemption as well as of 
 revelation. Revelation issues in redemption. To 
 know God is redemption. In the Old Testament, the 
 revelation of God struggled toward redemption. 
 Moses and Joshua were appointed to lead the people 
 out of bondage into the land of promise. Freed by a 
 great emancipation the people of God were led on in 
 the hope of entering into rest — the rest of God. These 
 
 46 
 
THE SUPREME REDEMPTION 47 
 
 hopes, however, were disappointed. The people per- 
 ished in the wilderness. The record of history is clear 
 regarding their failure and the interpretation of that 
 failure is equally clear that it was on account of a 
 failure of faith. They failed "to enter in because 
 of unbelief" (3:19). God's promise nevertheless 
 abides. Upon this inviolate promise the author bases 
 his second appeal. The rest of God once promised 
 is a reality and not an illusion. It can be secured 
 however only by faith. Where Moses and Joshua 
 failed, Jesus will succeed, for He is a better leader, 
 "the captain of our salvation." God's word of prom- 
 ise will nevertheless test and try us, and when faith 
 ventures all, redemption becomes a reality. 
 
 Suggestion: Read carefully Hebrews 3:1 to 
 4:13 in Moffatt's "'^ew Translation of the New Tes- 
 tament" and note important changes. 
 
 I. The History of Redemption (3:1-6) 
 
 Memory Vekse: 3:1 
 
 "Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heaven- 
 ly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest 
 of our confession, even Jesus." 
 
 This section compares Jesus with Moses, the great 
 Hebrew emancipator. The first readers of the Epistle 
 
48 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 being Hebrew Christians would unconsciously be 
 thinking of Moses before they had finished reading 
 to the end of the second chapter. In the closing 
 verses of chapter 2, the author had spoken of Jesus 
 as the "leader," the captain or pioneer of salva- 
 tion (2:10). Moses, too, was a great leader, and 
 captain of a great redemption. Doubtless the au- 
 thor, according to his method, anticipated the thought 
 of his readers for he goes on to speak of Jesus 
 as "a merciful and faithful high priest." This ex- 
 pression would suggest still more clearly the work 
 and mission of Moses who was not only leader but 
 priest to his people. With delicate tact and consum- 
 mate skill, the author leads up to the implied com- 
 parison, saying in simple but direct language that 
 Jesus was faithful, even as Moses was faithful in 
 all God's house. The comparison is complimentary 
 to Moses, and serves as a prelude to the sharp con- 
 trast which the author immediately introduces. 
 Moses was faithful in God's house. Jesus, however, 
 was faithful over God's house. Moses was faithful 
 as a servant. Jesus was faithful as a Son. The 
 ^'house" spoken of is the people of God. God's house 
 is the dwelling place of his Spirit. God's dwelling 
 place is with men (II Cor. 6:16; Acts 17:24; Rev. 
 21:3). God's people are his temple, his abode (I 
 Cor. 3:16). In the New Testament Christians are 
 called the "household of faith" (Gal. 6:10). God 
 
THE SUPKEME REDEMPTIO]Sr 49 
 
 has been seeking through all the centuries to pre- 
 pare for himself a dwelling place in the heart of 
 humanity, and the Incarnation is the pledge of the 
 fact that God will indeed dwell with men. 
 
 Let us keep in mind that the first readers were 
 Hebrews and to them Moses was supreme. The 
 author feels his way very carefully and gently, and 
 very gi'adually reveals the true purpose of his com- 
 parison. Moses was "faithful." He lingers upon 
 that word. Jesus, too, was "faithful." Yet there is 
 a difference. Moses was faithful as a servant, work- 
 ing out God's will, while Jesus was faithful as a Son, 
 in partnership with God, building with his own 
 hands in the midst of human history a dwelling 
 place for God in the hearts of men. 
 
 This temple, this house, this dwelling place of 
 God in the hearts of men was not established or 
 perfected until Jesus came into human life with his 
 great revelation and his supreme redemption. Moses 
 was faithful, and with him God spoke "face to 
 face" (Num. 12:8). He revealed the will of God 
 in the words of the law and caught a glimpse of 
 heavenly things (Ex. 25 :40). Jesus, however, opened 
 heaven and brought all men face to face with God. 
 "For the law was given through Moses ; grace and 
 truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). 
 
 With this comparison in his mind the author be- 
 gins the second part of his argument. Let us con- 
 
50 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 sider Jesus (3 :1). He is the apostle and high priest 
 of our confession. He is both prophet and priest. 
 He is both Moses and Aaron in his ministry of 
 bringing God to men, and men to God. He is both 
 the revealer of God, and the redeemer of men, and 
 we who are called, as were also the children of 
 Israel, with a calling born not of earthly hopes but 
 of heavenly realities, must lay to heart the claim of 
 Christ upon our consciences. Let us consider Him ! 
 "We are his people, his house. He is the master and 
 maker of men. Let us "hold fast our boldness and 
 the glorying of our hope firm unto the end" (3:6). 
 In the words of Andrew Murray : "He must be mas- 
 ter in his own house. Not only an honored guest 
 while thou hast the keys and the care." Christ in 
 us is, after all, our hope. 
 
 "He came sweet influence to impart, 
 A gracious, willing guest, 
 While He can find one humble heart 
 "Wherein to rest." 
 
 Suggestion : Think through the words, the "heav- 
 enly calling" (3:1). Heaven is the real (9:23). 
 The things we see are copies. In heaven is the 
 true tabernacle (8:2), the true country (11:10), the 
 things unshakable (12:27-28). Christ has revealed 
 this world of reality to us, for to it He, Himself, 
 
THE SUPREME REDEMPTION 51 
 
 belongs, out of it He came, and to it He lias returned. 
 Jesus is reality. 
 
 II. The Failure of Faith (3:7-19) 
 
 Memory Verse : 3 :12 
 
 "Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be 
 in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in fall- 
 ing away from the living God." 
 
 After argument comes exhortation. In the first 
 division of the argument the warning concerning 
 "drifting" and "neglecting the great salvation" 
 (2:1-3) immediately followed upon the argument 
 that the revelation set forth in Jesus Christ was 
 superior to that mediated by prophets or angels. 
 The author's purpose throughout the Epistle is prac- 
 tical. He argues in order to influence life. As 
 soon then as he has silenced the claims of Moses 
 by the assertion of the supremacy of Jesus, he 
 forthwith leaves off argument and begins to exhort 
 and warn. The warning is contained in the words, 
 "Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in 
 any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling 
 away from the living God" (3:12). 
 
 The outstanding fact of Hebrew history is that 
 the redemption promised by and through Moses and 
 Joshua was a failure. The Promised Land, instead 
 
52 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 of being a land of rest, was a land of sorrow and 
 struggle. The Old Testament narratives as well as 
 the Hebrew Psalms are eloquent upon this point. 
 The author sets before our eyes the failure of the 
 Hebrew redemption, by a marvelous series of ques- 
 tions, possessing cumulative force, which follow his 
 statement that the Hebrew redemption ended in 
 failure (3 :16-19). The downfall of Israel was grad- 
 ual but it was complete. There are three questions 
 with answers. 
 
 1. Who were they who, when they heard, did pro- 
 voke ? Was it not all ? 
 
 2. With whom was he grieved forty years ? Was 
 it not with them that had sinned ? 
 
 3. To whom sware he that they should not enter 
 into his rest? Was it not to them that were dis- 
 obedient ? 
 
 The author not only emphasizes the completeness 
 of the failure but traces the failure to its source. 
 The redemption, the rest promised was neither in- 
 adequate nor illusory. The failure was not be- 
 cause of the promise but because of failure to pos- 
 sess the promise. There was failure because faith 
 failed. The people hardened their hearts (3:8). 
 They tempted God for forty years (3 :9). They were 
 ignorant (3:10). They had an evil unbelieving 
 heart (3:10). Sin deceived them (3:13). They 
 provoked God (3:16"). In a word, ''they could not 
 
THE SUPKEME KEDEMPTION 53 
 
 enter in because of unbelief" (3:19). Faithlessness 
 closed the door of redemption on the children of 
 Israel. 
 
 To us, in these later days, a new redemption is 
 offered. Let us take heed "lest haply" we, too, fail. 
 God is a living God. He does not dwell in a "worn 
 out and dead tradition." He lives in human hearts 
 and human lives, and his word liveth and abideth 
 forever. 
 
 "All things living He doth feed; 
 His full hand supplies their need: 
 For his mercies aye endure, 
 Ever faithful, ever sure." 
 
 God is life, and through the ages one increasing 
 purpose runs. His promises are eternal. Men and 
 nations may prove unworthy of them, but He abideth 
 faithful. "He cannot deny Himself" (II Tim. 
 2 :13). It therefore becomes all those who have been 
 made "partakers of Christ" (3:14) to hold fast the 
 confidence of their faith unto the end. "To-day if 
 ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts." 
 The warning is taken from their own Scriptures, 
 from the 95th Psalm. "While God's great to-day 
 in which there is still opportunity to hear his voice, 
 may still be called to-day, and not a yesterday which 
 can never again be a to-day" (Peake). The under- 
 standing of the author's emphasis upon faith is one 
 
54 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 of the avenues of approach to a true interpretation 
 of the Epistle. He returns again and again to the 
 place of faith in the life of the Christian until final- 
 ly he breaks out into the wonderful description of 
 faith in the eleventh chapter. 
 
 Suggestion: In true religion there is not only 
 the divine initiative, there is also the human re- 
 sponse. Mark well the positive expressions "hold 
 fast" (3:6, 14), ''hear his voice" (3:7, 15), "take 
 heed" (3:12). God places the priceless possession 
 within our keeping. It is only by patience and un- 
 failing confidence in God's unfailing promise that 
 we are able to retain possession of our inheritance. 
 
 III. The Perfected Redemption (4:1-5) 
 
 Memory Vekse: 4:3 
 
 "For we who have believed do enter into that 
 rest." 
 
 We must not be misled by the words and sym- 
 bolism of the Hebrew religion. It is our task to 
 work through Old Testament words and symbols 
 to the Christian reality of which they are prophetic. 
 
 The author identifies redemption with a beautiful 
 Old Testament word, rich in meaning and sugges- 
 tive of rich reality. He speaks of rest, the rest 
 of G od, as be ingjt he en d, oi^Il religion and^ the fruit 
 
THE SUPREME REDEMPTION 55 
 
 of a true redemption. He lays hold upon the prom- 
 ise of GodTthat he will give his people rest. It is 
 part of the argument concerning the leadership of 
 Moses which was interrupted to make a place for 
 the practical exhortation of the last section. 
 
 Rest is the final test of all religion. T rue religion 
 is just heart rest. The heart that is sati sfied, truly 
 satisfied, has been redeemed and has found God. 
 Jesus came to reveal God to men and to bring men 
 to God. In bringing men to God, He brings them 
 into rest. That is why the great invitation stands 
 in the very heart of the Gospel, ^^ Come unto Me, 
 all ye that labor and a ifiJieaYj^J^en, and I will 
 give yo u rest^^Matt. 11:28). ^Thou O God,'^"sayr 
 Augustine, "hast made us for thyself, and our hearts 
 are restless till they rest in Thee." Rede mption is 
 t he prom ise d rest ot God . 
 
 For all wh o w ill lay hold of it by faith there is 
 a quiet heart, a repose of soul, a rest of God. This 
 is a fu u^mental-tgutb? _ It is the hope of all re- 
 ligion, and the promised gift of Christ. In support 
 of the argument, the Epistle to the Hebrews as-usual 
 appeals to the Old Testament. In the Psalm which 
 was quoted in the thirds chapter, a rest is spoken 
 of as "my rest," that is "God's rest." Even in the 
 earliest record of Scripture we read that God "rest- 
 ed" (Gen. 2:2). These references are sufiicient to 
 
56 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 show that in the very nature and heart of God rest 
 that is rest indeed may be found. 
 
 Concerning this rest of God, this promised re- 
 demption, two conclusions are brought forth by the 
 author. 
 
 1. The first fact set forth is that the people of 
 God, in times past, missed the promised rest. God 
 promised them rest unto their souls. The Land of 
 Promise was a symbol to them of life's complete 
 redemption. The conquest of the land was a moral 
 and spiritual victory. To them the gospel was also 
 preached (4.2). They, too, heard the good news 
 of rest found only in fellowship with God. But the;^ 
 failed of the promise. They failed because their 
 faith failed. The promise was of no use to them 
 because it was not mixed with faith (4:2). Without 
 faith even the Land of Promise was only common 
 clay. 
 
 2. The second fact set forth is that God's promise 
 cannot fail forever. That promise speaks of a re- 
 ality. If the Hebrew people did not enter into the 
 possession of it, then, like the hidden treasure, it 
 still awaits discovery. ''There remaineth therefore 
 a Sabbath rest for the people of God" (4:9). This 
 is the rest not of Canaan, but the rest of Christ. 
 "The promise is his revelation through the Son, and 
 the new times belong to the Christian age, and the 
 rest is the Christian salvation." The redemption is 
 
THE SUPEEME KEDEMPTIOi^ 57 
 
 perfected in Jesus Christ, and in Him the rest of 
 God is realized. Behind all the promises, and the 
 alluring hopes of life, lies the ever-availing condi- 
 tion, "we which have believed do enter into rest" 
 (4:3). Faith is the open door to the Paradise of 
 God. "Faith is the victory." 
 
 Suggestion : "The heavenly world projects itself 
 into the present life like headlands of a new world 
 into the ocean" (Davidson). Apply this truth, which 
 has many illustrations in this Epistle, to the teach- 
 ing about the rest of God as set forth in these two 
 sentences: "We which have believed do enter into 
 rest" (4:3), and "There remaineth therefore a sab- 
 bath rest for the people of God" (4:9). 
 
 IV. The Venture of Faith (4:6-11) 
 Memory Verse : 4:11 
 
 "Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that 
 rest, that no man fall after the same example of 
 disobedience." 
 
 In the last section, the author has said very em- 
 phatically that unbelief, the failure of faith, was the 
 reason why the people of God in Old Testament times 
 did not realize the promised rest of God. There is 
 also, however, another reason in his mind. Follow- 
 ing his pedagogical method, he does not boldly an- 
 nounce it, he merely suggests and hints at it. The 
 
58 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 fact of history was plain to all who cared to read, 
 that not only was there a failure of faith, there was 
 also a failure of leadership. Moses died beyond 
 the borders of the Promised Land, and even Joshua 
 who led the people into the land failed to give them 
 rest (4:8 R. V.). As late in the record of history 
 as the time of David, to whom the authorship of the 
 95th Psalm, already quoted, is ascribed, there was 
 still held out to the people the hope of the unful- 
 filled promise. Even in his day, centuries after the 
 entrance and settlement of Canaan, David said, "To- 
 day if ye will hear his voice" (4:7). To the peo- 
 ple of David's day the hope of the promise was still 
 set forth and was not appropriated even then. It 
 was this promise of "a sabbath rest" which played 
 like a gleam of golden light upon the horizon of He- 
 brew history, which Jesus, the true leader, came to 
 realize for men. He is the pioneer, the captain, the 
 leader, who not only enters Himself, but brings all 
 his followers with Him. Bound to Him by a strong- 
 er bond than any alpine rope, bound by life, by love, 
 by blood, because He lives and rests, we, too, live 
 and rest. He is able to save unto the uttermost. 
 The words of Stier quoted by Dr. Davidson are 
 very suggestive. 
 
 "When looking deep into eternity we become blind- 
 ed by the overpowering glory, and return to the 
 thought jthat such sabbath rest is not to be conceived 
 
THE SUPREME REDEMPTION 59 
 
 as without work and activity, we are so far right, 
 for God's rest is at the same time an eternal life 
 of infinite activity; but we must be on our guard 
 that we in our weakness do not mix up what is 
 earthly with the heavenly, or open up, even in the 
 city of God itself, a new long-extended street-view 
 of 'eternal perfectionating.' Rather must we strive 
 with all the power of our spirit to realize the feeling 
 of the true rest, the perfected contentment and sat- 
 isfaction, which in God has attained to all, and 
 which has to reach nothing more in eternity." 
 
 Calling Christians by the familiar Old Testament 
 phrase "the people of God" (4:9), the author chal- 
 lenges them to the great venture of faith. Where 
 the people of God in times past failed, let the pres- 
 ent people of God succeed. His appeal throbs with 
 the passion of deep and interested earnestness. ''Let 
 us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, 
 that no man fall after the same example of disobe- 
 dience" (4:11). A second time the note is sounded, 
 "Faith is the victory." ~ 
 
 Suggestion: It is interesting to compare this 
 terrible arraignment of the children of Israel for 
 their failure of faith with the glorious roll-call of 
 the heroes of faith as given in the eleventh chapter. 
 Are we justified in saying that every true believer 
 entered into the rest of God ? 
 
60 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 V. Redemption and Judgment (4:12-13) 
 
 Memoky Verse: 4:12 
 
 "For the word of God is living, and active, and 
 sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even 
 to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and 
 marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and in- 
 tents of the heart." 
 
 God's word to the world is a message of redemp- 
 tion. Over the altar in St. Paul's cathedral are 
 the words, "God so chose out the world to love it." 
 His message to men is, "To-day if ye will hear his 
 voice." This is the recurring refrain of the passage 
 we have studied, and it is the refrain of the entire 
 Old Testament revelation. "Cast away from you all 
 your transgressions, wherein ye have transgressed; 
 and make you a new heart and a new spirit : for why 
 will ye die, O house of Israel ? For I have no pleas- 
 ure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord 
 Jehovah: wherefore turn yourselves, and live." 
 (Ezek. 18:31-32). In this connection read the elev- 
 enth chapter of the prophecy of Hosea. The mes- 
 sage of the Bible is found in the words of Faber's 
 hymn: 
 
 "There's a wideness in God's mercy, 
 Like the wideness of the sea ; 
 There's a kindness in his justice, 
 Which is more than liberty. 
 
THE SUPREME REDEMPTION 61 
 
 There is welcome for the sinner, 
 And more graces for the good; 
 
 There is mercy with the Saviour, 
 There is healing in his blood." 
 
 God's voice, however, speaks also in judgment. 
 His word cannot pass away. His promise cannot 
 fail. The promised rest of God is an abiding real- 
 ity, and they only fail whose faith fails. His word 
 of promise becomes a word of judgment. No one 
 can escape. It becomes "to the one a savor from 
 death unto death; to the other a savor from life 
 unto life" (II Cor. 2:16). His word of promise 
 cleaves and divides and tests the souls of men. "There 
 is no creature that is not manifest in his sight: but 
 all things are naked and laid open before the eyes 
 of him with whom we have to do" (4:13). Men 
 may sit in judgment upon the word and message of 
 God, but in the end they are judged by that word. 
 Let us keep in mind that when the author so speaks, 
 he has before him the inviolate promise of the eter- 
 nal God, which speaks of redemption, of salva- 
 tion, of rest, to the sons of men. 
 
 The description of this living and abiding revela- 
 tion of God is very interesting. God's message to 
 men, his redeeming love, his wonderful salvation, 
 his promised rest, are all bound up in the thought 
 expressed concerning this "living and abiding 
 word." 
 
62 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 1. It is living. Since God is the Living God, 
 His word is a word of life. It never dies. Time 
 cannot rob it of its power. War cannot silence it. 
 His words are living seeds. His promises enshrine 
 the hopes of the world. His salvation holds the de- 
 sire of all nations. (See I Peter 1:23.) 
 
 2. It is active. God's words are deeds. He speaks 
 and it is done. Creation follows upon his word. At 
 his voice the blind see, the deaf hear, the dead are 
 raised. The kingdom of God is like leaven. It 
 permeates and transforms. 
 
 3. It is sharp. "Sharper than any two-edged 
 sword." (Compare Rev. 1:16, Eph. 6:17.) It cuts 
 down clean into the very secrets of the heart. It 
 lays open the hopes and fears of humanity. The 
 Gospel is a mirror in which men see their deepest 
 thoughts revealed. 
 
 4. It is piercing. It divides. It has the power 
 of judgment. It separates. It sets one on the right 
 hand and the other on the left. It makes a moral 
 cleavage right down through the social order. It 
 divides nations according to moral ideals. 
 
 "Whoso hath felt the Spirit of the Highest 
 Cannot confound nor doubt him nor deny : 
 Yea with one voice, O world, though thou deniest. 
 Stand thou on that side, for on this am I." 
 
 5. It is discerning. The thoughts and motives 
 
THE SUPKEME REDEMPTION 63 
 
 of men's hearts are laid bare before its searching 
 light. "Be not deceived, God is not mocked." There 
 is comfort as well as fear in the knowledge of the 
 discerning God. It comforts us to remember that 
 He knoweth our hearts, and understandeth our best 
 endeavors. God knows what we "aspired to be." 
 On the other hand, "the evil heart of unbelief" can- 
 not escape his searching judgment. "Our God is a 
 consuming fire" (12:29). 
 
 With this warning the argument of the second 
 division of the Epistle is brought to a close. Jesus 
 is not only the revealer of God, but the redeemer of 
 men. Where Moses and Joshua failed, Jesus suc- 
 ceeds. He, and He only, brings his people into the 
 abiding rest of God. This is the supreme redemp- 
 tion. Heaven and earth may pass away but God's 
 word can never pass away. 
 
 "Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds 
 sang west. 
 And I said in underbreath — all our life is mixed 
 with death, 
 
 And who knoweth which is best ? 
 
 "Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds 
 sang west. 
 And I smiled to think God's greatness flowed around 
 our incompleteness — 
 
 Round our restlessness, his rest." 
 
 — Mrs. Browning. 
 
64 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Suggestion: Note carefully the expression "the 
 eyes of Him" (4:13). Compare the expression with 
 other Scripture references, i. e.. Rev. 1 :14, Mark 
 6 :10, Luke 22 :61. Read Mrs. Browning's Sonnets, 
 "The Look," and "The Meaning of the Look." Make 
 Psalm 139 :2 3 your prayer. 
 
