remembrance of Abraham, and Eliezer, and Isaac.
1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High-priest of our confession, even Jesus ,
2 faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also was Moses in all His (God's) house. 3 For He hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as He hath more glory than the house who established it. 4 For every house is established by some one; but He that established all things is God. 5 And while Moses was faithful in all His (God's) house as a servant, for a testimony of the things which should be spoken ,
6 Christ
is faithful
as Son over His
(God's)
house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the boast of our hope firm unto the end.
(1) A general view of the dignity of Jesus (1, 2)
Heb. 3:1, 2. The thought of the majesty and sympathy of Christ, the Son, and the glorified Son of man, glorified through sufferings, which bring Him near to fallen man as Redeemer and High-priest, imposes upon Christians the duty of considering His Person heedfully, in His humanity as well as in His divinity.
3:1.
o{qen
]
Wherefore
, because Christ has taken our nature to Himself, and knows our needs and is able to satisfy them.
ajdelfoi; a{gioi
]
holy brethren.
The phrase occurs only here, and perhaps in 1 Thess. 5:27. It follows naturally from the view of Christ's office which has just been given. This reveals the destiny of believers.
The epithet a{gioi is social and not personal, marking the ideal character not necessarily realised individually. (Compare John 13:10.)
In this sense St Paul speaks of Christians generally as a{gioi (e.g., Eph. 2:19). Compare 1 Pet. 2:5 iJeravteuma a{gion , id. 2:9 e[qno" a{gion .
Here the epithet characterises the nature of the fellowship of Christians which is further defined in the following clause.
The title ajdelfoiv occurs again in the Epistle 3:12; 10:19; 13:22. The sense of brotherhood springs from the common relation to Christ, and the use of the title here first may have been suggested by 2:11 ff., to which however there is no direct reference. Contrast 4:1. Filii unius caelestis Patris et unius Ecclesiae matris (Herv.).
Primasius says: Fratres eos vocat tam carne quam spiritu, qui ex eodem genere erant, eandemque fidem habebant. This is true in itself, but perhaps does not lie in the writer's thoughts.
klhvsew" ejpouranivou
] Comp. Phil. 3:14
th'" a[nw klhvsew"
. The Christian's calling is heavenly not simply in the sense that it is addressed to man from God in heaven, though this is true (comp. Heb. 12:25), but as being a calling to a life fulfilled in heaven, in the spiritual realm. The voice from heaven to Moses was an earthly calling, a calling to the fulfilment of an earthly life.
Theophylact's words are too narrow when he says, treating heaven as a place not a state: ejkei' ejklhvqhmen, mhde;n ejntau'qa zhtw'men . ejkei' oJ misqov", ejkei' hJ ajntapovdosi" .
The word
klh'si"
is found elsewhere in the N. T. only in St Paul and 2 Pet. 1:10. Comp. Clem. 1
Cor.
vii; xlvi.
ejpouranivou
] Heb. 6:4; 8:5; 9:23; 11:16; 12:22. Comp. Eph. 1:3; Phil.