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the nearness of the great crisis of the Lord's coming, made the obligation of mutual support among Christians urgently pressing. The danger was great and the time was short. Those who deserted the Christian Faith would be swept away in the ruin soon to follow, without the opportunity of return. The change to the direct address ( blevpete in contrast with katanow'men ) adds force to the appeal. The beginning of the Jewish war was already visible to the Hebrews.

This absolute use of ‘the day’ ( th;n hJmevran ) is peculiar. The nearest parallels are 1 Thess. 5:4; Rom. 13:12; in both of which passages the contrast with ‘night’ is brought out. Compare 1 John 2:8.

‘The day’ is elsewhere spoken of, according to the phrase of the O. T., as ‘the day of the Lord’ ( hJmevra Kurivou, hJ hJmevra tou' Kurivou ) Acts 2:20
(LXX.); 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Thess. 2:2; 2 Pet. 3:10; or, more generally, as ‘that day’ (
ejkeivnh hJ hJmevra ) Matt. 7:22; 24:36 || Mark 13:32; Lk. 10:12 (17:31); 21:34; 2 Thess. 1:10; 2 Tim. 1:12, 18; 4:8.

Elsewhere it is called ‘the day of God’ (2 Pet. 3:12); ‘the day (days) of the Son of man’; Lk. 17:26 (30); comp. John 8:56; ‘the day of Christ,’ ‘of Jesus Christ,’ ‘of our Lord Jesus’ [Christ] Eph. 1:6, 10; 2:16; 1 Cor. 1:8 (v. 5); 2 Cor. 1:14; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16.

It is also called ‘the great day’: Jude 6; Apoc. 6:17; 16:14; ‘a day of judgment’: Matt. 10:15; 11:22, 24; 12:36; (Rom. 2:16); 2 Pet. 2:9; 3:7; 1 John 4:17; and, in regard to its contrasted issues, ‘a day of redemption’: Eph. 4:30; ‘a day of wrath’: Rom. 2:5. Comp. ‘the last day’ in St John (6:39 note).

In working out these various thoughts it will be seen that each day of Christ's coming is at once a fulfilment and a prophecy: a judgment and a promise. Such was the final overthrow of the Jewish system at the fall of Jerusalem.

The expectation of the Lord's speedy coming, which then had accomplishment, is found expressed in each group of writings of the N.T., and under the same term parousiva .

‘The day’ is spoken of as ‘drawing nigh’ ( ejggivzousan ), as in other apostolic writings: Rom. 13:12 ( hJ hJm. h[ggiken ); Phil. 4:5 ( oJ Kuvrio" ejgguv" ); James 5:8 ( hJ parousiva tou' Kurivou h[ggiken ); 1 Pet. 4:7 ( pavntwn to; tevlo" h[ggiken ). Compare Heb. 8:13 ( ejggu;" ajfanismou' ); and John 21:21 ff.

(2) Heb. 10:26-31. The perils of apostasy. The charge which has been given in the last section to fulfil the personal and social claims of the Faith is enforced by a consideration of the perils of apostasy. There is, the writer shews, no sacrifice available for apostates from Christ (10:26, 27).

Death was the punishment of the corresponding offence under the Old Covenant (10:28); and the same principle must find application to Christians (10:29); who serve the same God (10:30, 31).

It must be observed that the argument assumes that the sacrifice of Christ is finally rejected, and sin persisted in ( aJmartanovntwn ). The writer does not set limits to the efficacy of Christ's work for the penitent.

The whole section must be compared with Heb. 6:4-8. The Fathers commonly interpret the passage as laying down that there can be no repetition of Baptism: so, for example, Chrysostom: [ ouj ] th;n metavnoian ajnairei' h] to;n dia; metanoiva" ejxilasmovn, oujde; wjqei' kai; katabavllei dia; th'" ajpognwvsew" to;n ejptaikovta ... ajlla; tiv ; to; deuvteron


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