 VI. The Supreme Redemption — Summary 
 
 1. Memorize so as never to forget the memory 
 verses given in the chapter. 
 
 2. Give in a few words the theme of this study. 
 
 3. Compare the theme of this chapter with that 
 of the second chapter. 
 
 4. What is meant by "God's house" ? What is 
 the relation of Jesus to this house? 
 
 5. What place does faith hold in this Epistle ? 
 In this study? 
 
 6. What are the fruits of unbelief? 
 
 Y. Explain the term "the rest of God." How 
 is it related to redemption? 
 
 8. Give a definition of religion in terms of "the 
 rest of God." 
 
 9. Why did Moses and Joshua fail to lead the 
 people into rest? 
 
 10. How is God's word related to revelation, re- 
 demption, judgment? 
 
THE SUPREME REDEMPTION 65 
 
 Word Studies 
 
 Revelation, Redemption, Prophet, Priest,- Rest, 
 The Word of God. 
 
 Ptapet 
 
 Thou Lord hast made us for Thyself, and our 
 hearts are restless till they rest in Thee. Grant unto 
 us such an increase of faith that we may turn to 
 Him, the great redeemer of men, and find rest unto 
 our souls. Amen. 
 
STUDY IV 
 THE SUPREME FELLOWSHIP 
 
 4:14-6:20 
 
 With this chapter we begin the study of the third 
 great division of the argument of the Epistle. It 
 occupies the entire section from the fourteenth verse 
 of the fourth chapter to the eighteenth verse of chap- 
 ter 10, thus covering almost one-half of the entire 
 Epistle. The whole passage deals with the priest- 
 hood of Jesus. The first argument was analyzed in 
 the second chapter of this text-book and deals with 
 the revelation of God in Jesus, in contrast with the 
 revelation of God given through prophets and angels. 
 The second argument, dealt with in the third chapter 
 of our study, treats of the redemption obtained by 
 Jesus in contrast with the failure of Moses and 
 Joshua, who endeavored to lead the people into the 
 promised rest of God. 
 
 This great section presents Jesus to us as the su- 
 preme priest, who in contrast to the ineffectual efforts 
 of Aaron and the Old Testament priests is able to 
 bring men into perfect fellowship with the living 
 God. 
 
 66 
 
THE SUPREME FELLOWSHIP 67 
 
 It is necessary again to call attention to the fact 
 that in our study we must get behind the symbol 
 to the reality. Now a priest is a symbol. It is nec- 
 essary therefore to be clear in our minds as to the 
 true meaning and mission of the priesthood. 
 
 A priest brings men to God. If it is the function 
 of a prophet to reveal God to men, it is the function 
 of a priest to bring men to God. This entire pas- 
 sage (4:14 — 10:18) will make this interpretation 
 abundantly plain. What the priests of old tried to 
 do, and failed in trying, all this Jesus accomplished. 
 He, and He only, has brought men to God. The 
 word on a true priest's lips is "fellowship." It is 
 his office to bring men into fellowship with God. 
 This idea opens the way to the Protestant doctrine 
 of the priesthood of all Christians. It was this doc- 
 trine that gave strength and vigor to the religion 
 of the Puritans. 
 
 "It never frightened a Puritan when you bade 
 him stand still and listen to the voice of God. His 
 closet and his church were full of the reverberations 
 of the awful, gracious, beautiful voice for which he 
 listened. He made little, too little, of sacraments 
 and priests, because God was so intensely real to 
 him. What should he do with lenses who stood thus 
 full in the torrent of the sunshine?" (Phillips 
 Brooks). 
 
68 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 This division of the Epistle (4:14 — 10:18) will 
 be studied in four separate chapters as follows : 
 
 1. The Supreme Fellowship (4:14—6:20). 
 
 2. The Supreme Personality (7:1-28). 
 
 3. The Supreme Ministry (8:1—9:14). 
 
 4. The Supreme Sacrifice (9:15—10:18). 
 
 Suggestion. Get clearly in mind the true func- 
 tion of the priesthood of Jesus. As a true prophet 
 Jesus reveals God to men. As a true priest He 
 brings men to God. Study carefully 2:10; 7:19-25. 
 Compare Charles Wesley's beautiful h^mn : 
 
 "I know that my redeemer lives 
 And ever prays for me." 
 
 1. The Fact of Fellowship (4:14^16) 
 
 Memory Verse: 4:16 
 
 "Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto 
 the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and 
 may find grace to help us in time of need." 
 
 Jesus is a high priest. He is the high priest. He, 
 and He only, is the great high priest. He, and He 
 only, brings men into fellowship with God. 
 
 True to his art as a teacher, the author of the 
 Epistle introduced the thought of the priesthood of 
 
THE SUPEEME FELLOWSHIP 69 
 
 Jesus before he was ready to discuss it ; "a merciful 
 and faithful high priest" (2:17), "high priest of 
 our confession" (3:1). He drops the suggestion and 
 then passes on with his argument. The suggestion, 
 however, is made of purpose, and now, when he is 
 ready, he begins with the complete exposition of 
 what he has suggested. The early readers of the 
 Epistle were well versed in the idea of the priesthood, 
 but the author's desire is to convince them that Jesus 
 is the true priest, and that all past and present priests 
 of the altar failed to do what he succeeded in doing. 
 Let us begin here. A priest is one who brings 
 men to God. He represents men before God. He 
 brings them into the presence of God, opening up 
 the way of access to the Father. A prophet is one 
 who speaks for God, "revealing to us by his word 
 and Spirit the will of God for our salvation." The 
 priest "appears in the presence of God for us" 
 (9:24). 
 
 'No temple made with hands. 
 His place of service is; 
 In heaven itself He stands, 
 A heavenly priesthood his; 
 In Him the shadows of the law 
 Are all fulfilled and now withdrawn." 
 
 Jesus is the true priest. He is able to bring 
 men into abiding fellowship with God. This is 
 the last and final test of all religion, and the Epistle 
 
10 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 to the Hebrews has succeeded if it shows that the 
 way to God stands open for all the children of men. 
 Jesus has passed "through the heavens" into the very 
 presence of God (4:14—16). He saves "unto the 
 uttermost" (7:25). This great argument dealing 
 with the priesthood of Jesus, is central not only in 
 the thought of this Epistle, but in the thought of 
 Christianity. 
 
 The opening verses (4:14—16) of the argument 
 are among the most beautiful in the New Testa- 
 ment. Linger a moment on the name, Jesus, the 
 Son of God. The name, Jesus, calls to mind his 
 humble birth, and his true humanity, while "the 
 Son of God" links his human history to his kinship 
 with God, and his divine destiny. He, the all-divine, 
 is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Dr. 
 Davidson's words give the true interpretation. 
 
 "He was child, boy, man; son, servant, friend, 
 master; poor, though possessing all riches; the idol 
 of the people, and the aversion of the privileged; 
 familiar with the saddest sides of life, and having 
 access to behold the easiest; with meek, most earnest 
 souls hanging on his words at one moment, and hav- 
 ing charges of blasphemy flung at Him the next; 
 exciting wherever He came, speculation, wonder, 
 love, and furious dislike; cast into the midst of 
 human life, and realizing the principles that make 
 up its moral meaning with a consciousness clearer 
 
THE SUPEEME FELLOWSHIP 71 
 
 than if they had been material things about Him; 
 playing the first part among- minor actors in the 
 drama of which his country with its social and re- 
 ligious hopes was the stage, and the solitary part in 
 that drama of which the meaning cannot be ex- 
 pressed, whose stage was heaven and earth." 
 
 Jesus is unlike the ordinary priest, however, in 
 that He Himself was sinless. He was tempted yet 
 He never fell. With Him temptation returned to vir- 
 tue. Unlike the priests of the Old Testament He 
 had no need to offer sacrifice for Himself (7:26- 
 27). When He offered Himself as the true sacrifice, 
 his offering was without blemish, perfect and pure 
 (9:14).^ 
 
 This sinlessness, which at first would suggest sepa- 
 ration from all humanity, is the pledge of our fel- 
 lowship. He has gone into the presence .of God "for 
 us." He is at God's right hand. He is on the throne 
 of power, and that throne is a throne of grace. It 
 is a throne of loving favor, of eternal selfgiving on 
 the part of God. Before Him we stand and say : 
 
 "False and full of sin I am; 
 Thou art full of truth and grace." 
 
 Therefore let us draw near. Our great high priest 
 has led the way. Let us come gladly. His name 
 and his nature are love. Let us hold fast. He is 
 
72 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 enthroned in power, and holds in his pierced hands 
 the strength we require "in time of need." 
 
 Suggestions Gather up the oft repeated appeal, 
 "Let us." Compare 4:1, 11, 14, 16; 7:25; 10:1, 22; 
 11 :6. Note the author's tact in identifying himself 
 •with his hearers, "Let us." 
 
 II. The Author of Fellowship (5:1-10) 
 
 Memory Verse : 5:9 
 
 "And having been made perfect, He became unto 
 all them that obey Him the author of eternal salva- 
 tion." 
 
 Two qualifications were necessary for the priest of 
 the Old Testament. 
 
 1. In the first place a true priest must possess 
 sympathy. He must have a talent for fellow-feeling. 
 He must have compassion on "the ignorant and on 
 them who are out of the way" (5:2). He must be 
 near to men. He must have other ideals than those 
 of the priest in Browning's poem. 
 
 "The parish priest of austerity. 
 
 Climbed up in the high church steeple 
 To be nearer God, 
 
 So that he might hand his word down to the 
 people ; 
 
THE SUPKEME FELLOWSHIP 73 
 
 And in sermon script he daily wrote 
 
 What he thought was sent from heaven; 
 And he dropped it down 
 
 On the people's heads two times one day in seven. 
 In his age God said, 'Come down and die' ; 
 
 And he cried out from the steeple, 
 'Where art Thou, Lord?' 
 
 And the Lord replied, 'Down here among thy 
 people.' " 
 
 2. In the second place he must have authority. 
 He must not only be in touch with men, but also be 
 in touch with God. He must be "called" of God. 
 He must not be self-appointed. He must not take 
 the honor of the priesthood "unto himself" (5:4). 
 Like Aaron he must go forward in answer to the 
 divine commission. The "called of God" is the 
 name given to all those who have had the pressure 
 of God's hand upon their hearts, urging them out 
 into sacrificial service. 
 
 These two qualifications Jesus possessed without 
 measure. It is the possession of these qualifications 
 which distinguishes him. In his person He is su- 
 preme. The superiority of his personality makes the 
 oflSce of the priesthood effectual. What sympathy 
 was his ! There is an echo of Gethsemane in the 
 wonderful words of the text (5:7-8). The verses 
 are freighted with struggle and sorrow. "Who in 
 the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and 
 
U THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him 
 that was able to save Him out of death, and having 
 been heard for his godly fear, though he was a Son, 
 yet learned obedience by the things which He suf- 
 fered," and has been made perfect (5:7-9). 
 
 "The healing of his seamless dress 
 Is by our beds of pain; 
 We touch Him in life's throng and press, 
 And we are whole again." 
 
 What responsible authority He possessed! The 
 emphasis is upon the word "obey." He learned obe- 
 dience. We shall hear more of this great word later. 
 It describes his last and triumphant sacrifice — ^the 
 surrender of his will to God. How acceptable He 
 was to God ! To Him God speaks, "Thou art my 
 Son." When His last obedience is complete, and his 
 moral triumph achieved, by which He became the 
 author of eternal salvation, God addressed Him, sa- 
 luted Him, called Him, high priest, forever. He is, 
 however, an unclassified priest, a priest like Mel- 
 chizedek who came into power without tribal inher- 
 itance, without racial rights, out of the "nowhere," 
 ordained of God, commissioned not according to the 
 Aaronic order, but after the power of an endless 
 life (7:16). 
 
 Jesus is the supreme priest who brings men into 
 eternal fellowship with God. 
 
THE SUPKEME FELLOWSHIP 75 
 
 Suggestion: Relate the words "learned obedi- 
 ence" (5 :8) applied to Jesus to the words "them that 
 obey" (5:9). Salvation comes through the surren- 
 der of the will to God. 
 
 "Our wills are ours we know not how, 
 Our wills are ours to make them thine." 
 
 III. The Failure of Fellowship (5:14—6:8) 
 
 Memory Verse : 6:1 
 
 "Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first prin- 
 ciples of Christ, let us press on unto perfection ; not 
 laying again a foundation of repentance from dead 
 works, and of faith toward God." 
 
 It is impossible to classify Jesus. He is greater 
 than the greatest of Old Testament prophets. He is 
 greater than the highest of the angels, greater than 
 Moses, the greatest of men. He is greater than 
 Aaron, the appointed priest of Israel's past. Jesus 
 defies classification. God, Himself, gave him a name, 
 a name "more excellent" than that of any upon 
 earth. 
 
 "But Thee, but Thee, O sovereign seer of time. 
 But Thee, O poets' poet, wisdom's tongue, 
 But Thee, O man's best man, O love's best love, 
 O perfect life in perfect labor writ. 
 Of all men's comrade, servant, king, or priest, — 
 
T6 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 What if or yet, what mole, what flaw, what lapse, 
 
 What least defect or shadow of defect. 
 
 What rumor, tattled by an enemy, 
 
 Of inference loose, what lack of grace 
 
 Even in torture's grasp, or sleep's, or death's, — 
 
 Oh, what amiss may I forgive in Thee, 
 
 Jesus, good paragon, Thou crystal Christ ?" 
 
 — Sidney Lanier. 
 
 In search for some analogy, some illustration, 
 some way to describe Jesus, the author hits upon 
 the character of Melchizedek (Gen. 14:17-24). 
 We will hear more of Melchizedek later. He is the 
 most mysterious personage in Hebrew history. He 
 was a king and yet a priest. He was superior even 
 to Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, and 
 to him Abraham paid tithes. He appears in sacred 
 history, without tribal descent, apart from the na- 
 tional faith, and yet as a priest of the most High 
 God. He had immediate access to God. Jesus, says 
 the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, is like 
 Melchizedek. That is the nearest analogy he can 
 find, but as soon as he mentions this fruitful illustra- 
 tion he lifts his pen. Even with such an illustration 
 to light up his argument he despairs. Even the 
 character of Melchizedek is difficult and he is over- 
 whelmed when he thinks of his task, to make the 
 wonder and the mystery of it clear to his readers. 
 
 This difficulty is rendered nearly impossible by 
 
THE SUPREME FELLOWSHIP 77 
 
 the dull brains and the slow hearts of the Hebrews 
 to whom he writes. To make spiritual things clear 
 requires not only simplicity of speech but alertness 
 of mind on the part of those who hear. You cannot 
 make hard things clear to children. They lack ex- 
 perience. These Hebrew Christians were just chil- 
 dren. From chapter 5, verse 14, to the end of 
 chapter 6, the author pauses to point out why he 
 finds it hard to explain his meaning. This passage 
 is a sort of lengthened warning set in brackets. It 
 forms an aside. It grows out of the fact that he 
 faces a very difficult situation. How can he make 
 the person of Jesus plain to a people spiritually ob- 
 tuse? He has said Jesus was like Melchizedek 
 and then he hesitates for by their dulness and lack 
 of spiritual apprehension he is unable to make his 
 meaning clear. Jesus, Himself, faced the same diffi- 
 culty, and He, too, stood dismayed before the blind- 
 ness of those who saw in Him no beauty that they 
 should desire Him (Luke 24:25, Matt. 16:13, John 
 8:53). 
 
 The charges brought against these first readers are 
 spoken without apology. They had "become dull of 
 hearing" (5:11). When by virtue of their experi- 
 ence as Christians they ought to have been teachers, 
 they had need that they themselves should be taught. 
 They were still among "the rudiments of the first 
 principles" (5:12). They were like children who 
 
V8 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 had "need of milk" and cannot make use of "solid 
 meat" (5:13). They were "without experience" 
 and had not "exercised" their spiritual faculties 
 (5:14). It is a terribly severe indictment, and yet 
 it is equally true of thousands of present day Chris- 
 tians. A recent thoughtful writer has said : "A great 
 many people need re-conversion at forty, however 
 Christian they have been before." 
 
 The author, however, will not fail for want of 
 trying, and boldly sets out to make his argument 
 clear. He proposes to take for granted the "first 
 principles" and to press on to "perfection" (6:1). 
 He will not lay again the "foundation stones." He 
 names the first principles of the faith only to pass 
 them by. These elementary truths are in three 
 groups. 
 
 1. Repentance from dead works and faith toward 
 God. While repentance has to do with the past, 
 with the dead and sinful works of the past, a true 
 and living faith speaks of the future, which holds 
 the promise and the power of God. 
 
 2. The doctrine of baptism and laying on of 
 hands. Baptism has to do with confession, while 
 the laying on of hands speaks of the endowment of 
 the Holy Spirit for service. 
 
 3. The resurrection of the dead and eternal judg- 
 ment. These doctrines present life's outlook upon 
 
THE SUPREME FELLOWSHIP 79 
 
 the illimitable future, with its rewards and punish- 
 ments. 
 
 These lundamental truths of the Christian faith 
 the author will take for granted. Indeed they must 
 be taken for granted, for the foundation once laid 
 cannot be twice laid. The first principles onoe 
 given cannot be given again. The human heart once 
 enlightened cannot experience the same illumination 
 a second time. The warning is urgent, emphatic 
 and unambiguous (6:4—6). Theologians have 
 struggled with the passage, but the words are vitally 
 practical and not theoretical. The phrases of this 
 terrible warning correspond to the phrases of the 
 fundamental truths already mentioned. 
 
 1. The phrase "once enlightened" harks back 
 to the words "repentance from dead works and of 
 faith toward God." 
 
 2. The words "tasted of the heavenly gift" reach 
 the thought suggested in "baptism and the laying 
 on of hands." 
 
 3. The expression "the good words of God and 
 the powers of the age to come" takes us back in 
 thought to the words "resurrection of the dead and 
 eternal judgment." 
 
 The impossibility of renewal lies of course in the 
 nature of things. It is founded upon a moral law. 
 The law according to the author has an analogy in 
 nature. The law of spiritual atrophy follows the 
 
80 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 law of the harvest (6:7-8). Let us, however, 
 see clearly that the author is speaking of the last 
 sin of life. He is speaking of the sin against the 
 Holy Spirit. He is speaking of apostasy, of "falling 
 away from the living God," of crucifying afresh for 
 themselves the Son of God, and wilfully and inten- 
 tionally and continuously holding him up as a spec- 
 tacle for the world's derision. 
 
 This must not be forgotten. This is the state of 
 those who hold up to men the crucified Son of God 
 as a false Christ. They are traitors and apostates. 
 Like Benedict Arnold at the close of life they lack 
 "only a friend." The door of fellowship has been 
 forever closed, and by human hands. 
 
 Suggestion: Kead Jesus' parable of "The 
 Sower" (Matt. 13:1-23). This passage in He- 
 brews is akin to the seed sown on shallow ground. 
 A closer analogy can be found in Jesus' words about 
 "the unpardonable sin" (Matt. 12:31-32). Let our 
 constant prayer be, "Keep back thy servant from 
 presumptuous sins." 
 
 IV. The Unfailing Fellowship (6:9-20) 
 
 Memory Verses: 6:18-19 
 
 "That by two immutable things, in which it is im- 
 possible for God to lie, we may have a strong en- 
 couragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold 
 
THE SUPREME FELLOWSHIP 81 
 
 of the hope set before us; which we have as an 
 anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and stedfast 
 I'nd entering into that which is within the veil." 
 
 The author's earnestness has carried him to the 
 limit. He no sooner has reached his conclusion 
 than he has an emotional reaction, and it is a reac- 
 tion towards tenderness. He calls his hearers '*be- 
 loved." This is the only occasion where he speaks 
 in such terms of personal affection and confidence. 
 As a keen student of the Epistle puts it, "Alarm at 
 the awful suggestion of his own picture causes a 
 rush of affection into his heart." The apostasy he 
 has suggested is too dreadful to be thought of. It 
 can never be. It is only a supposition. It will 
 never be realized. He is persuaded better things 
 of them, and things which will lead to their ultimate 
 salvation. He bases his hope in them upon two sig- 
 nificant facts. 
 
 1. Their Past. The past history of these Hebrew 
 Christians gives confidence in their continued loyalty. 
 Their past is as a mirror in which their true pur- 
 pose can be discovered. Their past is filled with a 
 continuous ministry of love. Love always ministers. 
 It is more than a sentiment. It is an energy. Tol- 
 stoi's words are revealing: "When one loves a person 
 he will do for that person what that person needs." 
 God loved and gave. This is the assurance that the 
 
82 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 love borne for Jesus will continue unto the end, until 
 hope is made full. 
 
 This they will do, too, because of their loyalty 
 to past leaders. Perhaps the author has in mind 
 the roll-call of heroes given in chapter 11, or perhaps 
 their former Christian teachers and leaders whose 
 faith and patience are their imperishable inheritance. 
 
 2. Their Hope. Because the promise of ultimate 
 redemption and union with God is sure, they will 
 continue to hope unto the end. The promise of a 
 perfected fellowship is sure. God gave it. When 
 he gave his promise he confirmed it by a sacred oath. 
 This hope in the abiding word of promise is as an 
 anchor of the soul. This hope has three qualities. 
 (1) It is sure. (2) It is stedfast. (3) It reaches 
 into the real world, the world invisible. Delitzsch 
 has amplified the figure. "The iron anchor of the 
 seaman is cast downwards into the deep of the sea; 
 but the hope-anchor of the Christian is thrown up- 
 wards into the deep of heaven, and passing through 
 the super-celestial waters, finds its ground and fast- 
 holding there." 
 
 We need not press the figure. The meaning is 
 plain. There are two worlds, the world of faith, 
 the heavenly world, the real world made clear to 
 Christian faith, and the world of time, the world we 
 see and handle and hold. In this world of time, 
 storm-tossed and wind-swept, we are saved by hope. 
 
THE SUPKEME FELLOWSHIP 83 
 
 Though Jesus is unseen yet we know where he is. 
 He is in the heavenly place, in the presence of God. 
 While the priest of old entered into the Holy of 
 Holies, within the veil, where once a year, and only 
 for an hour, he held fellowship with the Ineffable, 
 Jesus has entered within the veil to appear before 
 the very presence of God for us. Jesus is our priest. 
 He has gone within the veil — even into heaven, into 
 the world of reality, and our hope holds to Him. 
 He is the forerunner, and we, too, must follow where 
 He leads. Our hope is fixed on Him, and where He 
 is, in immediate fellowship with God, we too may 
 be. The words of Professor Peake will help make 
 the exposition still more clear. 
 
