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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:12

That ye be not slothful - This shows how the full assurance of hope is to be regulated and maintained. They must be diligent; slothfulness will deprive them both of hope and faith. That faith which worketh by love will maintain hope in its full and due exercise. Followers of them - Μιμηται δε - κληρονομουντων τας επαγγελιας· That ye be mimics or imitators of them who are inheriting the promises. And they inherited these promises by faith in him who is invisible, and who, they knew,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:13

When God made promise to Abraham - The promise referred to is that made to Abraham when he had offered his son Isaac on the altar, Genesis 22:16-18 ; : "By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:14

Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee - I will continue to bless thee. Multiplying I will multiply thee - I will continue to increase thy posterity. In the most literal manner God continues to fulfill this promise; genuine Christians are Abraham's seed, and God is increasing their number daily. See the notes on Genesis 22:12-18 ; (note); and Genesis 23:1 ; (note). read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:15

He obtained the promise - Isaac was supernaturally born; and in his birth God began to fulfill the promise: while he lived, he saw a provision made for the multiplication of his seed; and, having continued steadfast in the faith, he received the end of all the promises in the enjoyment of an eternal glory. And the inference from this is: If we believe and prove faithful unto death, we shall also inherit the promises; and this is what is implied in the apostle's exhortation, Hebrews 6:12 ;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:16

Men verily swear by the greater - One who has greater authority; who can take cognizance of the obligation, and punish the breach of it. An oath for confirmation - " This observation teaches us," says Dr. Macknight, "that both promissory oaths concerning things lawful and in our power, and oaths for the confirmation of things doubtful, when required by proper authority, and taken religiously, are allowable under the Gospel." read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:17

The heirs of promise - All the believing posterity of Abraham, and the nations of the earth or Gentiles in general. The immutability of his counsel - His unchangeable purpose, to call the Gentiles to salvation by Jesus Christ; to justify every penitent by faith; to accept faith in Christ for justification in place of personal righteousness; and finally to bring every persevering believer, whether Jew or Gentile, to eternal glory. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:18

That by two immutable things - The promise and oath of God: the promise pledged his faithfulness and justice; the oath, all the infinite perfections of his Godhead, for he sware by himself. There is a good saying in Beracoth on Exodus 32:13 , fol. 32: Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self. "What is the meaning of by thine own self? Rab. Eleazar answered, Thus said Moses to the holy blessed God, Lord of all the world. If thou hadst sworn... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:19

Which hope we have as an anchor - The apostle here changes the allusion; he represents the state of the followers of God in this lower world as resembling that of a vessel striving to perform her voyage through a troublesome, tempestuous, dangerous sea. At last she gets near the port; but the tempest continues, the water is shallow, broken, and dangerous, and she cannot get in: in order to prevent her being driven to sea again she heaves out her sheet anchor, which she has been able to get... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:20

Whither the forerunner - The word προδρομος , prodromos , does not merely signify one that goes or runs before another, but also one who shows the way, he who first does a particular thing; also the first fruits. So in the Septuagint, Isaiah 28:4 , προδρομος συκου signifies the first fruits of the fig tree, or the first ripe figs. To this meaning of the word Pliny refers, Hist. Nat., lib. xvi., c. 26: Ficus et praecoces habet, quas Athenis Prodromos ( προδρομος ), vocant .... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 6:1

Verse 1 1.Therefore, leaving, etc. To his reproof he joins this exhortation, — that leaving first principles they were to proceed forward to the goal. For by the word of beginning he understands the first rudiments, taught to the ignorant when received into the Church. Now, he bids them to leave these rudiments, not that the faithful are ever to forget them, but that they are not to remain in them; and this idea appears more clear from what follows, the comparison of a foundation; for in... read more

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