Hebrews 3:12

Take heed, brethren, lest haply there should be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God.

Five definite facts emerge from this verse: (1) that it is possible for Christians to fall away from the living God; (2) that such a disaster is due to an unbelieving heart; (3) that an unbelieving heart is evil (not merely `smart'); (4) that God is not a mere influence but a living person; and (5) that there are adequate grounds upon which a Christian may avoid falling away. The tenderness of the author appears in his use of "haply." Not wishing to write flatly that they were in mortal danger of being lost, he proposes such an awesome possibility as something that just might "haply" befall them. These words take up and illustrate the lesson of Psalms 95 which had just been quoted at length. The Psalm is divided into two parts, the first (Psalms 95:1-7) being a warning against the disobedience; and it is the second portion of the Psalm which the author quoted. The message of the entire Psalm is that people should worship God, but that mere worship, unaccompanied by obedience, will not avail. Regarding the possibility of apostasy so forcibly mentioned here, it should be noted that the Bible nowhere authorizes any confidence to the contrary. Apostasy comes under consideration again in Hebrews 6:1-8, where from its treatment there, it cannot possibly be doubted that the author is warning his readers against a present real, and impending danger, a threat to any Christian who might allow an evil heart of unbelief to develop within him. Indeed, if there is no such thing as the possibility that a true child of God might fall away and be lost, how could the author of this epistle have introduced such a subject, and how could he have warned them to "take heed" against a non-existent danger?

An evil heart of unbelief contains another intimation of the moral basis of faith. Unbelief does not exist apart from antecedent evil in people's hearts. Christ said, "And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil" (John 3:19). People who have accepted the truth and are actually in the faith of Christ, if they do not live up to the moral requirements of that faith, become alienated from it, grow to despise and hate it, and at last find themselves in rebellion against God.

The living God identifies the God of the Christians as the creator, upholder, and governor of all the universe; and this expression is used several times in the New Testament. It featured Peter's noble confession (Matthew 16:16); Caiaphas used it when he administered an oath to Jesus (Matthew 26:63); it was frequently in the writings of Paul (Romans 9:26; 2 Corinthians 3:3; 6:16; 1 Thessalonians 1:9; 1 Timothy 3:15; etc.); and the apostle John saw an angel "having the seal of the living God" (Revelation 7:2). It is extremely appropriate that the Being within whom the life principle is self-contained, and whose existence is eternally in the present tense ("I AM that I AM" - Exodus 3:14), should be called the living God.