 ''We have not only the guarantee of God's promise 
 and oath, but the entrance of Jesus within the veil. 
 Since He is our leader and we share his destiny, 
 his entrance within the veil is the pledge that we 
 too shall follow Him into the heavenly inheritance. 
 Of no earthly high priest could it be said that he 
 went within the veil as forerunner of the people. 
 He went in alone, and left it to return to them. 
 
 But Jesus has entered, not simply as our leader, 
 but as our high priest. It was this which suggested 
 the metaphor of the veil, since the ministry of the 
 high priest reached its climax in his entry within 
 the veil on the Day of Atonement. The thought 
 thus comes to expression that within the veil lie 
 
84 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 both the inheritance and the mercy-seat. The mercy- 
 seat was that place on earth where the presence of 
 God was most intensely manifested. The Wood of 
 the victim was therefore applied to it by the high 
 priest on the Day of Atonement in order to bring 
 it into most immediate contact with God. The sacri- 
 fice symbolized the renewal of the communion of 
 God with Israel, which had been interrupted by sin. 
 
 "The great religious idea of the Epistle is that 
 Christianity provides perfect communion with God 
 through the priestly work of Christ in the heavenly 
 Holy of Holies. Xow in the double truth that within 
 the veil this work is accomplished and our inheritance' 
 is to be found, the deep thought is expressed that 
 our heavenly inheritance is essentially our fellowship 
 with God. 
 
 "The religious interest dominates the whole Epis- 
 tle; its cardinal thought is that unhindered fellow- 
 ship with God is the highest good; its great argu- 
 ment for the truth of Christianity is that it perfectly 
 solves the hitherto insoluble problem of securing it. 
 Jesus, however, has accomplished this great work 
 because his high priesthood is after the order of 
 Melchizedek." 
 
 With this conclusion the author with consummate 
 literary skill brings his hearers back to the analogy 
 of Melchizedek which they are now prepared to un- 
 derstand. 
 
THE SUPREME FELLOWSHIP 85 
 
 Suggestion: It is of spiritual value to note the 
 fact that the author connects the danger of "falling 
 away," of spiritual apostasy, with the doctrine of 
 Christ's priesthood and the Christian's privilege of 
 fellowship with God in Christ. We fail because 
 we lose touch with God. It is the story of Jesus' 
 parable of the vine. "If a man abide not in me, 
 he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and 
 they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and 
 they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words 
 abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall 
 be done unto you." 
 
 V. The Supreme Fellowship — Summary 
 
 1. Appropriate to yourself the memory verses. 
 
 2. Get clearly in mind the three main cycles of 
 the complete argument of the Epistle. 
 
 (1) Chapters 1 and 2. 
 
 (2) Chapters 3 to 4:14. 
 
 (3) Chapters 4:14 to 10:18. 
 
 3. What is a priest? 
 
 4. What are the qualifications of a true priest? 
 
 5. What is meant by the priesthood of Jesus ? 
 
 6. Wherein does Jesus differ from an ordinary 
 priest ? 
 
 7. What has Jesus as a priest accomplished ? 
 
 8. What is the relation of 5 :11 — 6 :20 to the argu- 
 ment contained in 4 :14 — 10 :18 ? 
 
86 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 9. Outline what the author calls the "first princi- 
 ples" of Christianity. 
 
 10. What is meant by "crucifying afresh the Son 
 of God" ? 
 
 11. What assurances does the author give that 
 these early Christians will not become apostates ? 
 
 Word Studies 
 
 Through the heavens Oracles of God (5:12) 
 
 (4:14) The word of righteous- 
 In all points tempted ness(5:13) 
 
 (4:15) Repentance (QiQ) 
 
 Throne of grace (4:16) Fullness of hope (6:11) 
 
 Gifts and sacrifices (5 :1) The promises (6 :12) 
 
 From death (see margin Two immutable things 
 
 R. V.) (5:7) (6:18) 
 
 Perfect (5:9) An anchor of the soul 
 Eternal salvation (5:10) (6:19) 
 
 Hard of interpretation The veil (6:19) 
 
 (5 :11) A forerunner (6 :20) 
 
 Almighty God, we thank Thee that the veil that 
 hides Thee from the world is done away in Christ. 
 In Him we come to Thee. Keep us in everlasting 
 fellowship with Thee so that we may bring forth 
 much fruit to the praise and glory of thy marvelous 
 grace. Amen. 
 
STUDY Y 
 
 THE SUPREME PERSONALITY 
 
 7:1-28 
 
 This study is a continuation of the third great 
 division of the Epistle (4:14 — 10:18), and con- 
 tinues the argument of the last study. In 5 :10 the 
 author had suggested the Melchizedek priesthood of 
 Christ. He returns now after the digression, studied 
 in the last chapter, to develop his thought more fully. 
 
 Jesus is a priest who has entered into the very 
 presence of God for us, and whose priesthood has 
 the stamp of finality, because He does what all priest- 
 hood has tried to do, and in trying has failed. He 
 has brought men into real fellowship with God. 
 
 In the passage now before us the author discloses 
 the true personality of this great high priest. 
 He is a unique personality. There is no one like 
 Him. An analogy is found in the mysterious per- 
 sonality of Melchizedek. All that we know of Mel- 
 chizedek is found in Gen. 14:17-24. Certain 
 marks in the character of Melchizedek make possible 
 
 a suggestive comparison with Christ, which enables 
 
 87 
 
88 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 the author to state fully his doctrine of the person 
 of Christ. 
 
 The theme of this chapter therefore is not Mel- 
 chizedek but Christ. We must see through the He- 
 brew symbol to the Christian reality. The secret of 
 the success of Jesus as a great high priest is his per- 
 sonality. This chapter thus becomes the heart of the 
 argument, the very center of the whole Epistle. 
 
 Suggestion: "Deep down in the heart of men 
 there is a strong and instinctive demand for a priest, 
 to be daysman and mediator, to lay one hand on 
 man and the other on God, and to go between them 
 both. Wit and sarcasm may launch their epithets on 
 this primordial craving; but they might as well try 
 to extinguish by methods the craving of the body 
 for food, of the understanding for truth, of the 
 heart for love. And no religion is destined to meet 
 the deepest yearnings of the race which does not 
 have glowing at the heart the provision of a priest to 
 stand before the throne of grace." — F. B. Meyer. 
 
 1. The Prophetic Personality (7:1-10) 
 
 Memory Verses: 7:2-3 
 
 "To whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of 
 all — being first, by interpretation, King of righteous- 
 ness, and then also King of Salem, which is, King 
 
THE SUPKEME PERSONALITY 89 
 
 of peace; without father, without mother, without 
 genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end 
 of life, but made like unto the Son of God — abideth 
 a priest continually." 
 
 Jesus is the great high priest. He, and He alone, 
 has brought men into immediate fellowship with 
 God. Who then is He? Why has He such unique 
 power? This is the simplest and yet the most 
 searching of all questions. The author, true to his 
 consummate art as a teacher, relates the knowledge 
 he seeks to impart to the knowledge his hearers 
 already possess. "Jesus," he says, "is like Melchize- 
 dek." Melchizedek was the most fascinating and 
 mysterious character in Hebrew history, and the 
 parallel here drawn is illuminating. 
 
 In 7:1-10 the character and personality of Mel- 
 chizedek is analysed, and he is spoken of as prophetic 
 of one still greater than he. Where Melchizedek is 
 superior to all other Old Testament priests, in all 
 such points he is a symbol of Jesus. 
 
 Melchizedek as a priest alone possesses four great 
 and true traits of priesthood: 
 
 1. Royalty. He is a king. He bows the knee 
 to no one. He is supreme, (a) He is King of right- 
 eousness. This is the meaning of the name Melchize- 
 dek. Righteousness is his crown, and righteousness 
 his kingdom. (&) He is the King of peace. He is 
 spoken of as King of Salem, probably the ancient 
 
90 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 name of Jerusalem, the city of peace. He is King 
 of peace. N^ote the order, first righteousness, and 
 after that peace. There can be no peace in the heart, 
 or in the nation, until righteousness is crowned. He 
 "made peace through the blood of his cross" (Col. 
 1:20). 
 
 2. Uniqueness. He stands alone. There is none 
 like him. He is "without father or mother." The 
 Levitical priests depended upon their ancestry and 
 their birth. This man needs the help of no heredity. 
 He is able to do what he does because of who he is. 
 
 3. Timelessness. He has "neither beginning of 
 days nor end of life." He abides forever. He has 
 no relation to the genealogies of Genesis. Other 
 priests come and go. He abides forever. This is a 
 vital point. His position is final. He is final be- 
 cause he leads into the very presence of God. He 
 sits down at God's right hand. He has no successor. 
 (See 5:10; 6:20; 7:3, 8, 16, 17, 20, 24, 25, 28.) 
 
 Ji. Supremacy. He is supreme and superior to 
 all. Even Abraham, the father of the Hebrew peo- 
 ple, paid homage to him, which act was an acknowl- 
 edgment of his right as a true priest to receive tithes. 
 Abraham bowed to him and in Abraham the whole 
 Levitical priesthood which descended from him gave 
 unconscious allegiance. 
 
 In all this we have a prophecy of Christ. Levitical 
 priests have authority because of their heredity. Mel- 
 
THE SUPKEME PERSONALITY 91 
 
 chizedek because of his person. His authority is not 
 designated; it is personal. In all this He prefigures 
 Jesus who came into history, and to his redemptive 
 work, without any legal or hereditary right. His 
 personality is his own apology. He is powerful be- 
 cause He is who He is. He is after "the order of 
 Melchizedek," King of Righteousness, Prince of 
 Peace, the unique revealer of God, eternal, timeless, 
 supreme. He has no antecedent. He has no suc- 
 cessor. 
 
 Suggestion: The "order" of Melchizedek was 
 superior to the "order" of Aaron. The one was an 
 order of life, of personal worth, of moral authority, 
 of merit, the other an order of law, of heredity, of 
 privilege, of authority, based on ritualistic sanction. 
 Relate this principle to the present day supremacy 
 of Jesus. 
 
 II. The Power of Personality (7:11-19) 
 
 Memoky Verse: 7:16 
 
 "Who hath been made, not after the law of a carnal 
 commandment, but after the power of an endless 
 life." 
 
 The presence of such a priest as Melchizedek in 
 Hebrew history is startling. It requires an explana- 
 tion. It implies a new order, and the presence of a 
 new order implies the failure of the old. 
 
92 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 If the regular order of the Levitical priesthood had 
 succeeded in bringing men to God, the suggestion of 
 a superior order would never have arisen. [Never- 
 theless it did arise and took such hold upon the imag- 
 ination of the people that as late as the Psalms it is 
 referred to. The old order was an acknowledged 
 failure, and that failure entered into prophecy 
 (Psalm 110:4), and this prophecy was fulfilled in 
 Jesus. He is the true Melchizedek. Royalty was 
 his. He belonged not to the priest tribe of Levi, but 
 to the royal line of Judah. He is that other priest 
 ''who is made not after the law of a carnal com- 
 mandment, but after the power of an endless life" 
 (7:16). Two suggestions are here made: 
 
 1. The priests of the Old Testament were made 
 priests. The law was on their side. Jesus on the 
 other hand is a priest because of personal fitness; 
 his qualifications are inherent and personal. 
 
 2. The law by which the former priests were 
 qualified was a law of the flesh, the law of heredity, 
 the descent from a particular tribe. It had nothing 
 whatever to do with life and personality and spirit- 
 ual reality. The power by which Jesus became a 
 priest is the power of an endless, an indissoluble, a 
 timeless life. It has nothing to do with heredity, 
 but everything to do with personal influence and re- 
 ligious reality. 
 
 This is the new and revolutionary principle which 
 
THE SUPKEME PERSONALITY 93 
 
 the Gospel introduces into life and history. The au- 
 thority of Jesus is the power of an indestructible 
 and indissoluble life. He is the Prince of Life. He 
 is the eternal Son of the Father. Death has no 
 power over Him. He "ever liveth" (7 :24-25). The 
 redemption, the fellowship, He effects, is eternal and 
 abiding, because He changes not. 
 
 The passage is rather involved, but the meaning 
 is very simple. The authority and qualification of 
 Jesus are not official, but personal. He breaks 
 through into history without announcement. He is 
 not part of the process of evolution. He is a new 
 order, a new type, and his type is personal. He is the 
 great "son of fact." It is because of what Jesus is, 
 that He is able to do what He does. "Our high priest 
 shall never ascend Mount Hor to be stripped of his 
 robes of office and die. The secrets confided to Him 
 need never be told again to his successor. The 
 tender love which links Him to us shall never be 
 snapped or cut in death. No one else will ever be 
 called in to take his place in the superintendence of 
 our souls." 
 
 Suggestion : Make a study of the author's way of 
 speaking about Jesus. Note the use of the name "our 
 Lord" (7:14). Elsewhere in the New Testament 
 this expression occurs in I Tim. 1:14; II Tim. 1:8; 
 II Peter 3:15. The name most frequently used is 
 
94 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Jesus (2:9; 3:1; 6:20; 7:22; 10:19; 12:2, 24; 
 13:12). The name Christ is also frequently used 
 (3:6, 14; 5:5; 6:1; 9:11, 14, 24, 28; 11:26); Jesus 
 Christ (10:10; 13:8, 21); The Lord (2:3); Lord 
 Jesus (13:20); Son (1:2; 7:28). Paul's favorite 
 .name, Christ Jesus, does not occur. 
 
 "Jesus, my shepherd, brother, friend, 
 My prophet, priest, and king, 
 My lord, my life, my way, my end, 
 Accept the praise I bring." 
 
 III. The Unchanging Christ (7:20-25) 
 
 Memory Verse : 7 :25 
 
 "Wherefore also He is able to save to the uttermost 
 them that draw near unto God through Him, seeing 
 He ever liveth to make intercession for them." 
 
 We must endeavor to translate the symbolic into 
 the real. Jesus, the author states, has become the 
 "surety of a better covenant." What does that mean ? 
 It means that He is the pledge of a better fellowship, 
 a better faith than that of the Old Testament priests 
 whose duty it was to bring men to God. They failed. 
 They died and passed away and left their unfinished 
 task to others, who likewise failed and transmitted 
 their failure to posterity. 
 
 That failure could not endure ; otherwise perpetual 
 fellowship with God would have been impossible. 
 
THE SUPREME PERSONALITY 95 
 
 A better covenant is established, founded upon fact^ 
 the fact of Christ. He does not fail, neither does 
 He die. He abides. He continues. He is unchange- 
 able. A prophecy of his abiding priesthood was 
 shadowed forth in the priesthood of Melchizedek. 
 The order of the priesthood of Melchizedek rested 
 upon the oath of God, which assured its timelessness, 
 its imperishableness. This changeless priesthood 
 Jesus possesses. He satisfies the abiding need of the 
 human heart for fellowship with God, and our access 
 to God, our prayer life, depends upon Him, the 
 changeless Christ. 
 
 We step into the hall of some renowned college and 
 see upon the walls the portraits of the men who gen- 
 eration after generation succeeded each other in office. 
 One after the other has passed away, and so will all 
 who follow. It is like the priesthood of the Old Tes- 
 tament. It is like the order of all history. One 
 comes and another goes, but none abides. They too 
 die and go to their judgment. Jesus, however, has 
 an abiding priesthood. He ever lives. Death has 
 no power over Him. This is the crucial test of all 
 religion, and of the author's argument (7:3, 16, 21, 
 24, 25, 28). Aaron ascended Mount Hor and put 
 off his priestly robes, but Jesus is the abiding link 
 between the generations that come and go. He is the 
 only enduring ethical reality. 
 
 This quality is the basis of his saviourhood. While 
 
96 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 others die, He abides. Eor this reason He is able 
 "to save unto the uttermost." 
 
 1. The uttermost may mean to the last limit of 
 defeat. It may mean to the lowest depth of man's 
 deepest need. In this sense let us not be afraid to 
 say "He descended into hell." 
 
 2. The uttermost may mean that He is able to 
 lead to the greatest heights. He is the leader. He is 
 -jthe master and maker of men. "He is able to save to 
 the furthest reaches of life and character, and finds 
 no element intractable to his hand. Had it been oth- 
 erwise He could not have been a priest for ever. His 
 priesthood would have been inadequate, and therefore 
 must have given place to another, unless God were 
 to acquiesce in defeat." 
 
 Through Him we draw near to God (7 :25) because 
 He abides, and lives to help, to intercede for us. 
 What is involved in the intercession of Christ is im- 
 possible for us to conceive. The word in the Greek 
 means "to act on behalf of another." We can rest in 
 this thought: all that we need Jesus will do for us. 
 
 Suggestion: Compare these words which speak 
 of Christ's intercession for us with the great inter- 
 cessory prayer in the seventeenth chapter of John 
 where he says "I have prayed for them." Try to 
 make definite in your thought just what the inter- 
 cession of Jesus means now to you. 
 
THE SUPREME PERSONALITY 97 
 
 IV. The Crystal Christ (7:26-28) 
 
 Memory Verse : 7 :26 
 
 "For such a high priest became ns, holy, guile- 
 less, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made 
 higher than the heavens." 
 
 These closing verses are the true conclusion of this 
 central chapter. They put in concise and beautiful 
 language the argument for the supremacy of Jesus. 
 
 Concerning the personality of Jesus three things 
 are emphasized. 
 
 1. Jesus is the sinless Saviour. He, and He only, 
 is fitted to be a Saviour, for He, and only He, pos- 
 sesses the character to sustain such an office. 
 
 "The passage is of the nature of a triumphant 
 exclamation, in which epithets are heaped on epithets, 
 describing the lofty moral characteristics and the 
 transcendent sphere of existence of the Melchizedek 
 high priest, and the consequent perfection of his 
 high priestly work. Because the ministry is now 
 alluded to, and attention no longer directed exclusive- 
 ly to his person, the Son is called a high priest. 
 Priest and high priest do not differ in their person, 
 out of which arises the kind of priest they are, but 
 they differ as to their ministry." — Davidson. 
 
 a. He is holy. This great word discloses his atti- 
 tude to God. He is God-like. God is in all his 
 
98 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 thoughts. God is the beginning and end of all his 
 plans and purposes. 
 
 b. He is harmless. No evil thought is born of 
 his imagination. He is sympathetic, compassionate, 
 thinking with the truth, believing all things. 
 
 c. He is undefiled. He is the crystal Christ. No 
 taint is upon his soul. He has the purity symbolized 
 in the Levitical law (Lev. 16:4). 
 
 d. He is separated from sinners. He cannot be 
 classified with men. He is unique. He is in a class 
 by Himself. Robert Ingersoll, who trailed the glory 
 of our Christianity in the dust, had nothing but 
 eulogy for the character of Him who, for all men, 
 is beyond criticism : "His name shall be called Won- 
 derful : because no man ever dared to point his finger 
 at the character of Christ and find any fault with 
 Him. Every time I see a rock I remember that He 
 is the Rock of Ages. I walk out under the stars, 
 I remember that He is the star of eternal day. When 
 I come into one of God's temples I remember that He 
 is the chief corner stone. When I walk the streets, 
 I remember that He is the way, the truth and the 
 life. When I see the birds, I remember that He said, 
 ^Not one sparrow will fall.' The flowers tell me that 
 He is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley. 
 Wherever I go and wherever I look, in every land 
 and in every city, the name of Jesus is Wonderful." 
 
 e. He is higher than the heavens. In the very 
 
THE SUPREME PERSONALITY 99 
 
 presence of God He has his home. He came forth 
 from God, and has gone back to God and sees God 
 face to face (4:14; 9:24). He carries on his min- 
 istry in God's presence. This is why He is able 
 to save unto the uttermost, and in fellowship with 
 Him, we too come before the face of God where He 
 abides. 
 
 All human eulogies fade before the simplicity and 
 suggestiveness of these words. Men of every name 
 and language have vied with each other to do Him 
 homage. Carlyle spoke of Him as "our divinest sym- 
 bol." Jean Paul Richter, when he spoke of Him, 
 exclaimed, "The mightiest among the holy; the holi- 
 est among the mighty!" Tennyson sang of Him, 
 "Thou seemest human and divine; the highest, holi- 
 est manhood. Thou !" Sidney Lanier called him "the 
 sovereign, the seer, man's best man, men's comrade, 
 king and priest, the crystal Christ." Ernest Renan, 
 who was one of the first and highest of the higher 
 critics, said: 
 
 "Jesus was in every respect unique and nothing 
 can be compared with Him. Be the unlooked for 
 phenomena of the future what they may, Jesus will 
 not be surpassed. Noble initiator ! Repose now in 
 thy glory. Thy divinity is established, a thousand 
 times more loved since thy death than during the 
 days of thy course here below. Thou shalt become 
 the cornerstone of humanity, insomuch that to tear 
 
100 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 thj name from this world would be to shake it from 
 its very foundations. No more shall men distinguish 
 between Thee and God." 
 
 Amid the overturning of traditions brought about 
 by the great war one thing above all else stands out 
 in unrivalled supremacy, and that is the abiding 
 reality and sufficiency of the Christ-life, and the 
 Gospel hope. 
 
 The one enduring thing, however, which gives 
 Jesus his place on earth, and his throne in heaven, 
 is just this which the author of the Hebrews calls 
 his priesthood. He brings men to God. "He that 
 hath seen Me hath seen the Father." 
 
 2. His person is the Gospel. The person of Jesus 
 is the key to heaven. Said Father Stanton, "You 
 may know all about the dear Saviour and say your 
 creed, without missing a word, and yet never know 
 Him." In three particulars he differs from all other 
 saints, priests and mediators. 
 
 a. He is shiless. He need offer no sacrifice for 
 Himself. "Which of you convicteth Me of sin ?" 
 
 h. He offered only one sacrifice. His sacrifice 
 was once and for all. It was final. The sacrifices 
 of the Old Testament were repeated with heart- 
 breaking monotony. God said he was sick of them 
 (Isa. 1:13-14). Repetition speaks of inadequacy. 
 Jesus offered one sacrifice which opened the way to 
 
THE SUPREME PERSONALITY 101 
 
 God forever. Jesus' offering was "once for all" 
 (9:25, 28; 10:10-18). 
 
 c. He offered Himself. Here the author touches 
 upon the vital word in his argument. He suggests 
 here, more than he elaborates. True to his method, 
 he drops the hint and later he will take it up and 
 develop it. His offering is Himself. His offering 
 is not merely physical, but spiritual. It is not 
 merely blood, but life, love, will, self. (See 9 :11-14, 
 23-28; 10:5-14, 19, 20. Compare Eph. 5:2.) He 
 offered his life to God, a perfect human life, an obe- 
 dient human will, in perfect submission. 
 
