Drift away (3901) (pararrhueo from pará = by, past, beyond + rhéo = flow) literally means to "flow past" and so to glide, to be washed away, to drift away. Figuratively as in the present verse pararrhueo means to slip or drift away from belief. It is a picture of a gradual, almost unnoticed movement past a certain point. It describes that carelessness of mind which, perhaps occupied by other things, is not aware it is losing ground. It is like a ship drifting without anchorage and so drifting away from its moorings and from a place of safety to one of danger. Pararrhueo is used only here in the NT and twice in the Septuagint (LXX)... Proverbs 3:21 My son, let them (in the immediate context, "them" is God's wisdom, understanding and knowledge!) not depart from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion Isaiah 44:4 And they will spring up among the grass Like poplars by streams (pararrhueo - running or flowing) of water.' Pararrhueo was used to describe mooring of ships (to moor a ship means to make it secure with cables, lines, or anchors) and the drift caused by winds and tides if ships are not moored. Kent Hughes writes that... I have experienced this firsthand while fishing the tidal inlets of the California coast, when winds or surging tides have imperceptibly slipped the anchor from the seabed so that it hung suspended, and I, intent on my fishing, unknowingly moved several hundred yards and almost foundered on the rocks! Such dangerous drifting is not intentional, but comes rather from inattention and carelessness—which was precisely the problem with the pressured little church. They had become careless about their moorings in Christ. At first, in calm waters, that was not noticeable. But as the storms of opposition rose, some of them were drifting farther and farther away from Christ toward the shoals of shipwreck in their old world of Judaism." (Hughes, R. K. Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul. Volume 1. Crossway Books & Volume 2) The Greek writer Xenophon used pararrhueo to describe the river flowing by a certain place. It was used to picture the snow slipping off from the soldiers' bodies, of a ring slipping from one's finger or of a thought slipping out of one's memory. This verb thus presents a vivid picture of individuals who let themselves drift away from the haven of the gospel of Christ. One need not be violently opposed to the message to suffer loss but just to "drift" away from it! Ray Stedman writes that... The danger highlighted is that of a great loss occurring unnoticed. The cause is not taking seriously the words spoken to them. Inattention or apathy will rob them of their treasure. With these words, the writer reveals his shepherd’s heart, since he is not content with instructing the mind with intriguing doctrine. He also longs to reach the heart and move the will to action...It is not necessary to openly renounce the gospel. One can remain lost by simply and quietly drifting away from hearing it, or hearing it with no comprehension of the seriousness of its message." (Hebrews 2:1-4 Great Danger in Ignoring the Son) B F Westcott explains that... "The idea is not that of simple forgetfulness, but of being swept along past the sure anchorage which is within reach. The image is singularly expressive. We are all continuously exposed to the action of currents of opinion, habit, action, which tend to carry us away insensibly from the position which we ought to maintain." (The Epistle to the Hebrews; the Greek text with notes and essays. London: Macmillan) C. S. Lewis remarked: “And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith ** in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?” (Editorial Comment: You cannot lose something you never had. My personal opinion is that these are "professors" but not "possessors." cp Titus 1:16 Mt 7:21, 22, 23, 24). Guzik writes that If we do not give the more earnest heed, we will drift away. Drifting is something that happens quite automatically when we are not anchored to anything solid. If we are not "anchored" in the superiority of Jesus, we will drift with the currents of the world, the flesh, and the devil. One doesn't have to do anything to simply drift away...An ungodly farmer died, and they discovered in his will that he had left his farm to the Devil. In the court, they didn't quite know what to do with it -- how do you give a farm to the Devil? Finally, the judge decided: "The best way to carry out the wishes of the deceased is to allow the farm to grow weeds, the soil to erode, and the house and barn to rot. In our opinion, the best way to leave something to the Devil is to do nothing." We can leave our lives to the Devil the same way - doing nothing, drifting with whatever currents will drive us. (Hebrews 2) A W Pink writes that drifting (or not drifting) speaks of not persevering (or of persevering) explaining that... Perseverance in the faith, continuance in the Word, is a prime prerequisite of discipleship, see John 8:31 ("Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine"); Col 1:23 ("[You will be presented before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach] if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard...), etc. Many who heard, and once seemed really interested in spiritual things, “concerning the faith have made shipwreck” (1Ti 1:19). PREDISPOSITION TO "SPIRITUAL DRIFTING" Ponder the following thoughts regarding some issues that predispose one to "drifting" through life: 1). The passing of time. A slow drift, given enough time, will carry you to another continent and its dark uncharted waters. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians Behold now is the acceptable time. Behold now is the day of salvation. (2Co 6:2) 2). Familiarity with truths about God and Jesus (a common trap in "Christian" America). We all have a tendency to begin to regard the things we become familiar with as commonplace. The initial venture into the mysteries of Christ may be exhilarating, but repeated exposure to the truth may eventually result in "vaccination" which then even prevents one from getting the real "disease"! 3). Busyness. Busy people can soon be weighed down by all the cares of life. A snowflake is a tiny thing, but when the air is full of them, they can bury us. Even so, the cares of each day can insulate us from the excellency of Christ, and result in our continuing to drift toward destruction. As someone has wrote: It is strange: but life’s currents drift us So surely and swiftly on, That we scarcely notice the changes And how many things are gone. Matthew Henry explains the danger and propensity for drifting writing that... the great loss we shall sustain if we do not take this earnest heed to the things which we have heard: We shall let them slip. They will leak, and run out of our heads, lips, and lives, and we shall be great losers by our neglect. Learn, (1.) When we have received gospel truths into our minds, we are in danger of letting them slip. Our minds and memories are like a leaky vessel, they do not without much care retain what is poured into them; this proceeds from the corruption of our natures, the enmity and subtlety of Satan (he steals away the word), from the entanglements and snares of the world, the thorns that choke the good seed. (2.) Those meet with an inconceivable loss who let gospel truths, which they had received, slip out of their minds; they have lost a treasure far better than thousands of gold and silver; the seed is lost, their time and pains in hearing lost, and their hopes of a good harvest lost; all is lost, if the gospel be lost. (3.) This consideration should be a strong motive both to our attention to the gospel and our retention of it; and indeed, if we do not well attend, we shall not long retain the word of God; inattentive hearers will soon be forgetful hearers. Mike Yaconelli tells a cow story that illustrates the subtle nature of drifting... “I live in a small, rural community. There are lots of cattle ranches around here, and, every once in a while, a cow wanders off and gets lost.… Ask a rancher how a cow gets lost, and chances are he will reply, ‘Well, the cow starts nibbling on a tuft of green grass, and when it finishes, it looks ahead to the next tuft of green grass and starts nibbling on that one, and then it nibbles on a tuft of grass right next to a hole in the fence. It then sees another tuft of green grass on the other side of the fence, so it nibbles on that one and then goes on to the next tuft. The next thing you know, the cow has nibbled itself into being lost.’ (Morgan, R. J. Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes. Page 41. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) F B Meyer described drifting writing that... Gradually and almost insensibly we lose our watchfulness over our thoughts; our relish for the society of God’s people; our delight in God’s house; our interest in the salvation of others; our sensitiveness of conscience as to the conventionalities of trade or society. We do not realize it; we are not specially concerned; we have no idea that the white ant is eating out the substance of our furniture, and the dry-rot undermining the rafters of our house. Strangers are devouring our strength; grey hairs are indicating our decay—to all eyes but our own. We grow grey almost imperceptibly; the strength of our manhood is very slowly undermined; the degrees of spiritual declension are as the fall of the year through the last days of summer. But it need not be if we would regard ourselves in the mirror of God’s Word. (Meyer, F. B. Our Daily Homily. Vol. 4, Page 190. Pleasant Places Press) The best defense against slipping away is to flee for refuge and lay hold of the hope (Biblical hope is not "hope so" but a confidence that God will do good to us in the future) set before us a hope which is like "an anchor of the soul...both sure and steadfast". (Hebrews 6:19-note) (see topic The Blessed Hope) Vance Havner wrote that... We need a heart warming.