Hebrews 12:16 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hebrews 12:4-17

Here the apostle presses the exhortation to patience and perseverance by an argument taken from the gentle measure and gracious nature of those sufferings which the believing Hebrews endured in their Christian course. I. From the gentle and moderate degree and measure of their sufferings: You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin, Heb. 12:4. Observe, 1. He owns that they had suffered much, they had been striving to an agony against sin. Here, (1.) The cause of the conflict was... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Hebrews 12:12-17

12:12-17 So, then, lift up the slack hands. Strengthen the weak knees. And make straight the paths of your feet so that the bones of the lame may not be completely dislocated but rather may be cured. Make peace your aim--and do it all together--and aim at that holiness without which no one can see the Lord. Watch that no one misses the grace of God. Watch that no pernicious influence grows up to involve you in troubles. And watch that the main body of your people are not soiled by any such... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 12:16

Lest there be any fornicator or profane person ,.... The first of these is guilty of a sin against the second table of the law, as well as against his own body; and which is opposed to the holiness the apostle had before exhorted to; such who are guilty of it, are not to be continued in the communion of the church; and it is a sin, which, lived in not repented of, excludes from the kingdom of heaven: the latter is one who is a transgressor of the first table of the law; who is an idolater, a... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 12:16

Lest there be any fornicator - Any licentious person who would turn the Gospel of the grace of God into lasciviousness. Or profane person, as Esau - It is not intimated that Esau was a fornicator; and the disjunctive η , or, separates the profane person from the fornicator. And Esau is here termed profane, because he so far disregarded the spiritual advantages connected with his rights of primogeniture, that he alienated the whole for a single mess of pottage. See the note on Genesis... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 12:16

Verse 16 16.Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, etc. As he had before exhorted them to holiness, so now, that he might reclaim them from defilements opposed to it, he mentions a particular kind of defilement, and says, “Lest there be any fornicator.” But he immediately comes to what is general, and adds, “or a profane person;” for it is the term that is strictly contrary to holiness. The Lord calls us for this end, that he may make us holy unto obedience: this is done when we... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:1-29

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:12-17

A threefold cord of duty. The word "wherefore" ( Hebrews 12:12 ) connects this admonition with what goes before. For these reasons, says the apostle—since the Savior was subjected to such hard treatment at the hands of wicked men; since your own resistance to sin has not yet exposed you to bloodshed; since your very trials are an expression of God's fatherly love; and since his chastisements are fitted to be so profitable in their results—surely you will never allow yourselves to fall... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:16-17

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited ( i.e. desired to inherit) the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. The word "fornicator" is to be understood literally, not figuratively (as Ebrard) of spiritual fornication (see ἁγιασμὸν , Hebrews 12:14 ). βέβηλος ("profane") denotes one... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:16-17

Esau; or, the sacrifice of the spiritual for the sensuous. "Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person," etc. There is much about this man, Esau, which is noble and attractive. "Esau, the shaggy, red-haired huntsman, the man of the field, with his arrows, his quiver, and his bow, coming in weary from the chase, caught as with the levity and eagerness of a child by the sight of the lentil soup—'Feed me, I pray thee, with the red, red pottage'—yet so full of generous impulse, so... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:16-17

Esau—a warning. Esau is an excellent example of what serious results may come out of sheer thoughtlessness. There were special reasons why Esau should be a careful, thoughtful, prudent man. Thoughtfulness is the need of every man in such a maze as life is continually tending to become, but the position of some makes thoughtfulness a special duty. So it was with Esau. He had the birthright. To him it specially belonged to continue and increase the prosperity and credit of the family. Yet... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hebrews 12:4-17

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Hebrews 12:12-17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 12:16

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 12:16

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 12:16

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:1-29

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:12-17

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:16-17

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:16-17

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 12:16-17

Group of Brands