 3. There is finality with Jesus. The old law 
 made fallible and faulty men priests, but in the new 
 order of ethical and moral values, established by the 
 character and oath of God, the Son, Jesus, is the true 
 priest, the true mediator, the true minister, the true 
 Saviour, for He is perfected. The perfection of 
 Jesus does not refer to his character, for He was 
 always morally perfect, but to his office. He was 
 fitted for his work, and fitted and perfected forever. 
 He has no successor. He is fitted to save not only 
 one generation, but all generations, not only one 
 nation, but all nations. He is able to bring the world 
 to God, the men of every age, and of every nation. 
 Kipling may say: 
 
 "O East is East and West is West, 
 And never the twain shall meet." 
 
102 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 But in Jesus, ''There can be neither Jew nor Greek, 
 there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no 
 male and female; for ye all are one man in Christ 
 Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). 
 
 Suggestion: Select from this Epistle the verses 
 that exalt Jesus. Gather from literature and his- 
 tory choice sentences of a similar character. 
 
 V. The Supreme Personality — Summary 
 
 1. Carefully memorize the verses given at the be- 
 ginning of each section. 
 
 2. Relate the arg-ument of this study to the argu- 
 ment of the Epistle. 
 
 3. Why does the author illustrate the person and 
 work of Jesus by the character of Melchizedek ? 
 
 4. What resemblance does the author find between 
 Melchizedek and Jesus? 
 
 5. What is the relation of the priesthood of Mel- 
 chizedek to the Levitical Priesthood ? 
 
 6. What is meant by the "order" of Melchizedek ? 
 
 7. What is the difference between the priesthood 
 of Melchizedek and that of Jesus ? 
 
 8. How is the person and work of Jesus related 
 to the common order of Old Testament priesthood? 
 
 9. Wherein consists the superiority of Jesus ? 
 
THE SUPREME PERSONALITY 103 
 Studies of Words in Chaptee 7 
 
 King of Righteousness 
 
 (2) 
 King of Peace (2) 
 Perfect (11) 
 Similitude (15) 
 
 Carnal commandment 
 
 (16) 
 Endless life (16) 
 Uttermost (25) 
 Intercession (25) 
 
 Ptaper 
 
 O Lord, our God, we thank Thee for the revela- 
 tion of our true selves in Jesus. We are to be like 
 Him. Give us grace to follow Him, and with Him 
 abide in fellowship with Thee, in joj, in peace, and 
 in unceasing service. Amen. 
 
STUDY VI 
 
 THE SUPREME MINISTRY 
 
 8:1—9:14 
 
 This study still continues the argument of the 
 third division of the Epistle (4:14 — 10:18). A 
 priest is one who brings men to God. Jesus is the 
 true priest because He is supreme in his person. 
 He is the Son of God. This personal superiority 
 makes possible a superior service. This is the theme 
 of this study. The thought of the passage is that 
 the ministry of Jesus is a superior ministry. This 
 is the "sum," the "chief point" in the argument, 
 his is a "better" ministry, founded upon a "better" 
 covenant, made sure by "better" promises. 
 
 The emphasis in the passage is upon the word 
 "covenant." "A covenant between God and men is 
 a state of relation in which He is their God, and they 
 his people." We must seek to discover the spiritual 
 reality enshrined in this great sacred word "cove- 
 nant." Those who are bound by a covenant enter 
 into fellowship. All barriers are broken and a true 
 understanding is established. Jesus is the mediator 
 
 104 
 
THE SUPEEME MINISTRY 105 
 
 of this new covenant, this new fellowship, this new 
 reconciliation, this new understanding. He has 
 broken down all barriers and made peace in the blood 
 of his cross. 
 
 I. The Excellent Ministry (8:1-6) 
 
 Memory Vekse: 8:6 
 
 "But now hath He obtained a ministry the more 
 excellent, by so much as He is also the mediator of a 
 better covenant, which hath been enacted upon bet- 
 ter promises." 
 
 This section sums up the argument of the preced- 
 ing section. Jesus is our great high priest. He alone 
 brings men to God. His ministry has the note of 
 finality. He has sat down on the right hand of 
 God. He has fulfilled all conditions, and the way 
 to God now stands open. Those conditions are two- 
 fold: 
 
 a. He has a place and sphere of service. This 
 place is called "the true tabernacle." It is in the 
 realm of spiritual reality. He ministers not in 
 forms and ceremonies, on the outskirts of the spirit- 
 ual, but at the very center of power, at God's right 
 hand. On earth there are priests of form and ritual 
 by the thousands, but in the sphere of the spiritual 
 He alone ministers. His glory is unsharable. He is 
 
106 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 the way, the truth and the life. "No one cometh unto 
 the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He ministers 
 in the "true tabernacle," and at the very heart of 
 humanity. 
 
 "And every virtue we possess, 
 And every victory won, 
 And every thought of holiness, 
 Are his alone." 
 
 h. He has something to offer. It is the author's 
 way merely to hint at what his offering is. There is 
 something appealing in the word "something." Of 
 course we know what it is. The "something" He has 
 to offer is Himself. Every priest has something 
 to offer, a lamb, a goat, a turtle-dove. Jesus, too, 
 being a true priest has something to offer. He offers 
 Himself. 
 
 Therefore his ministry is the more excellent. It 
 is complete. It is final. Through Him men have 
 access to God. He is the mediator of a better cove- 
 nant. The words of Dr. Andrew Murray bring us 
 face to face with the abiding value of this teaching. 
 
 "Our great high priest has his sanctuary in the 
 heavens ; there He dwells, there we find Him ; there 
 He receives us, there He introduces us to meet God; 
 there He proves that He is a priest who abides con- 
 tinually, and who gives those who come to God 
 through Him the power to do it too — to abide con- 
 
THE SUPREME MINISTRY 107 
 
 tinually in his presence. The nearness to God and 
 fellowship with Him I cannot partake of except 
 through my heart. My heart is my life, is myself; 
 my only blessedness is in the state of the heart. And 
 therefore Jesus as high priest cannot do his priestly 
 work of bringing me near to God except as He dwells 
 in my heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. All 
 our thought, and faith, and adoration of Him in 
 heaven bring us back to the riches of the glory of the 
 mystery — Christ in you. He is priest after the 
 power of an endless life, a priest whose presence and 
 power are known and enjoyed in the life of the 
 heart." 
 
 Suggestion: The idea of the "covenant" which 
 to the Hebrew mind signified fellowship with God 
 dominates the Epistle. Jesus reveals this covenant, 
 this fellowship (1:1; 2:1; 3:1). He gives it vitality 
 by his sacrifice (9:16; 10:29). "A covenant be- 
 tween God and man is a state of relation in which 
 He is their God, and they his people." This cove- 
 nant relation Jesus both reveals and realizes. 
 
 II. The Better Covenant (8:7-13) 
 
 Memory Verses: 9:11-12 
 
 "But Christ having come a high priest of the good 
 things to come, through the greater and more perfect 
 tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not 
 
108 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 of tliis creation, 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 
 eternal redemption." 
 
 Two covenants are spoken of in the Epistle. The 
 covenant made with Israel, the covenant of the law, 
 the covenant of works, commonly called the first 
 covenant. That covenant was a confessed failure. 
 Men were not brought into fellowship with God be- 
 cause of it. 
 
 Later in Hebrew history this failure was acknowl- 
 edged, and by the time of Jeremiah its failure was 
 very evident. The people of the covenant were in 
 bondage, and the author tells them that the old cove- 
 nant is ready to disappear, about to expire from age, 
 to die from "senile decay" (8:13). 
 
 "WTien God wipes out it is because He is getting 
 ready to write." When the old covenant is ready 
 to pass away, it is because a new relation is being 
 established. A new covenant, a covenant, a fellow- 
 ship, founded upon better promises was already prom- 
 ised. This new covenant has three marks: 
 
 1. The first covenant was external, the new cove- 
 nant belongs to the heart. In the first the authority 
 came from without. In the new from within. The 
 one was written on tables of stone, the other upon 
 the heart. 
 
THE SUPKEME MINISTKY 100 
 
 2. The first covenant was confined to Jews, to 
 those who heard the call of God. The new covenant 
 is universal. The witness is within the heart of all 
 men. The author here touches the great missionary- 
 appeal of the Gospel, but does not press the applica- 
 tion as we should expect Paul to do. 
 
 3. The old was a failure because it was incapable 
 of fulfilling its promise. The new is final because it 
 leads up to the forgiveness of sins, and where for- 
 giveness is, there is of necessity reconciliation and 
 redemption. 
 
 ''With Jeremiah's doctrine of the New Covenant 
 universalism was born. The State could perish, and 
 sacrifice be brought to an end, but religion had been 
 detached from these accidents, and could therefore 
 survive them. And thus the people of the New 
 Covenant, the Israel of God, is gathered out of every 
 tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation. Since 
 God has written his law on the heart of each, there 
 is no need for any man to make Him known to his 
 fellow. For all without exception shall receive an 
 intuitive knowledge of Him." — PeaJce. 
 
 Suggestion : "No one can read the Epistle with- 
 out perceiving that the writer belongs to the Pauline 
 school; in other words, that he has more sympathy 
 with the new age, which is coming, than with the old 
 age that is going." Follow out the suggestion by 
 
110 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 collecting the evidence as suggested by these and 
 similar expressions, ''the new covenant," "the living 
 God," "better things." 
 
 III. The Prophecy of the Old Covenant (9:1-10) 
 
 Memory Vekse : 9 :8 
 
 "The Holy Spirit this signifying, that the vray 
 into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, 
 while the first tabernacle is yet standing." 
 
 The first commandment had failed. It made pro- 
 vision for certain needs, but they were not the deepest 
 needs of life. It provided for flesh purity, but could 
 not deal with the things of the heart. It made pro- 
 vision for sins of ignorance, but had no message for 
 a guilty conscience. The distinction is put thus by 
 Professor Davidson, 
 
 "The condition of the continuance of the covenant 
 was the keeping of the Law. But here a double 
 defect manifested itself in the first covenant. On 
 the one hand, the people abode not in it (8:9), and 
 on the other hand, its institutions could not remove 
 the transgressions done under it (9:15; 10:4). In 
 the new covenant God promises to write his law on 
 the people's hearts (8:10), as on the other hand the 
 death of Christ redeems the transgressions under the 
 
THE SUPREME MINISTRY 111 
 
 first covenant (9:15), and God remembers them no 
 more (10:17)." 
 
 ^Nevertheless, the old covenant held in its keeping 
 the prophecy of better things to come. Every detail 
 of the ancient system spoke of a spiritual reality. 
 The old was "a shadow of good things to come" 
 (10:1). "The first covenant lay, as a sphere of dim 
 representation, between two regions, filled with reali- 
 ties, — heaven, the region of the true things them- 
 selves, on the one side, and the new covenant, realiz- 
 ing the very image of the good things that were to 
 come, on the other." 
 
 The spiritual significance of the furniture of the 
 tabernacle is touched upon by the author. The taber- 
 nacle itself is a symbol of the true dwelling place 
 of God (Rev. 21:3, John 14:17). The candlestick 
 speaks of the light which lighteth every man that 
 cometh into the world (John 1:9). The table with 
 the shew bread looks forward to the Bread of Life of 
 which if a man eat he will never hunger (John 
 6:35). The Holy Place which is always open, al- 
 ways ready, ministering continually to the deepest 
 cravings of the human heart, is an attempt to shadow 
 forth the fact that God Himself is the refuge of 
 his people. It is an attempt to answer the cry of 
 the soul, ''My soul thirsteth for God, for the living 
 God" (Psalm 42:2). 
 
 Even the Holy Place was not the reality, but only 
 
112 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 a shadow, for behind the Holy Place, separated from 
 it by a heavy veil, was the Holy of Holies, the holi- 
 est of all, with its altar of incense, where prayer 
 and communion might be perfected. There God's 
 presence could be realized. Here, too, the worship- 
 pers met failure. It is the last tragedy of the soul, 
 that pushes out to the last limit of ritual, and yet 
 does not discover reality. The inadequacy of the 
 holiest of all was evident from the fact that it was 
 closed to the people who most needed such soul satis- 
 faction, and was accessible only to the priest, and 
 then, only once every year. In itself it failed to 
 satisfy the needs of the heart, but it was a prophecy 
 of good things to come when the veil would be done 
 away in Christ. If once a year perfect fellowship 
 could be obtained, then in Christ that perfect fellow- 
 ship can be continuously maintained. 
 
 "So near, so very near to God, 
 I cannot nearer be; 
 For in the person of his Son, 
 I am as near as He." 
 
 Suggestion: Study the New Testament concep- 
 tion of the "tabernacle." Relate this conception to 
 the great central doctrine of the Incarnation. "They 
 shall call his name Immanuel — God with us" (Matt. 
 1:23). 
 
THE SUPKEME MINISTRY 113 
 
 IV. Perfecting of the Covenant (9:11-^^ 
 
 Memoky Vekse : 9 :14 
 
 "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who 
 through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without 
 blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead 
 works to serve the living God?" 
 
 The fulfilment of all the past is in Jesus. "The 
 testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Kev. 
 19:10). All things head up in Him. He is the 
 priest of good things to come. The minister of the 
 true tabernacle. He is the truth. In Him the "good 
 things" are realized. What are these good things? 
 
 1. The perfect tabernacle. God was in Christ. 
 The temple of his body was the dwelling place of 
 Deity. And Christ by his Incarnation has mingled 
 for ever his life with the life of humanity, and God's 
 dwelling place is with men. 
 
 2. The perfect offering. The sacrifice which 
 Christ offered was Himself. All heathen religions 
 present sacrifices to their deities ; in the Gospel, God 
 in Christ, offers his sacrifice to men. He gives not 
 the blood of animals, but Himself. 
 
 3. The final offering. He entered into the holiest 
 of all once. He comes no more out (10:12). He 
 accomplished and maintains fellowship with God, 
 and obtains for all his people eternal redemption. 
 
114 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 The transitory effects of the old system, with its end- 
 less repetition, are done away in the perfect sacrifice 
 of Christ. 
 
 In a closing sentence the argument is concluded. 
 If the old offerings purged the flesh, they accom- 
 plished something. They purified the flesh. Bar- 
 riers were broken down and formal fellowship re- 
 stored by means of such ceremonial purification. 
 "How much more" — this is the argument — ''How 
 much more shall the blood of Christ, who through 
 the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish 
 unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works 
 to serve the living God ?" (9 :14). The old ceremony 
 purified the flesh and gave formal access to men 
 and God. The purification of Christ on the other 
 hand touches the soul, the heart, the conscience,, the 
 will. 
 
 The reason for the effectiveness of the sacrifice of 
 Christ is merely hinted at. The author will more 
 fully explain in the next chapter. Meanwhile he 
 says that the offering of Christ was in "the eternal 
 Spirit." It was not an involuntary, compulsory, 
 arbitrary sacrifice. It was offered within the region 
 of the spirit, the mind, the will. We in our day 
 surely know what this means ! It was not of physi- 
 cal compulsion, but of ethical and moral constraint. 
 The old sacrifice was by another. His was Himself. 
 The old was of death. His was of life, through the 
 
THE SUPREME MINISTRY 115 
 
 eternal Spirit. The old was in time and transitory. 
 His was timeless, eternal, after the power of "an 
 endless life." They tell us that Niagara once was 
 dry; that the water of the river dammed back by 
 the ice left the precipice bare. God's love never 
 ceased to flow. His offering of Himself in Christ is 
 an eternal offering. "It became God" (3:10). Cal- 
 vary reveals the eternal heart of God in time. "Thus 
 the offering of Christ is lifted into the region of 
 eternity, and that in all its extent, whether part of 
 it was accomplished on earth and in time or not. 
 For it is not its local environment but its animating 
 spirit that constitutes it an heavenly offering. But 
 spirit is also the ethically free, and thus his sacri- 
 fice is stamped with a voluntary as well as a rational 
 character." 
 
 The ethical quality of Christ's sacrifice is here 
 only suggested. It will be more fully interpreted in 
 our next study. The author will now reveal his deep- 
 est teaching that the sacrifice of Christ is morally per- 
 fect and spiritually efficacious. The ministry of 
 Jesus never fails. It cleanses men's conscience and 
 sets them free "to serve the living God." Cleansing 
 makes men free, and only free men are fit to serve 
 others. There is no finer climax in the Epistle than 
 this verse which after speaking of cleansing goes on 
 to speak of service. 
 
116 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 "Thou must be true thyself, 
 
 If thou the truth wouldst teach; 
 Thy heart must overflow, 
 If thou another's heart wouldst reach." 
 
 SuGGESTioisr : ''The object of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews," says Coleridge, "was to prove the su- 
 periority of the Christian religion; the object of 
 the Epistle to the Romans to prove its necessity." 
 
 V. The Supreme Ministry — Summary 
 
 1. Get clearly in mind the memory verses. 
 
 2. What is the essential significance of the term 
 "Covenant" ? 
 
 3. Is there any distinction between the "order" of 
 the priesthood and the "ministry" of the priesthood ? 
 
 4. Contrast the ministry of Jesus with that of the 
 priest of the Old Testament. 
 
 5. What was the historical reason for Jeremiah's 
 prophecy concerning a new covenant? 
 
 6. Outline the difference between the old and the 
 new covenants. 
 
 7. What were the permanent and prophetic ele- 
 ments in the new covenant? 
 
 8. What is meant by saying that the sacrifice of 
 Christ was ethical? 
 
 9. What is meant by the blood of Christ? Why 
 
THE SUPKEME MINISTKY 117 
 
 is it effectual, and why did Old Testament sacrifices 
 fail? 
 
 10. How is this study related to the thought of 
 the Epistle? 
 
 Word Studies 
 
 Minister (8:2) A parable (9 :9) 
 
 Tabernacle (8:2) Time of reformation 
 Somewhat (8:3) (9:10) 
 
 Shadow (8:5) Eternal redemption 
 More excellent (8 :6) (9 :12) 
 
 Finding fault (8:8) Sanctify (9:13) 
 
 Waxeth aged (8:13) Eternal Spirit (9:14) 
 
 Divine service (9:1) Dead works (9:14) 
 
 The second veil (9 :3) The living God (9 :14) 
 Errors (9:7) 
 
 Ptaper 
 
 God is ever ready, but we are ever unready; 
 God is nigh to us, but we are far from Him ; God is 
 within, we are without; God is at home, we are 
 strangers. The prophet says: "God leadeth the 
 righteous by a narrow path into a broad highway, 
 till they come into a wide and open place," that is, 
 unto the true freedom of that spirit which hath 
 become one spirit with God. God help us to follow 
 Him, that He may bring us unto Himself. Amen. 
 
STUDY VII 
 
 THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 
 
 9:15—10:18 
 
 This section brings to its conclusion the entire ar- 
 gument which occupies the third great division of 
 the Epistle (4 :14 — 10 :18). It concludes the thought 
 with which the three preceding studies deal, and it 
 also concludes the doctrinal part of the Epistle. 
 
 The last study led up to the sacrifice of Christ. 
 That sacrifice was a moral obligation, and perfected 
 Christ in his priesthood. When the priests of old 
 offered their sacrifice once a year, they entered with- 
 in the veil into the Holy of Holies. When Jesus of- 
 fered Himself, He entered into the very presence of 
 God, to appear before the face of God for us. 
 
 He is the forerunner, and his presence before the 
 face of God is the pledge of our abiding fellowship 
 with God. The blood of Christ cleanses the con- 
 science. His sacrifice is of "richer blood and nobler 
 name" than the ritualistic sacrifices of the Old Testa- 
 ment, for his sacrifice was the offering of his will, 
 his conscience, his self. 
 
 118 
 
THE SUPKEME SACKIFICE 119 
 
 The finality of this sacrifice is disclosed in the 
 fact that Christ's cross cleanses the conscience. It 
 issues in forgiveness, and where there is forgiveness 
 there is reconciliation, atonement, fellowship, — and 
 fellowship with God is the goal of the Gospel. "Thou 
 hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts 
 are restless till they rest in Thee." When the soul 
 finds rest, it has found God. Jesus brings men to 
 God, and keeps them there. 
 
 Suggestion : In the light of what the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews says about the ethical and spiritual na- 
 ture of the cross, compare Jesus' own words to the 
 disciples on their way to Emmaus (Luke 24:26). 
 
 I. The Fact of Sacrifice (9:15-28) 
 
 Memory Verses : 9 :2T-28 
 
 "And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once 
 to die, and after this cometh judgment; so Christ 
 also, having been once offered to bear the sins of 
 many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, 
 to them that wait for Him, unto salvation." 
 
 Let us keep in mind that the object of the Epistle 
 is a practical one. The argument is not to con- 
 vince the intellect, but to control the life. While 
 the Epistle is the greatest argument, the finest apol- 
 ogy, for the supremacy of Christ, the author ia 
 
120 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 seeking to lead men to realize their faith in loving 
 sacrifice and service. 
 
 As the argument has advanced from stage to stage 
 v^'e have been conscious that the death of Christ was 
 to those first readers more of a hindrance than a 
 help. The cross was still for them a stumbling-block. 
 Patiently but firmly he proceeds to show that Christ's 
 death is the glorious fulfilment of all the ancient 
 Hebrew ritual, satisfying the ceaseless cravings of 
 humanity. 
 
 In estimating the argument, where the author 
 reaches great conclusions, it will be helpful to bear 
 in mind the following principles: 
 
 1. The blood which makes atonement is the life 
 (Lev. 17:11). Ignatius spoke of "His blood which 
 is eternal love." 
 
 2. In order that life may be given to God, it 
 must die. While it lives it belongs, so to speak, to 
 itself. 
 
 3. The offering of life, therefore, is the essential 
 thing in all true sacrifices. Life, not death, is the 
 "living sacrifice." Keeping these principles in mind 
 the author here states that Jesus died and that his 
 death was valid and became before God, and for 
 men, the final sacrifice. 
 
 1. Christ's sacrifice was not unrelated in history. 
 The author states that the sacrifice of Christ is inter- 
 woven with the covenant promises of God. Christ's 
 
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 121 
 
 death relates to those under the first covenant, to- 
 gether with those under the new. To the first read- 
 ers this argument would make a stronger appeal than 
 to us. 
 
