Seeing therefore it remaineth that some should enter thereinto, and they unto whom the good tidings were before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience.This is a summary of the argument. God desires and has purposed from all eternity that some shall enter into his rest; and, seeing that Israel did not, as proved by David's saying so in Psalms 95, the way is still open for whomsoever will accept the invitation. read more
Hebrews 4:2. Unto us was the gospel preached, &c.— For we are made partakers of the good tidings, as they also were: But the word which they heard, did not profit them, &c. The children of Israel had a promise of rest made to them; and so have we, as well as they. The word gospel signifies properly, as we have often observed, good news, or good tidings; which is the meaning of the word ευηγγελισμενοι here: but as that term is now appropriated by custom to the particular good tidings of... read more
Hebrews 4:3. For we who have believed, &c.— This stands connected with the former part of the preceding verse: "Unto us was the good tidings of a rest preached, as well as unto them: For all we who have believed,—or, all who do believe, do enter into rest." Faith is the way by which men must expect to enter into whatever rest God promises in one age or another. The rest which was preached to them of old, they, for want of faith, and for acting disobediently, did not enter into; as appears... read more
Hebrews 4:4. For he spake in a certain place, &c.— The supplemental nominative case here is Γραφη, the scripture, not he: or it is to be understood impersonally, as in other citations in this epistle,—It is said concerning the seventh day. It was not customaryfor the Jews, when they quoted scripture, to mention the book or chapter; for they were so familiar with the sacred writings from their infancy, that they knew where to find any passage as soon as they heard it. read more
Hebrews 4:6. Seeing therefore it remaineth, &c.— The difficulty here is, how does it appear, from the passages cited, that any were to enter into God's rest? That the incredulous and disobedient children of Israel were not to enter into Canaan, the place of their rest, appears, because God had declared that that generation should not enter into it. But whence does it appear that any were to enter into that rest eminently so called?—The reasoning is this: 1. There is such a rest of God: this... read more
2. gospel preached . . . unto them—in type: the earthly Canaan, wherein they failed to realize perfect rest, suggesting to them that they should look beyond to the heavenly land of rest, to which faith is the avenue, and from which unbelief excludes, as it did from the earthly Canaan. the word preached—literally, "the word of hearing": the word heard by them. not being mixed with faith in them that heard—So the Syriac and the Old Latin Versions, older than any of our manuscripts, and LUCIFER,... read more
3. For—justifying his assertion of the need of "faith," :-. we which have believed—we who at Christ's coming shall be found to have believed. do enter—that is, are to enter: so two of the oldest manuscripts and LUCIFER and the old Latin. Two other oldest manuscripts read, "Let us enter." into rest—Greek, "into the rest" which is promised in the ninety-fifth Psalm. as he said—God's saying that unbelief excludes from entrance implies that belief gains an entrance into the rest. What, however,... read more
4. he spake—God ( :-). God did rest the seventh day—a rest not ending with the seventh day, but beginning then and still continuing, into which believers shall hereafter enter. God's rest is not a rest necessitated by fatigue, nor consisting in idleness, but is that upholding and governing of which creation was the beginning [ALFORD]. Hence Moses records the end of each of the first six days, but not of the seventh. from all his works—Hebrew, Genesis 2:2, "from all His work." God's "work" was... read more
5. in this place—In this passage of the Psalm again, it is implied that the rest was even then still future. read more
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Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Hebrews 4:5
And in this place again, They shall not enter into my rest.This quotation, as in Hebrews 4:3, is again from Psalms 95:11, serving the purpose, alongside of the quotation from Genesis 2:2, of identifying the rest spoken of here as that of God himself, following the six days of creation, and to which heavenly rest God has always invited people to come and share. To make this place any kind of an argument for people's keeping the sabbath day is to miss the entire argument of the epistle in this... read more