Commentary on Hebrews and the Catholic Epistles John Calvin (continued)
CHAPTER 6
Heb 6:11-15
Hebrews Chapter 6:11-15
11. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
11. Desideramus autem ununquemque vestrum idem ostendere studium ad certitudinem spei usque in finem;
12. That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
12. Ne segnes (vel, molles, aut fluxi) reddamini, sed potius imitatores eorum qui per fidem et patientiam haereditario obtinuerunt promissiones.
13. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
13. Abrahae enim promittens Deus, quandoquidem majorem per quem juraret, non habebat, juravit per seipsum;
14. Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
14. Dicens, Nisi benedicens benedixero tibi, et multiplicans multicavero te. 15. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 15. Atque ita quum patienter expectasset, consequutus est promissionem. 11. And we desire, etc. As he blended with exhortation, lest he should altogether grieve their minds; so he now freely reminds them of what was still wanting in them, lest his courtesy should appear to have in it any flattery. ``You have made,'' he says, ``your love evident by many acts of kindness; it remains, however, that your faith should correspond with it; you have sedulously labored not to be wanting in your duties to men; but with no less earnestness it behooves you to make progress in faith, so as to manifest before God its unwavering and full certainty.''
Now, by these words the Apostle shows that there are two parts in Christianity which correspond with the two tables of the Law. Therefore, he who separates the one from the other, has nothing but what is mutilated and mangled. And hence it appears what sort of teachers they are who make no mention of faith, and enjoin only the duty of honesty and uprightness towards men; nay, it is a profane philosophy, that dwells only on the outward mask of righteousness, if indeed it deserves to be called philosophy; for it so unreasonably performs its own duties, that it robs God, to whom the preeminence belongs, of his own rights. Let us then remember, that the life of a Christian is not complete in all its parts, unless we attend to faith as well as to love.
To the full assurance of hope, or, to the certainty of hope, etc. As they who professed the Christian faith were distracted by various opinions, or were as yet entangled in many superstitions, he bids them to be so fixed in firm faith, as no longer to vacillate nor be driven here and there, suspended between alternate winds of doubts. This injunction is, however, applicable to all; for, as the truth of God is unchangeably fixed, so faith, which relies on him, when it is true, ought