 "When Christ comes the accumulated debt must 
 be swept away, that the promise of inheritance may 
 be satisfactorily fulfilled. These sins are cancelled 
 by the death of Christ, for the elaborate sacrificial 
 apparatus of Judaism effected nothing at all beyond 
 ceremonial purification, as the author says with the 
 utmost directness in 10 :4. And these sins must be 
 dealt with, otherwise the conscience would not be 
 cleansed; for conscience is not cleansed by drugging 
 it into forgetfulness of its guilt. The sins themselves 
 must be dealt with, and not merely the sinner's con- 
 sciousness of them. Thus the death of Christ must 
 have a retrospective action, grappling with sins al- 
 ready committed, as well as imparting power for 
 righteousness in the future." — Peake. 
 
 2. Chrisfs sacrifice was not unique. The sacrifices 
 of the Old Testament were also effective for cleans- 
 ing. When purified the unclean could mingle again 
 with the worshippers. Jesus, however, by his sacri- 
 fice cleansed the conscience. He entered with his 
 life into heaven itself. Through Him forgiveness 
 is realized. 
 
 3. Chris fs sacrifice cannot he repeated. He re- 
 mains within the veil in the presence of God. Other 
 
122 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 priests stand. He sits. Other priests continue to 
 sacrifice. He is a finished sacrifice. 
 
 The author in order to make clearer his inter- 
 pretation of the cross used two illustrations from 
 common Hebrew usage. His readers would be quick 
 to understand and appreciate his point of view. 
 
 1. The illustration of a will. He uses the word 
 "testament" in the sense of a legal document, a will 
 (9:16, 17, 18). It is the same word as covenant, 
 and so the meaning is carried over to the author's 
 argument concerning the new covenant. A will is 
 not effective till the one who makes the will has died. 
 So the benefits of the new covenant became effective 
 to his heirs only when Christ the great covenanter, 
 the true testator, died. 
 
 2. The illustration of the judgment (9 :27-28). In 
 human history there are two great events, namely, 
 death and the judgment. JudgTQcnt is the grand 
 finale of death. When the author seeks to work out 
 the analogy he does not, however, refer to the judg- 
 ment that follows the death of Christ, but to salva- 
 tion. His death is followed by his appearance a 
 second time "unto salvation." It is a very inter- 
 esting and suggestive application. He comes not as 
 a judge, but as a saviour. Even as man's death is 
 final and issues in judgment, so Christ's death is 
 final but issues in salvation. "There is a causal con- 
 
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 123 
 
 nection between death and judgment, and so between 
 Christ's death and salvation." 
 
 ^ Suggestion : "There is a word here which recurs, 
 like a note on an organ beneath the tumult of ma- 
 jestic sound. Five times, at least, it rolls forth its 
 thunder, pealing through all ages, echoing through all 
 worlds, announcing the finality of an accomplished 
 redemption to the whole universe of God— Once!" 
 ^F. B. Meyer. (See also 10:2 and 6:4.) 
 
 II. The Failure of Sacrifice (10:1-4) 
 
 Memory Verse: 10:4 
 
 "For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and 
 goats should take away sins." 
 
 ^ The author does not treat of the philosophy of sac- 
 rifice. He does not enter into any question relating 
 to the reasons why sacrifice is offered, nor does he 
 enter into any explanation such as we find in the 
 writings of Paul, why sacrifice atones for sin. He 
 is satisfied to state that sacrifice is a fact in the his- 
 tory of religion. He does not enter into any in- 
 terpretation of the cross, and sets forth no theory 
 of the atonement, although he lays the basis for 
 such an explanation. His statement is: "Without 
 the shedding of blood, there is no remission." For 
 him the statement of that fact was sufficient. 
 
124 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 And yet the statement of the fact did not satisfy. 
 The sacrifices of the Old Testament had failed. 
 Failure was written across the page of Hebrew re- 
 ligion. Three facts are pointed out : 
 
 1. The Old Testament sacrifices did have some 
 value. They served to bring sin to remembrance 
 (10 :3). They were a shadow of good things to come. 
 They eased the pain of estrangement and opened the 
 way to penitence, which is always the path to peace. 
 
 2. The Old Testament sacrifices, however, were 
 ineffectual. They had no relation to the conscience. 
 They had a relation to legal and ritualistic purity. 
 But they could not lead men to God. The fact of 
 their endless, ceaseless, repetition spoke too loudly 
 of their failure. 
 
 3. The Old Testament sacrifices were impossible. 
 The author has been leading up to his climax 'and 
 we are hardly prepared for this last sledge-hammer 
 blow. ^'It is impossible that the blood of bulls and 
 goats should take away sins" (10:4). ''The law 
 having a shadow of the good things to come, not 
 the very image of the things, can never with the same 
 sacrifices year by year, which they offer continu- 
 ally, make perfect them that draw nigh" (10:1). 
 It is a startling statement. The sacrifices of the Old 
 Testament never did, and never could, take away 
 sin. Those sacrifices were formal, arbitrary, and sin 
 is not formal or arbitrary, but an attitude of life. 
 
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 125 
 
 a condition of the heart. This statement is however 
 the oft-repeated principle laid down by the Hebrew 
 prophets. "And Samuel said, Hath Jehovah as 
 great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in 
 obeying the voice of Jehovah ? Behold, to obey is 
 better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
 rams" (1 Sam. 15:22). "For thou delightest not 
 in sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou hast no 
 pleasure in burnt-offering-" (Psalm 51:16). 'Tor 
 I desire goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowl- 
 edge of God more than burnt-offerings" (Hosea 6 :6). 
 "What is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? 
 saith Jehovah: I have had enough of the burnt 
 offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; 
 and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of 
 lambs, or of he-goats" (Isa. 1:11). (See also Psalm 
 50:8-10 and Jer. 7:21-23.) In this connection the 
 somewhat forgotton hymn of Isaac Watts is of in- 
 terest 
 
 "Not all the blood of beasts 
 On Jewish altars slain. 
 Could give the guilty conscience peace, 
 Or wash away the stain: 
 
 But Christ, the heavenly Lamb, 
 
 Takes all our sins away, 
 A sacrifice of nobler name 
 
 And richer blood than they." 
 
126 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Suggestion : Try and get the author's true idea 
 of the word "perfect." The treatment of the Epistle 
 in Andrew Murray's book, "The Holiest of All/' 
 ends in failure because of a wrong interpretation 
 of the word. 
 
 "To make perfect does not mean to endow with 
 all excellent qualities, but to bring to the end, that 
 is, the appropriate end of that which corresponds to 
 the idea. Hence it is a relative term, and may be 
 used of bringing to completion within a variety of 
 spheres. There is no fluctuation in the mere mean- 
 ing of the word, which is, to bring to the appropriate 
 or appointed end ; the variety of meaning arises 
 from the fact that ideal finality will vary according 
 to the sphere in regard to which it is spoken of. To 
 perfect, therefore, is to put the people into the true 
 covenant relation of worshippers of the Lord, to 
 bring them into his full fellowship." — Davidson. 
 
 III. The Moral Sacrifice (10:5-10) 
 
 Hemoky Verse : 10 :10 
 
 "In which will we have been sanctified through 
 the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for 
 all." 
 
 The truth already set forth in the last section 
 should be firmly grasped. The blood of the Old Tes- 
 
THE SUPKEME SACKIFICE 127 
 
 tament sacrifices never did, and never could, cleanse 
 the heart from sin. This statement is perhaps the 
 most startling and the most fundamental in the whole 
 Epistle. 
 
 The author is aware that his statement will be 
 challenged by his readers and so he resorts to his 
 usual method when seeking support for his argument. 
 He makes his appeal to the Hebrew Scriptures. To 
 the Hebrew Christian they were the final authority. 
 He appeals not to such words of the prophets as- are 
 given in the last section, but to one of the Psalms. He 
 appeals to Psalm 40:G-8. "Sacrifice and offering 
 thou hast no delight in ; mine ears hast thou opened : 
 burnt-oifering and sin-oifering hast thou not required. 
 Then said I, Lo, I am come ; in the roll of the book 
 it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my 
 God; yea, thy law is within my heart." This fa- 
 miliar passage contains the following truths: 
 
 1. God was not satisfied with Old Testament sac- 
 rifices. They were not the fruit of his purpose, nor 
 the expression of his will. 
 
 2. The will of God concerning sacrifice was to 
 obtain a voluntary, human sacrifice, not a dead sac- 
 rifice, but a living sacrifice, not a physical body, but 
 a human will. The passage speaks of "a body" hav- 
 ing been prepared — prepared as a vehicle for a per- 
 fect human life. This touches the doctrine of the 
 Incarnation, but is not here developed. A second 
 
128 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 thought is added in the expression "mine ears hast 
 thou opened" which belongs to the original passage. 
 (See Psalm 40:6-8.) The open ear signifies an atti- 
 tude of receptivity to the word and will of God. 
 
 3. The will of God found its true expression in 
 Christ. He alone among the sons of men could per- 
 fectly say, "Lo I come to do thy will." His life 
 was lived, and He died his death in accordance with 
 God's will. He came into life to do that will, and 
 in the doing of God's will, He found victory. 
 
 In this final statement there is an approach to an 
 interpretation of the sacrifice of Christ. The sac- 
 rifice of Christ was not merely the offering up of his 
 body, but the surrender of his will, his whole life to 
 God. His sacrifice therefore is voluntary and eth- 
 ical, and enters into the realm of religious reality. 
 
 Behind the sacrifice of Christ there is here also 
 the revelation of the mind and will of the eternal 
 God. The cross expressed his will. The death of 
 Christ was not an accident in the history of redemp- 
 tion. The cross was fixed in the purposes of God. 
 (See 2:10.) In that will we, too, are sanctified 
 (10:10). It is obedience which God requires, and 
 by identification with the will of God, in Christ, we 
 too enter into victory. (See 1 Sam. 15:22, Hosea 
 6 :6.) This was the thought which Paul had in mind 
 in Rom. 12 :1, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by 
 the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living 
 
THE SUPKEME SACRIFICE 129 
 
 sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, wliicli is your 
 spiritual service." Into this will of God, perfectly 
 fulfilled in Jesus, we too must enter, and there we 
 too are sanctified and saved. 
 
 Let us not miss this message of the cross. It is 
 Christ's cross, but we must make it our cross. The 
 cross of Christ is not an isolated fact. He is calling 
 the world to take its place beside him. If we speak 
 of it in terms of any abstract theory which makes 
 Him take our place apart from us taking our place 
 beside Him, we make his cross of none effect. The 
 faith which unites us to Christ can alone justify. 
 This is the union with Christ by virtue of which 
 the great Apostle was able to say: "I am crucified 
 with Christ; nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but 
 Christ, liveth in me, and the life which I now live 
 in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
 who loved me, and gave Himself for me." 
 
 It is said that Hiram Powers, the sculptor, who 
 produced the "Liberty" which surmounts the Cap- 
 itol at Washington, when asked how he could keep 
 so closely in touch with American life, though for 
 years his home had been in Italy, replied, "I have 
 never been out of touch with America. I have 
 eaten and slept in Italy for thirty odd years, but 
 I have never lived anywhere but in the United 
 States." 
 
130 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 That is identification by faith and by imagination 
 with the spirit of a great nation. In this same way 
 we enter into union with Christ's life so that the 
 spirit that is in Him may be in us, and the life 
 which we live in the body of this flesh we may live 
 in the faith of the Son of God, so that we can say: 
 
 "My faith would lay her hand 
 On that dear head of thine, 
 While like a penitent I stand, 
 And there confess my sin." 
 
 By faith we confess not only our sin; we confess 
 to the transforming power of his love; to the spirit 
 of the cross by which He lived his life and died his 
 death ; we live our life in Him, and, "if any man be 
 in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature, old things are 
 passed away, behold all things are become new." 
 
 This interpretation of the inner meaning of sac- 
 rifice is receiving to-day, in the story of the great 
 war, a wonderful confirmation. The true sacrifice 
 is the surrender of self to the highest. The soldier 
 on the battlefield in the hour of his supreme sacrifice 
 holds fellowship with Christ. If he has felt the in- 
 spiration which enables him to say, "No man taketh 
 my life from me. I lay it down of myself," he has 
 taken his place beside Christ and found eternal peace. 
 It is for us to discover in times of peace and days 
 of quiet the same secret of success. To make God's 
 
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 131 
 
 will our will is to enter into victory, and God's will 
 is to bring in the Kingdom. 
 
 Suggestion : "The will of God was Jesus' north 
 star." Study the passages in the Gospels which speak 
 of the will of God in the life of Jesus. See especially 
 Matt. 26:39, Luke 9:23, John 7:17, Matt. 6:10, 
 12 :50, Mark 3 :35. Compare the truth expressed 
 in these passages with that contained in the verses 
 we have been studying. 
 
 IV. The Final Sacrifice (10:11-14) 
 
 Memory Verse: 10:14 
 
 "For by one offering He hath perfected for ever 
 them that are sanctified." 
 
 The author pursues his argument concerning the 
 finality of the sacrifice of Jesus. The old sacrifices 
 were ineffectual and inadequate. This inadequacy 
 was evidenced by two things. (1) The priests of 
 old stood before the altar. They kept their place 
 and their vigil. Jesus on the other hand has sat 
 down. There is nothing more to be done. The vic- 
 tory is complete and He rests from his work. (2) 
 The priests of old offered sacrifices continually. 
 ''Every day," says Professor Peake, "they offer sac- 
 rifices, which can never cancel sin. Their mighty 
 
132 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 labor, like that of Sisyphus, ends always in nothing. 
 The pathetic inefficiency of all this elaborate ap- 
 paratus, this daily addition of nought to nought, 
 which at the end of the long centuries has mounted 
 up to zero, is all the more striking in the light of 
 Christ's sacrifice, offered once only but effective for 
 ever. He now sits at God's right hand, having 
 achieved an offering acceptable to God, while the 
 Jewish priest still stands to offer those useless sac- 
 rifices, sad spectacle of belated incompetence. And 
 the session, glorious though it is, is but the prelude 
 to final triumph over his foes." 
 
 This one complete and final offering of Christ 
 has made God and man one. It both sanctifies and 
 perfects (10:14). 
 
 In the first place it sanctifies. It purifies. It 
 cleanses the conscience. It brings the sense of for- 
 giveness to men. 
 
 In the second place it perfects. The fellowship 
 with God is made complete. The victory over sin 
 is his, and in the confidence of the throne He waits 
 the triumph of his cross. In his Passiontide sermons. 
 Canon Liddon gives expression to the author's thought 
 in these words : 
 
 "The blood of Christ. It was shed on Calvary 
 eighteen hundred years ago : but it flows on through- 
 out all time. It belongs now, not to the physical but 
 
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 133 
 
 to the spiritual world. It washes souls, not bodies; 
 it is sprinkled not on altars but on consciences. But, 
 although invisible, it is not for all that the less real 
 and energetic ; it is the secret power of all that puri- 
 fies or that invigorates souls in Christendom." 
 
 Suggestion : Think over these words of Bishop 
 Westcott: "I cherish the thought of the richness 
 there was in the first days of the church, when even 
 the author of such an Epistle as this should be a 
 forgotten man." 
 
 V. The Abiding Sacrifice (10:15-18) 
 
 'Memory Verse: 10:18 
 
 "Now where remission of these is, there is no 
 more offering for sin." 
 
 m these verses the author brings the long argu- 
 ment begun with 4:14 to a close. After repeating 
 the promise of the New Covenant as given in Jere- 
 miah, which has already been interpreted, he comes 
 to a sudden and simple conclusion. The new cov- 
 enant issued in forgiveness. "Now where remission 
 of these is, there is no more offering for sin" (10 :18). 
 Forgiveness is the last word, for where forgiveness 
 is, there is joy and peace and blessedness. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the author believes 
 that with forgiveness there comes restored fellowship 
 
134 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 and an abiding mutual communion and confidence 
 between God and man. This is the perfect religion 
 that discovers in God and man the attitude of an 
 abiding and unquestioning trust. 
 
 "Thou in one fold the afraid and the forsaken, — 
 Thou with one shepherding canst soothe and save ; 
 Speak but the word ! the Evangel shall awaken 
 Life in the lost, the hero in the slave." 
 
 In a remarkable study of forgiveness. Dr. George 
 Adam Smith expresses the point of view with which 
 the author concludes the argumentative section of hia 
 Epistle. 
 
 "Amid the many blessings in which, through the 
 infinite riches of his mercy in Christ, it consists, 
 this stands out, the most wonderful and inspiring 
 essential of all: that God Himself should trust us 
 when we have lost all trust of ourselves: should 
 believe us capable of standing when we have fallen, 
 of overcoming where we have only known defeat; 
 and of again doing the work, in which we have been 
 so lax and unfaithful. 
 
 "Look you, there is no other view of forgiveness 
 so lasting or so ethical as this. So ethical: for this 
 makes it no mere absolution, no bare decree of the 
 authority of God — whether direct by the Spirit, or 
 mediated by his priests upon earth; no mere decree 
 of the authority of God, but the constant influence 
 
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 135 
 
 of his grace and his will upon our hearts. In giving 
 forgiveness God gives Himself." 
 
 Suggestion: Make a study of how the Bible 
 speaks of God's relation to sin and its forgiveness 
 (10.17). (See Isa. 1:18, Psalms 85:2; 103:12; 
 Isa. 38:17, Micah 7:19, Isa. 44:22.) 
 
 VI. The Supreme Sacrifice — Summary 
 
 1. Carefully get by heart the memory verses. 
 
 2. Relate this study to the thought of the Epistle. 
 
 3. What are the essential elements in any true 
 sacrifice ? 
 
 4. Does the author give any idea as to the reason 
 why sacrifices should be offered? If so, what rea- 
 sons does he give? 
 
 5. What was the value of Old Testament sacri- 
 fices? 
 
 6. Why were Old Testament sacrifices a failure? 
 
 7. Does the Old Testament itself suggest that the 
 Old Testament sacrifices were inadequate? 
 
 8. What is the relation of the sacrifice of Christ 
 to the will of God ? 
 
 9. What bearing has the sacrifice of Christ upon 
 the conception of God's fatherhood? 
 
 10. What is the relation of obedience to sacri- 
 fice? 
 
136 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 11. What is meant by saying that Christ's sacri- 
 fice is "once for all" ? 
 
 12. What fact in experience confirms the finality 
 and completeness of Christ's work? 
 
 WoED Studies 
 
 Mediator (9:15) The end of the ages (9:26) 
 
 Inheritance (9:15) A second time (9:28) 
 
 Testament (9:16) Shadow (10:1) 
 
 Eemission (9:22) Impossible (10:4) 
 
 Copies (9:23) Sanctified (10:10) 
 
 Ptaper 
 
 O Lord, our God, we meet Thee under the shadow 
 of the cross. There we wait and there we wonder. 
 It is there, too, that we meet with each other. We 
 do not meet with each other in the joy and gladness 
 of life. We only know each other in the darkness, 
 and in the sorrow, and at the cross. We thank Thee 
 that the cross is in the center of the world's history, 
 and that it explains to ns something of the meaning 
 of life. There our burdens are laid down. There 
 the long road ends. There our sins are forgiven. 
 There the heavens are opened, and the voice of God 
 speaks. 
 
 God forbid that we should glory save in the cross 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
THE SUPREME SACRIFICE 137 
 
 "Our faith looks up to Thee, 
 Thou Lamb of Calvary, 
 
 Saviour divine: 
 Now hear us while we pray, 
 Take all our sins away, 
 O let us from this day 
 
 Be wholly thine." Amen. 
 
STUDY VIII 
 
 THE SUPREME REALITY 
 
 10:19—11:40 
 
 We have already noted that the Epistle is divided 
 into two parts. The part ending with 10:18 falls 
 into three main divisions, and is a connected and 
 studied argument dealing with the supremacy of 
 the Christian religion. The second part which begins 
 with 10 :19 and continues to the end of the Epistle 
 deals with the practical application of the truth 
 established in the first part. 
 
 It would be a mistake to think that the first part 
 is doctrine merely. The whole Epistle is intensely 
 practical, and warning and exhortation abound 
 throughout. The Hebrew Christians to whom this 
 message is addressed were in danger of apostasy. 
 They were tempted to "fall away," to "drift" from 
 the Christian faith, and the author is all anxiety 
 to confirm them in the true faith. 
 
 The passage which we now study brings us to the 
 heart of the author's appeal. He has a unique way 
 
 138 
 
THE SUPREME REALITY 139 
 
 of looking at life. It may be he has been influenced 
 by Greek philosophy. At any rate, his philosophy 
 of life is very simple. He believes in two worlds. 
 The world that now is and the "world to come" (2 :5). 
 The world that now is, is the worldly life. The 
 "world to come" is the Christian life. "The world 
 to come" is not heaven but the Kingdom of God. 
 He believes in the realization of heavenly conditions 
 in time. This real world, the true life, is called by 
 many names. He has spoken of it as "the rest of 
 God." He calls it "eternal redemption." He calls 
 it the "world to come." The life without Christ is 
 the shadow. Life with Christ is the supreme re- 
 ality. 
 
 This true life is realized by faith. The Hebrew 
 people had failed to realize it because of lack of 
 faith, because of unbelief. This was the author's 
 great appeal in chapters 3 and 4. This appeal runs 
 through the whole Epistle. Faith realizes the un- 
 seen and gives substance to the true. This is the 
 theme of this present study, and it leads us into 
 the heart of the practical message of the Epistle. 
 
 Suggestion : Concerning Bishop Westcott, an in- 
 timate friend once said, "He was only strong be- 
 cause he saw and took time to see." What sight 
 is to the body, faith is to the soul. Faith is a sixth 
 sense which enables us to realize the invisible. 
 
140 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 I. Reality of the Gospel (10:19-25) 
 
 Memory Verses : 10 :19-23 
 
 "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into 
 the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 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 the house of God; let us draw 
 near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having 
 our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and 
 having our body washed with pure water; let us 
 hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver 
 not; for He is faithful that promised." 
 
 In this passage the author sums up the facts of the 
 Christian faith in two words. The first word is "the 
 blood of Christ" (10:19). The second word is "a 
 great priest" (10:21). The first speaks of power. 
 The first promises forgiveness; the second assures 
 fellowship. The first provides an entrance; the sec- 
 ond provides an abiding place. The first makes 
 possible the beginning; the second guarantees the 
 continuing unto the end. 
 
