Hebrews 6:16-20 - Exposition

For men swear by the greater: and of every dispute of theirs (literally, to them), the oath is final (literally, an end ) for confirmation ( εἰς βεβαίωσιν being connected with πέρας , not, as in the A.V., with ὅρκος ) . Here begins the explanation of the meaning and purpose of the Divine oath, already cursorily touched on in Hebrews 6:13 . God thus, for full assurance, condescends to the form of confirmation most binding among men when they promise to each other. They appeal to one greater than themselves to intervene between them . He, having no one greater than himself to appeal to, appeals (so to speak) to his own immutability, and thus may be said to intervene with an oath ( ἐμεσίτευσεν ὄρκῳ ever. 17), the verb being neuter, with the sense of "mediate" or "intervene," not, as in A.V., "confirmed it". The reason is not that the Divine promise is not in itself enough, but that God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel , is pleased to grant them this additional confirmation; that by two immutable things (first the promise, in itself sufficient; and secondly the oath, for more abundant assurance ), in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong consolation ( παράκληησιν , bearing elsewhere this sense, and also that of exhortation, as in Hebrews 12:5 ; Hebrews 13:22 ; which latter sense is understood here by most commentators as uniting best the drift of the passage with the general notion of encouragement) who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. The course of thought has now passed again from Abraham to Christians, the transition having been prepared for by the general expression, τοῖς κληρονόμοις τῆς ἐπαγγελίας in Hebrews 6:17 . Indeed, the oath to him was an assurance to us also, we being the final inheritors of the promised blessing. Then finally, in the two concluding verses, the subject to be treated in Hebrews 7:1-28 . is again beautifully led up to by a natural sequence of thought: Which ( so. hope) we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and entering into that which is within the veil; whither as a Forerunner Jesus entered for us, become a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. Our hope ( ἐλπίς ), regarded in Hebrews 7:18 objectively, assumes here a subjective sense: it is our anchor east upwards beyond the heavens through which our Forerunner has passed (cf. Hebrews 4:14 , διελελυθότα τοὺς οὐρανοὺς ), and, in virtue of the promise and the oath, fixed there secure and firm. "That which is within the veil "

. Predestination and free-will may be to human reason theoretically irreconcilable, though reason, as well as theology, may compel us to acknowledge both. The problem may properly be left unsolved, as among the many deep things of God. But it is of importance to observe how the doctrine of-predestination is practically applied in Scripture as bearing upon human conduct.