An Evil, Unbelieving Heart
AN EVIL, UNBELIEVING HEART
HEBREWS 3:12-19
We must never harden our hearts and take God’s grace for granted.
Following from the quotation from Psalm 95 we come to the application. This example from Scripture shows that God does not show partiality. Even the people for whom he had performed the miracles in Egypt and whom he had brought to the borders of the Promised Land were not spared when they persisted in unbelief and sin. The “evil, unbelieving heart” that was in them could not but produce evil consequences. So the readers of this letter are warned against such a heart. It will surely lead to a falling away from the living God (3:12). There is an interesting combination of the individual and the community. The appeal is addressed to them all. But they are to take care to make sure there is not unbelief in any of them; they are to encourage one another constantly (“every day”). The community of believers has a concern for its individual members. It is difficult to preserve the highest standards of conduct and purity of belief unless there is a concern throughout the whole membership for the good of the individual.
A warning about “the deceitfulness of sin” follows (3:13). Sin always comes in an attractive disguise. For the original readers of this letter it was apparently in that of being faithful to the glorious heritage of the past. There are circumstances when such an attitude is praiseworthy. But there are also times when it means the betrayal of what is highest and best. Here it signifies going back from the living Christ to what was dead and gone. The readers are warned that to share in Christ it is necessary to persevere (3:14).
It is not very hard to make a profession of faith in him. But to continue as his servant through all the difficulties of life is different. There is paradox here. “We share” is a perfect tense, indicating permanence. But the writer immediately goes on to say, “if only we hold …” This paradox is to be found throughout the New Testament. Our salvation is given. It is all of God. We should never lose sight of this. But this does not excuse us from the obligation to persevere, and the New Testament writings contain many appeals to faithfulness.
In 3:16-19 we return to the Israelites who perished. Those who rebelled in the wilderness were not pagans who had no knowledge of God. They were those who came out from Egypt under Moses’ leadership. They had had such significant examples of God’s power before their eyes and still had perished. Only continuing faith sees final salvation.