 Through his death and his entrance into the im- 
 mediate presence of God, after his ascension to God's 
 right hand. He has consecrated for us "a new and 
 living way." It is "new" because it is recent. The 
 old way led into the earthly tabernacle; the new 
 way leads to God. It is "a living way" because 
 
THE SUPREME REALITY 141 
 
 Christ, Himself, the living Lord, is the Way. It 
 is not a way of form, a way of intellectual belief, 
 but a way of life and personal service. It can never 
 grow obsolete for Christ liveth and abideth forever. 
 
 The author's appeal is urgent. Since such a way 
 is open, "let us draw near." The way is open not 
 once a year, but always. It is open not for one high 
 priest, but for all the children of men. There is 
 now established a priesthood of believers who have 
 confidence to enter into the Holiest through the blood 
 of Christ. 
 
 This "new and living way" is the Gospel, and it 
 is distinguished by three marks. 
 
 1. The Fulness of Faith (10:22). Faith gives 
 reality to the promises of God, and to the work of 
 Christ. Faith is the great venture which makes the 
 future present and the unseen real. 
 
 2. The Confession of Hope (10:23). Hope is 
 the anchor which holds us in abiding confidence to 
 the security of God's promise. "True religion," 
 says Donald Hankey, in "A Student in Arms," "is 
 betting one's life there is a God." 
 
 3. The Service of Love (10:24). Our life will 
 become like Christ's great life, it will "provoke," 
 that is, call forth the best in others, and will link 
 the world in a true brotherhood. True religion is 
 friendly and social. Love seeks companionship and 
 so does the Gospel. One cannot be a Christian by 
 
142 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 himself. The Gospel calls for worship and fellow- 
 ship, and frowns upon "forsaking our own assembling 
 together" (10:25). We note in passing that these 
 are the three Christian graces, Faith, Hope, Love, 
 and the greatest of these is Love. 
 
 Behind the Gospel appeal there is a mighty chal- 
 lenge. It is the challenge of "the day" (10 :25). The 
 day of judgment is always approaching, and it is 
 given us to turn that day of judgment into a day of 
 salvation. We to-day live in the very presence of 
 the Judgment. It requires faith to see the light in 
 the cloud. 
 
 "I cannot see the Christ-child 
 For the soldiers marching past. 
 I cannot hear the angels 
 For the bugle's angry blast; 
 But I know 
 
 The bells are ringing, 
 And that faith and hope are clinging 
 To the Day 
 
 When love shall crown the world at last. 
 
 I cannot see the Christ-child 
 
 For the smoke is in my eyes. 
 I cannot hear the shepherds 
 For the little children's cries; 
 But I know 
 
 The bells are ringing, 
 And I think I hear the singing 
 Of the Day 
 
 When peace like morning dawn shall rise. 
 
THE SUPEEME KEALITY 143 
 
 I cannot see the Christ-child 
 
 For the clouds hang dark and low. 
 I cannot hear the wise men 
 For the conflict rages so; 
 But I know 
 
 The bells are ringing, 
 And that Christmas morn is bringing 
 In the Golden Day 
 Foretold so long ago." 
 
 Suggestion : Try to grasp what is meant by the 
 Protestant doctrine of "the priesthood of all believ- 
 ers." In what sense are all Christians called to be 
 priests ? 
 
 II. The Fate of the Faithless (10:26-31) 
 
 Memory Verse: 10:31 
 
 "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
 living God." 
 
 The Epistle is moving forward to its great appeal. 
 The Gospel is a reality, but we must lay hold upon 
 it. Faith is the power that lays hold. The fathers 
 failed because of faithlessness and a worse failure 
 awaits faithlessness now because a greater gift is 
 offered. 
 
 The author brings his readers face to face with 
 what awaits the failure of faith. The terror of his 
 words remind us of 6 :4-8. 
 
144 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 It is necessary to see that he is speaking not of 
 sins in general, but of one sin in particular — the sin 
 of apostasy. He is speaking of "sinning wilfully" 
 and by this he means turning away from God. An 
 apostate is one who renounces the truth. This is 
 the danger concerning which he warns. It is the 
 final rejection of the light. It is what Jesus meant 
 by "the sin against the Holy Spirit" (Mark 3 :28- 
 29). The sin of apostasy puts a man outside the 
 covenant and beyond the reach of mercy. 
 
 This, however, is no new act of justice. Under 
 the Old Testament dispensation, apostasy was fol- 
 lowed by death. Under the new covenant men are 
 still more guilty who turn their backs on God. What 
 is it they do who thus turn away? 
 
 1. They tread under foot the Son of God. 
 
 2. They count the blood of Christ unholy. 
 
 3. They despise the spirit of grace. 
 
 While it is true as was pointed out in the former 
 warning (6:4-8) that there is operating ceaselessly 
 a natural law which brings forth the fruit of a hard 
 heart, there is also written into the urgency of the 
 warning the thought of "the retributive righteous- 
 ness of God." God is an all-seeing, a living God. 
 "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the 
 Living God" (10:31). In Carlyle's essay on Oliver 
 Cromwell, the great Puritan, he says: "Here also 
 are ejaculations caught up at intervals, undated, in 
 
THE SUPREME REALITY 145 
 
 those final days: 'Lord, Thou knowest if I do de- 
 sire to live, it is to show forth thy praise, and declare 
 thy works.' Once he was heard saying, 'It is a 
 fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living 
 God!' This was spoken three times, says Harvey, 
 'his repetitions usually being very weighty, and with 
 great vehemency of spirit.' Thrice over he said this, 
 looking into the eternal kingdoms, 'a fearful thing 
 to fall into the hands of the Living God !' " 
 
 The issues of the struggle in Europe have brought 
 us face to face with justice and the impossibility of 
 ignoring the sanctions of conscience. 
 
 Suggestion: Think through to the truth of the 
 words, "the living God" (3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22). 
 
 III. The Reward of the Faithful (10:32-39) 
 
 Memory Veese : 10 :36 
 
 "For ye have need of patience, that, having done 
 the will of God, ye may receive the promise." 
 
 The author, true as usual to his tenderness and 
 his tactfulness, hastens to leave the theme which he 
 so urgently has been presenting. He possesses the 
 art of thinking well of his people. He turns from 
 warning to encouragement. Faith will not fail for 
 faith will yet be crowned. Christ had taught him 
 to rejoice not in righteousness, but to rejoice with 
 
146 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 the truth; to bear all things, believe all things, hope 
 all things, endure all things (I Cor. 13:6-7). 
 His confidence is based upon two things: 
 
 1. The Record of the Past (10:32). Their own 
 past challenges them and at the same time claims 
 them. They have obligations to the past. In days 
 gone they had endured afflictions and reproaches. 
 They had been made a gazing-stock for the world. 
 They had even joyfully accepted spoliation and rob- 
 bery, and in it all they had had compassion upon their 
 brethren in bonds. Their past was full of victory. 
 They had triumphed because in the great words of 
 the Revised Version, marginal reading, they had 
 for themselves "a better possession." (See Luke 
 9:25.) This great past must not be lost through 
 present disloyalty. The claim of former success is 
 always a present challenge. 
 
 2. The Challenge of the Future (10:37). The 
 c:u-ly Christians thought that Christ would come 
 v.ithin the limit of their lives. The long delay had 
 led to disappointment. Nevertheless the author says, 
 '•He that shall come will come" (10:37). The prom- 
 ise is sure. He will not tarry. Be patient, and when 
 God's will is accomplished the promise will be se- 
 cured (10:36). They must not permit present ap- 
 pearances to give the lie to the truth. They must 
 not allow the things they see to give a denial to the 
 reality they do not see. Now, as always, the right- 
 
THE SUPKEME KEALITY 147 
 
 eons shall "live by faith" (10:38). It is a reference 
 to the Hebrew prophets and these Hebrew Chris- 
 tians would understand. Only by the exercise of 
 faith is victory achieved. Faith issues in the "sav- 
 ing of the soul" (10 :39). The word "saving" means 
 in the original "possession" and we are thus back 
 again to the thought of 10 :34. After all the greatest 
 victory is the winning of one's self, and the most 
 priceless possession, the possession of one's own soul. 
 
 Suggestion: Study this great expression, "The 
 just shall live by faith." The original reference is 
 in Hab. 2 :3-4. Compare the use the prophet makes 
 of it with the use made of it by Paul, by the author 
 of the Hebrews, and by Martin Luther. 
 
 IV. Faith and Reality (11:1-3) 
 
 Memory Verse : 1:1 
 
 "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers 
 in the prophets by divers portions and in divers man- 
 ners." 
 
 The last section closed with a striking reference 
 to faith. This is the author's method. He first strikes 
 the keynote which prepares us for what is to fol- 
 low. It was a fine keynote and the music that fol- 
 lows belong to the world's masterpieces. 
 
 While it is true that this great chapter on faith 
 follows naturally from the thought of the last sec- 
 
148 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 tion, it is nevertheless related to the thought of the 
 Epistle as a whole. This presentation of faith is 
 pertinent to the author's whole conception. 
 
 "We have already seen that the writer works 
 with the conception of the two ages. The age to 
 come he represents as in a sense already realized, but 
 in another sense as still lying in the future. In 
 other words, his contrast is between the ideal and 
 the actual. Now it might be pertinently urged that 
 this very fact constituted a serious objection to his 
 argument. If we live in this age why should we 
 accept the religion of the age to come? And has 
 Jesus put us in any better position than those who 
 lived under the Old Covenant? How can we enter 
 into the heavenly sanctuary until the veil be done 
 away for us, as it was for Him ? 
 
 "The writer surmounts these difficulties by his 
 doctrine of faith. While we are strangers and pil- 
 grims we are not actually inhabitants of the New 
 Jerusalem. But faith has this quality — that it can 
 lift us into fellowship with the Unseen, that it can 
 carry us within the veil. And so, while we are still 
 inhabitants of this world, we may at any moment 
 through faith draw nigh and enter into the world 
 to come. Faith has thus a power of realization, by 
 which the invisible becomes visible and the future 
 becomes present. While hope is the confident an- 
 ticipation of a future regarded as future, faith ap- 
 
THE SUPEEME REALITY 149 
 
 propriates that future as an experience of the pres- 
 ent." — PeaJce. 
 
 This, then, is the point of view of the entire Epis- 
 tle. Faith makes "the world to come" real. Faith 
 makes possible the Christian life. It gives reality 
 to things hoped for. It gives reality to things un- 
 seen. 
 
 In the first verses of this analysis of faith two 
 principles are set forth. 
 
 1. Faith is a subjective impulse. It is an in- 
 stinct of humanity. The author's point of view 
 is totally different from that of the Apostle Paul. 
 Paul's conception of faith touches upon the work of 
 the Spirit of God in the life of man. Faith is a 
 gift of the Spirit of God. The writer to the Hebrews 
 may take all that for granted, but he does not speak 
 of it. He speaks of faith as an instinct of the human 
 heart, as the sixth sense of humanity, as the pos- 
 session of all the children of men. Men are in the 
 possession of faith, because they are men. In busi- 
 ness, as in religion, they live by faith. The author 
 is the forerunner of all the moderns who write and 
 speak about "faith and its psychology." He takes 
 his place with Bulwer Lytton: 
 
 "There is no unbelief; 
 Whoever plants the seed beneath the sod 
 And waits to see it push away the clod. 
 He trusts in God. 
 
150 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 Whoever says when clouds are in the sky, 
 *Be patient, heart, light breaketh by and by, 
 Trusts the Most High. 
 
 Whoever sees 'neath winter's field of snow 
 The silent harvest of the future grow, 
 God's power must know. 
 
 Whoever lies down on his couch to sleep, 
 Content to lock each sense in slumber deep, 
 Knows God will keep. 
 
 Whoever says, 'To-morrow,' 'the unknown,' 
 'The future,' trusts the Power alone 
 He dares disown." 
 
 2. Faith needs objective realization. The differ- 
 ence between religious faith and all other faith is 
 not in the subjective impulse, but in the object which 
 calls forth faith. In religious faith that object is 
 God, Himself, his word, his promises, his inviolate 
 truth. To increase one's faith, one must increase 
 one's knowledge of God. To know God is to have 
 eternal life. This quotation from Dr. Andrew Mur- 
 ray may be of help: 
 
 "Just as we have our senses, through which we 
 hold communication with the physical universe, so 
 faith is the spiritual sense or organ through which 
 the soul comes into contact with and is affected by 
 the spiritual world. Just as the sense of seeing or 
 hearing is a dormant power till the objective reality. 
 
THE SUPREME REALITY 151 
 
 the light or the sound, strikes it, so faith in itself 
 is a sense with no power beyond the possibility or 
 capacity of receiving the impression of the eternal. 
 It is as an empty vessel which wants to be filled 
 with its nnseen contents. It is only when the eter- 
 nal realities draw near and exercise their power that 
 faith becomes and is the substance of things hoped 
 for, the foundation which they lay in the soul, the 
 proof or conviction of things unseen, the convincing 
 power with which they give evidence and proof of 
 their own supernatural existence." 
 
 Faith realizes the unseen. It makes God real. 
 It brings heaven near. It enables men to walk with 
 the unseen Christ. Is it any wonder that without 
 faith it is impossible to please God ? 
 
 Suggestion : A clearer, truer, view of God, and 
 of his word, will result in increase of faith. When 
 we pray, ''Lord, increase our faith," we lay upon 
 ourselves the obligation of Christian service and 
 Bible study and prayer. 
 
 V. Faith and History (11:4-38) 
 
 Memory Verse: 11:16 
 
 "But now they desire a better country, that is, 
 a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them, 
 to be called their God; for He hath prepared for 
 them a city." 
 
152 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Dr. Bruce has suggested that the eleventh chap- 
 ter of Hebrews was probably a complete document 
 before it was incorporated into the Epistle. He sug- 
 gests that originally it may have been a sermon, a 
 brief review of Hebrew history. It has been called 
 the Westminster Abbey of the Bible, the Hall of 
 Fame, the Honor Roll of the Hebrew nation. 
 
 The review covers the whole range of Jewish his- 
 tory. It begins with the creation story and leads 
 up to the close of the Old Testament revelation. We 
 wonder why certain names like Elijah and Job 
 are omitted, and as if conscious of the fact that he 
 has omitted the names of other heroes of faith, there 
 is added towards the close of the chapter a descrip- 
 tion that includes all. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the enumeration is 
 inclusive and names all types of national character. 
 Dr. F. B. Meyer in commenting upon this fact says : 
 
 "In this list are women as well as men. Sarah 
 and Rahab, as well as Abraham and Joshua; the 
 widow of Shunem, and the mighty prophet who 
 brought her son back to life; Moses, the student of 
 Egypt's wisdom; Gideon, the husbandman; Isaac, 
 the grazier ; Jacob, the shrewd cattle breeder ; Barak, 
 the soldier; David, the shepherd, and Samuel, the 
 prophet. Their occupations and circumstances varied 
 infinitely; but there was not one of them that did 
 not live under the influence of this master principle. 
 
THE SUPREME REALITY 153 
 
 Whatever may be a man's lawful calling, he may 
 abide therein with God, under the influence of faith. 
 Like the fir or pine, faith flourishes in any soil." 
 
 The great theme of this wonderful chapter is to 
 the effect that faith gives reality to the "world to 
 come," to the things of the Spirit. 
 
 1. Faith gives reality to the future. Things that 
 are "hoped for" are brought within the grasp of 
 those who reach out hands of faith. Abraham saw 
 on the far horizon the outlines of the City of God, 
 and by faith took up his abode in it. He greeted 
 promises that were to others far off, and in his own 
 day saw Christ (John 8:56). Jacob bestowed upon 
 Isaac his blessing, which had to do with the inherit- 
 ance of the age to come, and Joseph so realized the 
 future of his nation that he made preparations for 
 his burial in the land of promise. 
 
 2. Faith gives reality to the unseen. Faith gives 
 substance, or reality to "things not seen." By faith 
 Enoch walked with God and in time lived the life 
 eternal. By faith Abraham went out from his home 
 "knowing not whither he went." By faith Moses 
 forsook Egypt, and the luxury of Pharaoh's court, 
 because he "endured as seeing Him who is invisible." 
 
 Dr. Joseph Parker once said: "He who walks 
 by sight only walks in a blind alley. He who does 
 not know the freedom and joy of reverent, loving 
 speculation wastes his life in a gloomy cell of the 
 
154 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 mouldiest of prisons. Even in matters that are not 
 distinctively religious faith will be found to be the 
 inspiration and strength of the most useful life. It 
 is faith that does the great work of the world. It 
 is faith that sends men in search of unknown coasts. 
 It is faith that re-trims the lamp of inquiry when 
 sight is weary of the flame. It is faith that unfastens 
 the cable and gives men the liberty of the seas. It 
 is faith that inspires the greatest works in civiliza- 
 tion. So we cannot get rid of religion unless we 
 first get rid of faith, and when we get rid of faith 
 we give up our birthright and go into slavery for ever." 
 3. Faith gives reality to character. It is the qual- 
 ity of faith that makes the difference between Cain 
 and Abel. It is faith which creates the true heroes 
 of history. They are the men and women who, not 
 satisfied with things as they are, "desire a better 
 country." They die in the faith of "a better resur- 
 rection" and a better world. 
 
 "Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes, — they were 
 souls that stood alone. 
 
 While the men they agonized for hurled the con- 
 tumelious stone. 
 
 Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden 
 beam incline 
 
 To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their 
 faith divine, 
 
 By one man's plain truth to manhood and to God's 
 supreme design." 
 
THE SUPREME REALITY 155 
 
 4. Faith gives reality to the possible. Faith does 
 things. It is the great energy of life. By faith Co- 
 lumbus discovered America. By faith Lincoln freed 
 the slaves. By faith Livingstone redeemed Africa. 
 Faith creates facts. There is nothing in literature 
 so grandly eloquent as the closing verses of this great 
 chapter (11:32-40). Faith performs deeds akin to 
 miracles. 
 
 **In his speech at the London banquet to Lloyd 
 Garrison, June 29th, 1867, John Bright told of an 
 article by Harriet Martineau upon 'The Martyr Age 
 of the United States,' in which the great names con- 
 nected with the abolitionist cause were chronicled, 
 and then added: 'When I read that article and the 
 description of those men and women there given, I 
 was led, I know not how, to think of a very striking 
 passage which I am sure must be familiar to most 
 here, because it is to be found in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews. After the writer of that Epistle has de- 
 scribed the great men and fathers of the nation, he 
 says: 'Time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of 
 Barak . . . and of the prophets . . . who turned to 
 flight the armies of the aliens.' I ask if this grand 
 passage of the inspired writer may not be applied 
 to that heroic band who have made America the per- 
 petual home of freedom ?' " 
 
 Huxley somewhere says, "Theology claims that the 
 
156 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 just shall live by faith: science says the just shall 
 live by verification." Tennyson says, 
 
 ''We have but faith we cannot know 
 For knowledge is of things we see." 
 
 The author's point of view is different from that 
 of both Huxley and Tennyson. He holds that faith 
 knows, and that faith verifies. His confidence is 
 based upon the word of God. God's promise cannot 
 fail. God's truth cannot lie. God cannot deny Him- 
 self. Knowing God, knowing his truth, his eternity, 
 his power, faith holds that the abiding reality is 
 found in Him and in his word of promise. In his 
 very remarkable essay, ''The Will to Believe," Pro- 
 fessor William James finely expresses the author's 
 point of view. 
 
 "Suppose, for example, that I am climbing in the 
 Alps, and have had the ill luck to work myself into 
 a position from which the only escape is by a ter- 
 rible leap. Being without similar experience, I have 
 no evidence of my ability to perform it successfully; 
 but hope and confidence in myself make me sure I 
 shall not miss my aim, and nerve my feet to ex- 
 ecute what without those subjective emotions would 
 perhaps have been impossible. But suppose that, 
 on the contrary, the emotions of fear and mistrust 
 preponderate; or suppose that, having just read the 
 'Ethics of Belief,' I feel it would be sinful to act 
 
THE SUPREME REALITY 157 
 
 upon an assumption unverified by previous experi- 
 ence — why, then, I shall hesitate so long that at last^ 
 exhausted and trembling, and launching myself in 
 a moment of despair, I miss my foothold and roll 
 into the abyss. In this case (and it is one of an 
 immense class) the part of wisdom clearly is to be- 
 lieve what one desires; for the belief is one of the 
 indispensable preliminary conditions of the realiza- 
 tion of its object. There are then cases where faith 
 creates its own verification. Believe, and you shall 
 again be right, for you shall save yourself; doubt, 
 and you shall again be right, for you shall perish." 
 
 When we add to our own desire the word of the 
 eternal God, faith becomes more than a venture, it 
 becomes conviction. 
 
 Suggestion: Note the various wording of 11 :1 in 
 the Authorized Version, the Revised Version, and 
 the Revised Version Margin. Compare with Dr. 
 Moffatt's translation, "Now faith means we are con- 
 fident of what we hope for, convinced of what we 
 do not see." 
 
 VI. Faith and Religion (11:39-40) 
 
 Memory Verses : 11 :39— 40 
 
 "And these all, having had witness borne to them 
 through their faith, received not the promise, God 
 
158 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 having provided some better thing concerning us, 
 that apart from us they should not be made per- 
 fect." 
 
 From this record of history three facts follow: 
 
 1. Faith sometimes seems to fail. They lived and 
 died in faith and yet they discovered not the reality 
 in which they trusted. They "received not the 
 promise" (11:39). This fact faces us not only in 
 Hebrew history, but in all history. While it is true 
 that faith is its own reward, we yet face the con- 
 clusion that if there is no reality to correspond to 
 the outgoing of faith, then life becomes an illusion. 
 Nevertheless, this is the real heart of heroism, to die, 
 believing, although not having received the prom- 
 ise. 
 
 2. Eventually faith always succeeds. If the prom- 
 ise is delayed, it is because some "better thing" is 
 waiting us. "God's promises," says F. B. Robertson, 
 "are to the imagination." The "better things" prom- 
 ised are forgiveness of sins, and true and abiding 
 fellowship with God, surely better far than lands 
 and cities and conquered foes. 
 
 3. Faith is mutual. It links men to men, and 
 men to God, and God to men. All humanity is 
 bound together in victory or defeat. Christ has 
 mingled his life with the life of the world, and the 
 perfecting of all waits on the perfecting of each. 
 
THE SUPEEME EEALITY 159 
 
 This is the gospel of Christian brotherhood. All 
 believers are partners together in the final revela- 
 tion of a perfected redemption. 
 
 Suggestion : It has been pointed out that the word 
 "better" occurs thirteen times in this Epistle. Col- 
 lect these passages and estimate their message. 
 
 VII. The Supreme Reality— Summary 
 
 1. Carefully get by heart the memory verses. 
 
 2. Kelate this study to the teaching of the Epistle. 
 
 3. What two elements are found in faith ? 
 
 4. What is the author's conception of faith ? 
 
 5. Contrast the author's conception of faith with 
 that of Paul. 
 
 6. Upon what facts is the Gospel founded ? 
 
 7. What are the essential graces of the Christian 
 religion ? 
 
 8. What is meant by the priesthood of believers? 
 
 9. What does apostasy mean? 
 
 10. What motives to loyalty does the author urge 
 upon his readers ? 
 
 11. What place does the eleventh chapter of the 
 Epistle hold in the thought of the author ? 
 
 12. Why does faith sometimes seem to fail? 
 
 13. What is the relation of faith to reality? 
 
160 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Study of Woeds in Chapter 10 
 
 'New and living way (20) Sin wilfully (26) 
 Veil (20) Despite (29) 
 
 Provoke (24) Vengeance (30) 
 
 Good works (24) Illumined (32) 
 
 The day (25) Gazing-stock (33) 
 
 Our Heavenly Father, Thou Thyself hast taught 
 us to trust Thee. We would not be seeking Thee if 
 Thou Thyself hadst not already found us. Give 
 us faith to trust Thee in the darkness. Give us 
 faith to trust Tliee in the light, for we so often 
 think we can walk alone when the way is not dark. 
 Give us faith not only in God, but also in one an- 
 other, and may we carry the good news of the gospel 
 of Jesus into other homes and to other hearts. Amen. 
 
STUDY IX 
 
 THE SUPREME CULTURE 
 
 12:1-29 
 
 The goal of the Epistle is Christian character. 
 The author seeks to win men to the Christian life. 
 The aim of the Epistle is practical. 
 
 The first readers were ready to let go. They were 
 tired of the struggle and impatient under suffer- 
 ing. 
 
 The Epistle is now at the place where words of 
 heartening encouragement can be spoken. The pres- 
 ent suffering is not aimless. God is behind the world 
 movements that try men's souls. Have patience and 
 in the end all will be well. 
 
 This is not the first time God has shaken the 
 world. He has shaken it before. He will shake it 
 again. This shaking is to the end that the things 
 that cannot be shaken may endure. 
 
 Cling, then, says the Epistle, to the enduring 
 things. Be patient and believe that God's word 
 cannot fail and that his will shall endure. 
 
 161 
 
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162 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Suggestion: Relate the author's thought to these 
 words of Tennyson: 
 
 "Cling to Faith beyond the forms of Faith ; 
 She reels not in the storm of warring words, 
 She sees the best that glimmers through the worst. 
 She feels the sun is hid but for a night, 
 She spies the summer through the winter bud, 
 She tastes the fruit before the blossom falls, 
 She hears the lark within the songless egg, 
 She finds the fountain where they wailed, 'Mirage.' 
 And lay thine uphill shoulder to the wheel, 
 And climb the Mount of Blessing; whence, if thou 
 Look higher, then — perchance — thou mayest beyond 
 A hundred ever-rising mountain lines 
 And past the range of Night and Shadows — see 
 The high heaven dawn of more than mortal day 
 Strike on the Mount of Vision!" 
 
 I. The Culture of Faith (12:1-3) 
 
 Memory Veeses : 12 :l-2 
 
 "Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed 
 about with so gi-eat a cloud of witnesses, lay aside 
 every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset 
 lis, and let us run with patience the race that is set 
 before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfect- 
 er of our faith, who for the joy that was set before 
 Him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath 
 sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." 
 
 The example of the past is the encouragement of 
 
THE SUPKEME CULTUEE 163 
 
 the present. As Napoleon pointing to the Pyramids 
 said to his army, "Soldiers, forty centuries look down 
 on you," so the author bids his readers take notice 
 of the "cloud of witnesses" who now, crowned with 
 victory, watch them in the race. 
 
 The language suggests the ancient stadium where 
 the Grecian games were held, and the author sees 
 the long line of heroes whose names he has called 
 in the preceding chapter looking down, upon the 
 contestants. Tier upon tier of white faces look down 
 upon those who contend for mastery. 
 
 In the presence of those who watch, let us run the 
 race so as to win with them the victory. The condi- 
 tions of victory are as follows : 
 
 1. Lay aside every weight. The word refers to 
 anything that hinders in the race, any encumbrance, 
 any habits of life, or social connections, that handi- 
 cap (I Cor. 9:24-27). "An appetite, though law- 
 ful, that tends to gain on one; devotion to some 
 pursuit in danger of absorbing the mind ; an affection 
 that threatens to turn away the heart — such things 
 are weights." 
 
 2. Lay aside every besetting sin. The Revised 
 Version margin translates this difficult expression 
 "the sin that doth closely cling to us." The word 
 in the Greek means "to cling closely" and it occurs 
 nowhere else in the New_Testament. Professor Peake 
 remarks: "There are several possible translations, 
 
164 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 such as ^easily avoided/ 'much admired,' or 'popular,' 
 'close clinging.' While the second of these is sug- 
 gested by the form of the word, it does not yield 
 a very good sense, and the first gives a meaning 
 quite inapplicable. The last yields an excellent sense 
 in the context. Sin clings about the runner of the 
 heavenly race like a long, close-fitting robe, impeding 
 his every movement or even tripping him up." 
 
 The besetting sin, of course, is unbelief. This is 
 the closely clinging sin that trips a man up and 
 writes failure across his life. Unbelief is the crown- 
 ing sin. 
 
 3. Run with patience. In 6:12 the author bids 
 his readers to be "followers of them who through 
 faith and patience inherit the promises." If faith 
 can realize the unseen, then the future is swallowed 
 up in the present reality. 
 
 4. Look to Jesus. Amid all the heroes of the 
 past, He is first. He is the great example of a life 
 of faith. He trusted to the last limit of life and in 
 death commended his soul to God. He is the author 
 and finisher, not of our faith, but of his own. Do 
 not fail to see that the little word "our" spoils the 
 whole sense of the passage. Jesus among all the sons 
 of men is the finest example of faith. "He was the 
 first that could be called faithful." None ever re- 
 alized the unseen as did He. Because by faith He 
 realized the joy that was before Him, He endured 
 
THE SUPREME CULTURE 165 
 
 the pain of the cross, and is now enjoying his corona- 
 tion. This is faith indeed, and it will help and heart- 
 en us to keep our eyes ever fixed upon Him. 
 
 Suggestion : The New Testament speaks of life 
 as a race, as a battle, as a journey. Compare the au- 
 thor's language with that of Paul (I Cor. 4:9; II 
 Cor. 11:24-27; Phil. 3:12-14; I Tim. 6:12). 
 
 II. The Culture of Love (12:3-13) 
 
 Memory Vekse: 12:11 
 
 "All chastening seemeth for the present to be not 
 joyous but grievous ; yet afterward it yieldeth peace- 
 able fruit unto them that have been exercised there- 
 by, even the fruit of righteousness." 
 
 This section heads up as it were the practical 
 application of the Epistle. The author might have 
 closed here. 
 
 The Hebrew Christians to whom the Epistle was 
 addressed were being severely tried and tested in the 
 fire of persecution. They were being tempted be- 
 cause of their suiferings. They were in danger of 
 apostasy, and the author has pled for patience, for 
 faith, for confidence in the supremacy of the Gospel 
 of the cross. Now he brings his creed to bear upon 
 conduct, and applies the great doctrines he has in- 
 terpreted to the purposes of comfort. He urges pa- 
 
166 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 tience and endurance unto the end for the follow- 
 ing reasons : 
 
 1. The fact of Jesus. He asks them to "consider 
 Him." He brings to their remembrance the suffer- 
 ings and patience of Christ, and shows them that 
 they have not approached to Him in suffering. He 
 went to the last limit of life, suffering persecution 
 and death but still believing, trusting. All that He 
 endured did not swerve Him from his purpose, 
 neither did it have power to harm Him. The gain- 
 saying of sinners touched Him not for it was "against 
 themselves" that they fought. 
 
 2. The fact of God's fatherhood. There is a dif- 
 ference between punishment and chastisement. God 
 is our Father. We are his children. We are "sons." 
 We must not forget this. When affliction comes, it 
 comes from the Father's hand, and for the children's 
 good. In childhood we are blind, but later on we 
 see the value of chastisement. "I don't see why God 
 made me," says one of George Macdonald's charac- 
 ters, and the answer is given, "God hasn't made 
 you yet. He is making you and you don't like it." 
 God is the Father of spirits, and spirit, life, char- 
 acter, is the precious thing in his sight. 
 
 3. The fact of comfort. Suffering is the great 
 teacher. Jesus was "perfected through suffering," 
 fitted by sympathy to become the Saviour, the high 
 priest of all humanity. Through suffering, we, too, 
 
THE SUPKEME CULTURE 1C,7 
 
 are fitted to serve others, by lifting them up and by 
 making straight the path for their feet. It is the 
 argument that Paul uses "that we may be able to 
 comfort them that are in any affliction, through the 
 comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of 
 God" (II Cor. 1:4). 
 
 Suggestion: From this passage obtain a clear 
 conception of the Christian attitude towards suf- 
 fering, and note the attitudes mentioned in the pas- 
 sage. Some "despise" it (12:5), and some "faint" 
 under it (12:5). Some "endure" it (12:7). 
 
 Why is it true that 
 
 "The path of sorrow, and that path alone, 
 Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown" ? 
 
 III. The Culture of Service (12:14-17) 
 
 ]Memory Verse: 12:14 
 
 "Follow after peace with all men, and the sanc- 
 tification without which no man shall see the Lord." 
 
 From the personal the author turns his thought to 
 the community. The church is in danger of col- 
 lapse because of the wearing away of "inner confi- 
 dences." Dissensions and differences caused by mis- 
 imderstandings and rivalries have undermined the 
 witnessing power of the church, and the author pleads 
 for peace and holiness. 
 
168 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 It is only by raising the spiritual atmosphere of 
 the church that the danger can be averted. "As 
 when the tide recedes the waters fret and raise angry 
 surf upon the sunken rocks, but when it has ad- 
 vanced in full flow these rocks are submerged and 
 there is deep stillness over them, so in the full tide 
 of consecration unto God all causes of disquietude 
 are swallowed and covered." 
 
 Very cautiously the author hints at what seems 
 to be the fact that some individual is the disturber 
 of the peace of the church. Some one who, like Esau, 
 is a "profane" person, who instead of making the 
 unseen world a reality through faith, lives for the 
 things that are seen, and for them only. A "profane" 
 person is one to whom nothing is sacred. He is "a 
 man of a common type of mind devoted to lower and 
 earthly pursuits, without love or appreciation of what 
 is noble and spiritual." 
 
 The position of such a man is tragic. Having 
 sold his spiritual birthright he can never get it again. 
 He can never find a place for "repentance." Ee- 
 pentance here does not mean penitence which brings 
 forgiveness. It has here no theological meaning. The 
 author is saying over again what he has so forcibly 
 said before, that apostasy is a hopeless condition. 
 The effect of the past cannot be undone. The past 
 to men like Esau is irreparable. Faith like oppor- 
 tunity says: 
 
THE SUPKEME CULTURE 169 
 
 "Master of human destinies am I ! 
 
 Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait. 
 Cities and field I walk ; I penetrate 
 
 Deserts and seas remote, and passing by 
 Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late 
 I knock unbidden once at every gate! 
 
 If sleeping, wake; if feasting, rise before 
 I turn away. It is the hour of fate, 
 And they who follow me reach every state 
 Mortals desire, and conquer every foe 
 
 Save death ; but those who doubt or hesitate, 
 Condemned to failure, penury and woe, 
 
 Seek me in vain and uselessly implore. 
 I answer not, and I return no more !" 
 
 Suggestion: Compare the word "afterward" of 
 12 :17 with the "afterward" of 12 :11. 
 
 IV. The Culture of the Cross (12:18-24) 
 
 Memory Verses : 12 :22-24 
 
 "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the 
 city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and 
 to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general as- 
 sembly and church of the first born who are enrolled 
 in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the 
 spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the 
 mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of 
 sprinkling that speaketh better than Abel." 
 
 The Epistle is closing in to its conclusion. It calls 
 
170 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 for loyalty. It challenges these Hebrew Christians 
 to stand fast, to be true, to endure. The author 
 has brought before them the true philosophy of suf- 
 fering, and shown them the fatherhood of God, and 
 the brotherhood of Christ. He brings them now 
 face to face with their opportunity, their privilege, 
 their responsibility^ 
 
 In Old Testament times the people of God ap- 
 proached him only through symbols. The symbols 
 were suggestive of majesty and mystery, but they 
 were in the end barriers to God. They came to God 
 through a mountain that burned, and could not be 
 touched, through fire and blackness and darkness 
 where nothing could be seen, through the voice of a 
 trumpet that silenced even heavenly voices. It was 
 a revelation built on awe and wonder and religious 
 fear. 
 
 Under the Gospel, the people of God are in touch 
 not with symbols but with reality. They deal not 
 with shadows but with the substance of things spirit- 
 ual. Instead of a burning mountain they come to 
 the city, the dwelling place of God. They come to 
 the heavenly Jerusalem. In a word they come to 
 God Himself, the judge of all, the last and only re- 
 ality. They come also to angels and to redeemed men 
 made perfect, and last and best of all, they come to 
 Jesus, whose blood speaks of better things, of mercy 
 and of love, rather than of vengeance and retribu- 
 
THE SUPKEME CULTUKE 171 
 
 tion. "That was the blood of martyrdom; this of 
 sacrifice. That accursed, as it cried from the ground ; 
 this only pleads for mercy. That announced wrath ; 
 this proclaims reconciling love. That led to punish- 
 ment which branded the murderer; this issues in 
 salvation. That was unto death; this is unto life." 
 
 Suggestion: Note the use of the present tense, 
 "Ye are come" in 12 :22. Faith makes the future 
 present and even now creates the reality. 
 
 V. The Culture of Judgment (12:25-29) 
 
 Memory Verses : 12 :27-29 
 
 "And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the re- 
 moving of those things that are shaken, as of things 
 that have been made, that those things which are 
 not shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a 
 kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, 
 whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God 
 with reverence and awe : for our God is a consuming 
 fire." 
 
 The author is not afraid to make use of the emo- 
 tion of fear in presenting his appeal. There is a cul-" 
 ture in fear as well as in love, and men must face 
 the fire of God as well as the love of God. "Our 
 God is a consuming fire" (12:29). Fire is always 
 associated with judgment. Fire separates the gold 
 from the dross. In the fire the dross is consumed. 
 
172 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 In the fire the gold is purified. "The fire of the 
 furnace which is hatred to the dross is love to the 
 gold." 
 
 The judgment is ushered in by a voice. Through- 
 out the Epistle that voice is heard speaking (3:7; 
 4 :7 ; 12 :19, 26). It is the voice that speaks in revela- 
 tion. It is the revelation of God in Christ. He is 
 the V7ord of God. He is the truth, and truth al- 
 ways "shakes the earth." When the voice of God 
 spoke at Sinai the earth shook (12:26). The moral 
 law of Sinai was felt like an electric shock over all 
 the earth. Before that shaking idols fell, falsehoods 
 fell, immorality fell, pagan creeds and heathen shrines 
 fell. Righteousness and truth alone stood the shock. 
 Truth, like the sword of the spirit, divides and sep- 
 arates. 
 
 The voice that spoke at Sinai speaks again in 
 Christ. The truth that He reveals shakes not earth 
 only but also heaven. He is the gi'cat awakener, the 
 great antagonist. He is set for the falling and the 
 rising of many (Luke 2:34). Because He is the 
 revealer of truth, of spiritual ideas, and world ideals, 
 He comes not to send peace upon the earth but a 
 sword (Matt. 10:34). With his coming old things 
 are passed away and all things are made new. The 
 shaking of the world, through his Gospel, causes the 
 false things of life to fall so that these things that 
 
THE SUPKEME CULTURE 173 
 
 cannot be shaken may remain (12:27). The things 
 that cannot be shaken ! What are they but the love 
 of God, the kingdom of God, the service of God ? 
 
 "Once, so the legend goes, along the winding shore 
 of the blue ^gean Sea the mournful cry was heard, 
 'Great Pan is dead.' And the deities of classic 
 Greece departed from their thrones, and the oracles 
 left the temples, and the sprites of mountain and 
 woodland were seen no more for ever. A religion 
 died. And later again, far away in the desolate 
 North, there sounded another yet more bitter cry, 
 'Baldur is dead — Baldur the Good, the Beautiful.* 
 And amid the terrific conflict of the twilight of the 
 gods the old Scandinavian deities perished in their 
 turn, and another religion died. Yes, many religions • 
 have died. But Christianity does not die and cannot 
 die." 
 
 The passage recalls the story of Bishop Coxe's 
 great hymn: 
 
 ''O where are kings and empires now 
 Of old that went and came ? 
 But, Lord, thy Church is praying yet 
 A thousand years the same. 
 
 We mark her goodly battlements, 
 
 And her foundations strong; 
 We hear within the solemn voice 
 
 Of her unending song. 
 
174 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 For not like kingdoms of the world 
 
 Thy holy Church, O God; 
 Though earthquake shocks are threaten- 
 ing her, 
 
 And tempests are abroad; 
 
 Unshaken as eternal hills, 
 
 Immovable she stands, 
 A mountain that shall fill the earth, 
 
 A house not made with hands." 
 
 What has happened before in history will happen 
 again. Civilizations will pass away. Christ remains 
 and upon Him the new and abiding civilization will 
 be built. 
 
 Upon the tree of judgment grow three fruits of 
 the Spirit which make for true Christian culture. 
 
 1. Grace. The margin gives us the word "thank- 
 fulness," and reminds us that the shaking of judg- 
 ment is for the establishment of righteousness and 
 peace. Peace in the world and peace in the heart. 
 In his "Grace Abounding" Bunyan reveals what the 
 passage meant to his own heart : 
 
 "Being now ready to sink with fear, suddenly 
 there was, as if there had rushed in at the window, 
 the noise of wind upon me, but very pleasant, and 
 as if I heard a voice speaking, 'Didst thou ever 
 refuse to be justified by the blood of Christ V and 
 withal my whole life of profession past was in a 
 moment opened to me, wherein I was made to see 
 
THE SUPREME CULTURE 175 
 
 that desig-nedly I had not; so my heart answered 
 groaningly, 'No.' Then fell with power that word 
 of God upon me, 'See that ye refuse not Him that 
 speaketh' (Heb. 12 :25). This made a strange seizure 
 upon my spirit; it brought light with it, and com- 
 manded a silence in my heart, of all those tumul- 
 tuous thoughts, that did before use, like masterless 
 hellhounds, to roar and bellow and make an hideous 
 noise within me. It showed me also that Jesus 
 Christ had yet a word of grace and mercy for me." 
 
 2. Service. If the things that are worth while 
 remain unshaken, we may labor with patience. He 
 that sows must reap. It is the conclusion of Paul's 
 great argument concerning death and the assurance 
 of life everlasting. "Wherefore, my beloved breth- 
 ren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in 
 the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that 
 your labor is not in vain in the Lord." The great 
 war has sounded the note of service above all other 
 words. It is Christ's message to our age. 
 
 3. Reverence. Is it not true that reverence is the 
 missing note in the life of our modern world ? How 
 can we awaken a true and abiding spirit of reverence ? 
 By an adequate idea of God. "Our God is a con- 
 suming fire." To the people of our age the words 
 of long ago are still pertinent. "Take off thy shoes 
 from off thy feet for the place whereon thou stand- 
 est is holy ground." 
 
176 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 In humility let us make this prayer our prayer: 
 "0 God, who art as fire, be Thou a consuming 
 fire to our inbred sins; burn deeply into our inmost 
 hearts, until all that grieves Thee is compelled to 
 yield to the holy intensity of thy grace, and our 
 whole being, made free from sin, begins to serve 
 Thee in holiness and righteousness, through Jesus 
 Christ, Who came to kindle thy sacred fire on the 
 earth !" 
 
 Suggestion: Make a thoughtful study of the 
 places of "fear'" in the thought of the Epistle. (See 
 2:15; 4:1; 10:31; 13:6; 10:27.) 
 
 VI. The Supreme Culture — Summary 
 
 1. Memorize carefully the memory verses. 
 
 2. Connect this section with the preceding sec- 
 tion and with the entire thought of the Epistle. 
 
 3. Why is Jesus called the author and finisher of 
 faith ? 
 
 4. What is the author's interpretation of the prob- 
 lem of human suffering? 
 
 5. What is the difference between chastisement 
 and punishment? 
 
 6. What help to bear suffering does the author 
 give? 
 
 7. What is meant by the words "no place of re- 
 pentance" (12:17)? 
 
THE SUPEEME CULTURE 177 
 
 8. Show that the comparison between the old and 
 the new is characteristic of the whole Epistle. 
 
 9. What is meant by the words, "A kingdom that 
 cannot be moved" ? 
 
 10. What definitions of "God" are given in the 
 Epistle ? 
 
 Studies op Words in Chapter 12 
 
 Beset (1) Partakers (10) 
 
 Author and finisher (2) Healed (13) 
 
 Joy set before (2) Grace of God (15) 
 
 Against themselves (3) Profane (16) 
 
 Forgotten (5) Eepentance (17) 
 
 Chasteneth (6) Firstborn (23) 
 
 A few days (10) Yet once more (26) 
 
 Ptapet 
 
 'Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove, 
 Dew descending from above, 
 Breath of life and fire of love; 
 Hear us, Holy Spirit. 
 
 All our evil passions kill, 
 Bend aright our stubborn will, 
 Though we grieve Thee, patient still; 
 Hear us, Holy Spirit. 
 
178 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 Come to aid the souls who yearn 
 More of truth divine to learn, 
 And with deeper love to burn; 
 Hear us, Holy Spirit. 
 
 Holy, loving, as Thou art, 
 Come, and live within our heart; 
 IS^ever more from us depart; 
 Hear us. Holy Spirit." 
 
STUDY X 
 
 THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 
 
 13:1-25 
 
 This study brings us to the eonclusion of the Epis- 
 tle. True to the author's purpose, already abundant- 
 ly revealed, he concentrates upon religion rather than 
 upon theology. Eeligion is life. Theology is the in- 
 terpretation of life. 
 
 The chapter gathers up into concise and simple 
 words the author's exhortations looking to the man- 
 ifestation in humble tasks and common ways of 
 the true spirit of the Christian life and hope. The 
 religion of Jesus, like the life of Jeeus, is best re- 
 vealed in ordinary affairs, in the home, in business, 
 in the daily round of duty. 
 
 "The Christian is the workshop of God." In 
 the heart of his children, world conflicts are born 
 and world victories achieved. The whole creation 
 waits for "the manifestation of the sons of God," 
 and the author of the Epistle challenges those who 
 name the sacred name to prove their creed by their 
 conduct, and their love by their life. "The world 
 
 179 
 
180 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 is interested in Mr. Gladstone," said Lord Morley, 
 "not so much because of what he did but because 
 of what he was." 
 
 Suggestion : "The more a man lives in heaven, the 
 better fitted he is to live on earth." Show the true 
 relation of creed and conduct, and show how religious 
 faith is related to social service. 
 
 I. The Challenge of Brotherhood (13:1-6) 
 
 Memory Verse: 13:1 
 "Let love of the brethren continue." 
 
 "Fear" is not the author's last word. His last 
 word is "love." True to his art as a teacher he knows 
 the value of appreciation and encouragement. "Let 
 brotherly love continue" (13:1). It is enough, he 
 says, to do as you have been doing. He follows his 
 own advice and seeks to "provoke to love and to 
 good works." This art of appreciation he has con- 
 sistently followed (6:10; 10:24, 34). 
 
 Brotherhood is the fruit of the cross of Christ. 
 "See how these Christians love one another," was 
 the comment of the world upon the conduct of the 
 early Christians. They said of Sir Walter Scott 
 that he treated every man like a born brother. That 
 was a fine thing to say. Brotherhood, too, is a fruit 
 
THE SUPEEME CHALLENGE 181 
 
 of the sacrifice and sorrow of these days of Tvar. That 
 was the spirit of Jesus. It is the spirit of Christ 
 gained in the atmosphere of the cross. "No man 
 hath seen God at any time. If a man say, 'I love 
 God/ and hateth his brother, he is a liar, for he 
 that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, can- 
 not love God whom he has not seen." 
 
 1. Brotherliness quickly reveals itself in the grace 
 of hospitality. Hospitality was one of the first and 
 finest of the graces of the early Church. The perse- 
 cuted and unfortunate members of the "brotherhood" 
 found a welcome wherever the name of Christ was 
 named. The early Christians built their houses "by 
 the side of the road where the race of men go by," 
 and in the bestowment of hospitality they received a 
 heavenly benediction and the fellowship of angels. 
 
 2. The spirit of brotherhood expresses itself in 
 sympathy. Everywhere in those days could be found 
 brethren, some "in bonds" and some "evil entreated" 
 (13 :3). Above everything else, the Christian is sym- 
 pathetic. "Why are we not kinder to one another ?" 
 asks Henry Drummond, and to his searching ques- 
 tion each of us must make answer. 
 
 3. Brotherhood reveals itself in home happiness 
 (13:4). True Christianity makes the family the 
 true center of society. Anything that robs marriage 
 of its sanctity, or the home of its sacredness, or 
 
182 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 love of its loyalty, is not of the spirit of Christ. 
 Speaking of Luther, Professor Stalker has said: 
 "To the ordinary mind, Luther has a sufficient title 
 to honor in the gift to the world of three blessings — 
 an open Bible, the worship of God in the language 
 of the people, and the Protestant manse with wife 
 and children." 
 
 4. Brotherliness manifests itself in Christian con- 
 tentment. It snuns covetousness and self-aggrandise- 
 ment and trusts both God and men in all honesty 
 and industry. Brotherhood believes in fatherhood 
 and it belongs to fatherhood to care for the children. 
 "I will in no wise fail thee" (13:5). 
 
 ''I know not where his islands lift 
 Their fronded palms in air; 
 I only know I cannot drift 
 Beyond his love and care." 
 
 These are the jeweled beads in the priceless chain 
 of Christian brotherhood, hospitality, sympathy, 
 home happiness, and contentment. 
 
 Suggestion: The quotation, "I will in no wise 
 fail thee; neither will I in any wise forsake thee," 
 is found word for word in Philo. Is it found in the 
 Old Testament? (See Deut. 31:6-8; I Chron. 
 28:20.) 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 183 
 II. The Challenge of Loyalty (13:7-14) 
 
 Memory Verse : 13:8 
 
 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, 
 yea and for ever." 
 
 The author challenges his readers to be loyal to 
 their past. 
 
 In the first place he presents to them the claim 
 of their former teachers. The men who gave them 
 the Gospel, and who had passed to their great re- 
 ward, and claimed their loyalty. They were men 
 of God and worthy of imitation. They sealed their 
 testimony in life and in death. 
 
 In the second place he claims from them loyalty 
 to the teaching of their first leaders. "Jesus Christ 
 is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever" 
 (13:8). Jesus is changeless. Time may change. 
 Nations may change. Creeds may change. Christ 
 is the abiding, the changeless one. To be carried 
 away by divers and strange teachings is disloyalty 
 to Him. Edwin Arnold said: 
 
 'Now he is dead ; far hence he lies, 
 In the lone Syrian town; 
 And on his head with shining eyes, 
 The Syrian stars look down." 
 
 That is poetry but it is not history and it is not 
 
184 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 truth. He is the living Christ. From Arnold turn 
 to Tennyson. You will remember the familiar lines 
 of Tennyson about the Christian nurse, who, in her 
 anxiety to save a little lad's life after the unbelieving 
 surgeon had told her that the lad would need little 
 more of her care, replied that they "should seek the 
 Lord Jesus in prayer." The surgeon turned upon 
 his heel muttering to himself, and she thought she 
 heard him say, "All very well, but the good Lord 
 Jesus has had his day." Then her love began to 
 burn and she cried: 
 
 "Had ? Has it come ? It has only dawned ! 
 
 It will come by and by. 
 O how could I serve in the wards 
 
 If the hope of the world were a lie ? 
 How could I bear with the sights 
 
 And the loathsome smells of disease 
 But that He said, 'Ye do it to Me, 
 
 When ye do it unto these.' " 
 
 There are thousands such who can testify to the 
 present power of a living Christ. For his sake they 
 endure the darkness, bear the drudgery, carry the 
 cross, dwell in exile and loneliness, yes, and suffer 
 the loss of all things. The miracle of yesterday is 
 being wrought at our own door to-day. 
 
 The author warns his readers that loyalty to Christ 
 will be costly. He, however, shows from the Old 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 185 
 
 Testament dispensation that loyalty has always de- 
 manded a high price. 
 
 The bodies of animals offered as sacrifices for 
 sin were burned "without the camp" (13:11). In 
 like manner Jesus "suffered without the gate" 
 (13:12). If they are to follow Him in all love and 
 loyalty, they will not shrink from "bearing his re- 
 proach" and "go forth with him without the camp" 
 (13:13). Those who remain within the ancient city 
 must cling to the past with its imperfect fellowship, 
 and its failure to satisfy the heart. With Christ, 
 "without the camp" we find another city, "an abiding 
 city" (13:14), where fellowship is perfected and the 
 heart is satisfied. In that city of God the true wor- 
 shipper finds "an altar" (13:10) where he may eat, 
 not the meat which perisheth, but the true bread of 
 God of which when a man eats he never hungers 
 again. 
 
 This passage is among the finest in the whole Epis- 
 tle and is a sort of Christian climax to all the won- 
 derful interpretation of the Old Testament system 
 in the terms of Christianity. Professor Peake has 
 aptly summed up the message in these words: 
 
 "That Jesus suffered without the gate was to the 
 author very suggestive. It not only assimilated his 
 sacrifice to that of the Day of Atonement, it was a 
 fit symbol that Jerusalem had thrust him out, by 
 dooming him to the 'reproach' of an outlaw's death. 
 
186 THE SUPEEME GOSPEL 
 
 and a death pronounced accursed in the law (Deut. 
 21 :23). Henceforth he was homeless on earth. But 
 that system which made him an alien can be no home 
 for his followers : they too must break with Judaism, 
 and bear with him the ignominy of the cross. And 
 we may be well content to be outcasts, homeless as 
 they made him, for it is not on earth that we have 
 'an abiding city.' On earth there can be no such 
 permanent abode for those whose true home is in the 
 unseen, and who know themselves to be pilgrims 
 and strangers. The}'' know, too, that soon heaven 
 and earth will be shaken, and no material city can 
 survive that convulsion of the universe." 
 
 Suggestion : Try to interpret the words of 13 :10, 
 "we have an altar," in terms of the Christian re- 
 ligion. 
 
 III. The Challenge of Sacrifice (13:15-16) 
 
 Memoky Verse: 13:15 
 
 "Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of 
 praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips 
 which make confession to his name." 
 
 The meaning of these verses is very plain. While 
 sacrifice, the never ceasing sacrifice of the Jewish 
 religion, has been done away through the sacrifice 
 of Jesus, yet sacrifice still claims a place in the 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 187 
 
 Christian faith. The form has vanished forever ; the 
 principle remains. What then is meant by the Chris- 
 tian sacrifice ? 
 
 1. In the first place Christians are called upon to 
 offer the sacrifice of praise continually (13:15). 
 This is a sacrifice, which like the sin offering of the 
 Old Testament, must never cease. It is the sacrifice 
 of gratitude, of thanksgiving, for the gift of his 
 love in Christ. It is the sacrifice which belongs to 
 the Pauline order. "God forbid that I should glory 
 save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through 
 which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I 
 unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). 
 
 2. In the second place, the Christian offers on the 
 altar of his love the sacrifice of service. "To do 
 good and to communicate forget not" (13:16). It 
 is sublimely simple. 
 
 "So many gods, so many creeds. 
 So many paths that wind around, 
 And yet the art of being kind. 
 Is all this old world needs." 
 
 It is a return as it were to the cry of the proph- 
 ets: "Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an 
 abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, the 
 calling of assemblies — I cannot away with iniquity 
 and the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your 
 appointed feasts my soul hateth, they are a trouble 
 
188 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 unto me; I am weary of hearing them. And when 
 ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes 
 from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will 
 not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, 
 make you clean; put away the evil of your doings 
 from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil ; learn to do 
 well; seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the 
 fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let 
 us reason together, saith Jehovah : though your sins 
 be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though 
 they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" 
 (Isa. 1:13-18). It is the same thought which 
 Paul brought home to the hearts of his converts. 
 "I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies 
 of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, 
 acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service" 
 (Rom. 12:1). Christian sacrifice is the surrender 
 of one's will, one's self to God. In one of his early 
 letters Marcus Dods says : 
 
 "It is indeed a life of self-denial, this, and I feci 
 as if now for the first time I had even a dim view of 
 what it is to be not one's own, to me a heart-rending 
 lesson, a long and bitter lesson, one I would gladly 
 exchange for fasting, or scourging, or what asceticism 
 you will. Let me keep my own will, let me be my 
 own, aim at my own idea of holiness, aid myself 
 with my own props, and I would do most things. 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 189 
 
 But this is the bard thing to learn, that in everything, 
 from this moment for ever, I am not only not to get 
 my ovi^n will, but I am to desire not to get my own 
 will, to will to be controlled by another wholly and 
 unceasingly. This has to me at times all the pain of 
 dissolution. It is indeed a dying to this world." 
 
 "Death ends indeed the cares of life. 
 
 Yet shudders life when death comes near, 
 And such the fond heart's death-like strife 
 When first the loved one does appear. 
 
 For, where true love is wakened, dies 
 The tyrant self, that despot dark. 
 
 Rejoice then that in death he lies, 
 
 And breathe morn's free air, with the lark." 
 
 What marvelous application do these principles 
 of the cross obtain from the sacrifice of the thousands 
 upon the blood-stained fields of Europe ! 
 
 These then are the sacrifices which please God — 
 towards God a thankful heart, and towards men a 
 kindly spirit which ministers through personal sym- 
 pathy and through wealth to the needs of life. 
 
 Suggestion: Interpret to your own heart the 
 words, "God is well pleased." According to the 
 Epistle, God is pleased with two things: (1) faith 
 (11:5), (2) sacrifice (13:16). Compare with John 
 8:29, Rom. 15:3, Heb. 13:21. 
 
190 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 IV. The Challenge of Obedience (13:17) 
 
 Memoky Veese: 13:17 
 
 "Obey them that have the rule over you, and sub- 
 mit to them : for they watch in behalf of your souls, 
 as they that shall give account ; that they may do this 
 with joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofit- 
 able for you." 
 
 The author had challenged the Hebrew Christians 
 to loyalty to their past leaders ; he now claims from 
 them obedience to their present teachers. The author 
 seems to be in absolute accord with their present 
 leaders. If failure should come it would not be be- 
 cause of lack of fidelity on the part of the ministry. 
 The failure would come from the laity. It would not 
 be a failure of the pulpit, but of the pew; a failure 
 not of teaching, but of practice. 
 
 What a beautiful outline the author here gives of 
 the work of a true pastor. 
 
 1. A true pastor in the church of God is a leader. 
 He must be followed if the goal is to be reached. 
 
 2. A true pastor is a shepherd. Like the Bethle- 
 hem shepherds, he keeps watch over his sheep by 
 night, as well as by day. He watches in behalf of 
 the souls of men. 
 
 3. A true pastor is a servant. He too serves the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. Some day he must give an ao- 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 191 
 
 count of his stewardship. If success crowned his 
 efforts, jo J would be his reward. If he failed, his 
 heart would be bowed in grief. 
 
 It is said of Melville, that sometimes in the night, 
 his wife would find him on his knees, even in the 
 coldest night of winter, and when she urged him 
 to return to bed he would say, ''I have got fifteen 
 hundred souls in my charge and I fear that it is going 
 ill Avith some of them." It is of such shepherds the 
 author speaks when he calls Christians to obedience. 
 
 Suggestion : Note the word "grief." The mar- 
 ginal reading is "gToaning." Call to mind the words 
 of the saintly Samuel Rutherford, "Anworth is not 
 a large parish, but it is my parish, and all the people 
 in it have not yet given their hearts to the Lord." 
 
 "O if one soul from Anworth, 
 Meet me at God's right hand ; 
 My heaven will be two heavens 
 In Immanuel's land." 
 
 V. The Challenge of Prayer (13:18-21) 
 
 Memory Veeses: 13:20-21 
 
 "Now the God of peace, who brought again from 
 the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the 
 blood of the eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, 
 make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, 
 
192 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight, 
 through Jesus Christ ; to whom be the glory for ever 
 and ever. Amen." 
 
 When argument ceases, prayer begins. When ar- 
 gument fails, prayer succeeds. The author has said 
 all he can say. His last appeal is to the power of 
 prayer. 
 
 1. He asks first of all their prayers for him. (a) 
 Prayer is a great pacifier. The finest seal of true 
 friendship. Praying even for enemies soon converts 
 them into friends. How can one go on praying for 
 an enemy ! Prayer is the secret seal of mutual 
 fellowship. It breaks down suspicion and criticism 
 within its atmosphere. (h) Prayer is the great 
 power with God and with men. Prayer does things. 
 Prayer will effect the speedier arrival of the author 
 (13:19). Let us believe and act upon the word that 
 "more things are wrought by prayer than this world 
 dreams of." 
 
 2. He, in turn, prays for them. Among all the 
 prayers of the Bible, none is so sweet, so beautiful, 
 so appealing, as this short simple supplication for 
 the people whom he had exhorted, cautioned, warned, 
 and whom he loved (13:20,21). It touched gently 
 and tenderly upon their own gTeat needs and lifted 
 them up into the very presence of God. 
 
 Here all dissension and arguments are hushed. 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 193 
 
 God is ''the God of peace." When he comes the 
 storms are quiet. 
 
 "Thou shalt know Him when He comes, 
 Not by din of drums, 
 Not by anything He wears. 
 Nor his airs ; 
 
 But He shall well known be. 
 By the holy harmony, 
 Which his coming wakes in thee." 
 
 Here all doubt and misgiving disappear. He is 
 "the great shepherd of the sheep," and even as he 
 brought Jesus up from the dead, so he will perfect 
 life. He cannot fail. Where the great shepherd 
 leads, we can safely follow. Even in the valley of 
 the shadow of death we need fear no evil. 
 
 Two notes may be added. (1) This is the only 
 reference in the Epistle to the resurrection of Christ. 
 (2) This prayer so mingles the name of "the God of 
 peace" and that of "the great shepherd of the sheep" 
 that it is diflScult to say to whom the doxology is ad- 
 dressed. It is the author's unconscious identifica- 
 tion of Jesus with God, and the recognition of his 
 Deity. 
 
 Suggestion: The end of all prayer is to do his 
 will (13:21). The sum of all true prayer is "thy 
 will, not mine, be done." If we understood the won- 
 
194 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 derful beauty of God's will for us, we would not 
 hesitate to make this prayer ours. 
 
 "God is love; to do his will is to scatter love in 
 handfuls of blessing on a weary world. God is light ; 
 to do his will is to tread a path that shines more 
 and more unto the perfect day. God is life; to do 
 his will is to eat of the tree of life, and live forever, 
 and to drink deep draughts of the more abundant life 
 which Jesus gives. God is the God of hope; to do 
 his will is to be full of all joy and peace, and to 
 abound in hope. God is the God of all comfort; to 
 do his will is to be comforted in all our tribulation 
 by the tender love of a mother. God is the God of 
 peace; to do his will is to learn the secret inner 
 calm, which no storm can reach, no tempest ruffle. 
 God is the God of truth; to do his will is to be on 
 the winning side, and to be assured of the time when 
 He will bring out our righteousness as the light, and 
 our judgment as the noonday." — Meyer. 
 
 VI. The Challenge of Friendship (13:22-25) 
 
 Memory Vekse : 13 :25 
 
 "Grace be with you all. Amen." 
 
 The Epistle closes with a few friendly words of 
 salutation. 
 
 He asks his readers to accept what he has written 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 195 
 
 as "a word of exhortation." He would not have them 
 think that he had been disputing or even arguing 
 with them. He is acting just as any true friend 
 would act. 
 
 He speaks of his letter as short. It is "a letter 
 unto you in few words." In reality it is short. Pro- 
 fessor Moulton says it can be read aloud in less than 
 an hour. In view of the seriousness of the situation 
 it is all too short and will be supplemented later 
 by a personal appeal. 
 
 He, himself, will soon pay them a visit and bring 
 with him "brother Timothy" who has been given 
 his liberty. We do not know the circumstances of 
 Timothy's imprisonment, but we appreciate the per- 
 sonal friendly touch. Timothy is brother both to him 
 and to them, and is as it were a bond of Christian 
 friendship between them. 
 
 To their teachers, and to the brethren, "the saints," 
 he sends cordial love and Christian greeting, and the 
 Christian Italians who are with him unite in saluta- 
 tion of Christian fellowship and prayer. The Epistle 
 closes with the short benediction, "Grace be with you 
 all. Amen." (See Titus 3:15; Col. 4:18; I Tim. 
 6:21; II Tim. 4:22.) The author leaves them in 
 God's keeping, confident that the gracious God, the 
 ever-giving God, will fulfill in them his blessed pur- 
 pose. 
 
196 THE SUPREME GOSPEL 
 
 "Plenteous grace with Thee is found, 
 
 Grace to cover all my sin; 
 Let the healing streams abound; 
 
 Make and keep me pure within. 
 Thou of life the fountain art, 
 
 Freely let me take of Thee ; 
 Spring Thou up within my heart, 
 
 Eise to all eternity. 
 
 Suggestion: Can you as you close the study of 
 this book assent to the conclusion of Matthew Henry ? 
 — "It must be acknowledged that there are many 
 things in this Epistle hard to be understood, but the 
 sweetness we will find therein will make us abundant 
 amends for all the pains we take to understand it. 
 And indeed, if we compare all the Epistles of the 
 !N'ew Testament, we shall not find any of them more 
 replenished with divine, heavenly matter than this 
 to the Hebrews." 
 
 VII. The Supreme Challenge — Summary 
 
 1. Endeavor to make the memory verses your own 
 for all time. 
 
 2. Give in brief review the outline of the entire 
 Epistle. 
 
 3. Is this last chapter an anti-climax? 
 
 4. What is the attitude of the Epistle towards 
 hospitality, the home, wealth ? 
 
THE SUPREME CHALLENGE 107 
 
 5. What is the author's idea as to the true relation 
 of pastor and people? 
 
 6. What attitude should Christians observe con- 
 cerning the past ? 
 
 7. What is the Christian view of sacrifice ? 
 
 8. What value is attributed to prayer in the Epis- 
 tle? 
 
 9. What position does the author take concerning 
 the Deity of Christ ? 
 
 10. Have you come to any definite idea as to the- 
 authorship of the Epistle ? 
 
 11. Is the emphasis of the Epistle upon doctrine 
 or upon deed? 
 
 12. Why is the Gospel of Jesus supreme ? 
 
 Studies of Words in Chapter 13 
 
 Brotherly love (1) Communicate (16) 
 
 Content (5) Unprofitable (17) 
 
 The word of God (7) An everlasting covenant 
 
 Conversation (7) (20) 
 
 Altar (10) Exhortation (22) 
 
 Reproach (13) Saints (24) 
 
 Ptapet 
 
 Almighty God, Who hast bestowed thy Word upon 
 us, grant unto us grace rightly to understand it. 
 
198 THE SUPKEME GOSPEL 
 
 Save us from using thy Word deceitfully, from 
 wresting it to serve our own purpose, from being 
 in bondage to the letter whilst we neglect the spirit ; 
 and grant that, searching the Scriptures diligently, 
 we may find in them their testimony to Christ, and 
 beholding his glory, reflected in them, may be changed 
 into the same image from glory to glory, even as by 
 the Spirit of the Lord; through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. Amen. 
 
 — A Boole of Common Order. 
 
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