… The early Christians did not need a shot in the arm every Sunday to keep them going. They knew Jesus and they upset the world and worried the devil and gave wicked rulers insomnia and started something the jails couldn’t lock up, fire couldn’t burn, water couldn’t drown, swords couldn’t kill.…You may belittle experience and speak of the dangers of emotion, but we are suffering today from a species of Christianity as dry as dust, as cold as ice, as pale as a corpse, and as dead as King Tut. We are suffering, not from a lack of correct heads but of consumed hearts! Someone has wisely written: "Use well opportunity, drift not with the tide; killing time is not murder, it's suicide!" Indeed, eternity will magnify that which we have done in time. Dr Robertson McQuilkin the godly dean of a seminary (who retired at an early age in order to care for his debilitated wife) did not want to drift (although it describes a believer who does not finish well, the truth of his poem is applicable to the careless, drifting unbeliever) I fear the Dark Spectre may come too soon —or do I mean, too late? That I should end before I finish or finish, but not well. That I should stain your honor, shame your name, grieve your loving heart. Few, they tell me, finish well… Lord, let me get home before dark. (From “Let Me Get Home Before Dark,” 1981) Vincent comments "The idea is in sharp contrast with giving earnest heed. Lapse from truth and goodness is more often the result of inattention than of design. Drifting is a mark of death: giving heed, of life. The log drifts with the tide: the ship breasts the adverse waves, because some one is giving earnest heed." Adam Clarke comments on "drift away": "Lest at any time we should leak out.” This is a metaphor taken from unstanch vessels; the staves not being close together, the fluid put into them leaks through the chinks and crevices. Superficial hearers lose the benefit of the word preached, as the unseasoned vessel does its fluid; nor can any one hear to the saving of his soul, unless he give most earnest heed, which he will not do unless he consider the dignity of the speaker, the importance of the subject, and the absolute necessity of the salvation of his soul." F B Meyer explains drifting... Men ruined by drifting: — Life’s ocean is full of currents, any one of which will sweep us past the harbour mouth even when we seem nearest to it, and carry us far out to sea. It is the drift that ruins men: the drift of the religious world; the drift of old habits and associations; the drift of one’s own evil nature; the drift of the pressure of temptation. The young man coming from a pious home does not distinctly and deliberately say, “I renounce my father’s God.” But he finds himself in a set of business associates who have no care for religion; and, after a brief struggle, he relaxes his efforts and begins to drift, until the coastline of heaven recedes so far into the dim distance that he is doubtful if he ever really saw it. The business man, who now shamelessly follows the lowest maxims of his trade, was once upright and high-minded. But he began by yielding in very trivial points to the strong pressure of competition; and when once he had allowed himself to be caught by the tide, it bore him far beyond his first intention. The professing Christian, who now scarcely pretends to open the Bible or pray, came to so terrible a position, not at a single leap, but by yielding to the pressure of the constant waywardness of the old nature, and thus drifted into an Arctic region, where he is likely to perish, benumbed and frozen, unless rescued, and launched on the warm Gulf Stream of the love of God. It is so easy, and so much pleasanter to drift. Just to lie back, and renounce effort, and let yourself go whither the waters will, as they break musically on the sides of the rocking boat. But, ah, how ineffable the remorse, how disastrous the result! Are you drifting? You can easily tell. Are you conscious of effort, of daily, hourly resistance to the stream around you, and within? Do the things of God and heaven loom more clearly on your vision? Do the waters foam angrily at your prow as you force your way through them? If so, rejoice; but remember that only Divine strength can suffice to maintain the conflict, and keep the boat’s head against the stream. If not, you are drifting. Hail the strong Son of God. Ask Him to come on board, and stay you, and bring you into port.( F. B. Meyer, B. A. in The Biblical Illustrator) The danger of drifting illustrated... In the early part of this century, an American ship was wrecked off the Scilly Isles near the coast of England. The sea had been calm and the weather clear, but the vessel was caught in a treacherous current that slowly lured it off its course. Before the captain and the crew realized what had happened, the ship had crashed into the rocks. The compass of God's Word will keep you from spiritual shipwreck. Another illustration on the danger of drifting ... The danger and deceitfulness of slowly drifting is illustrated by the story of the English explorer, William Edward Parry, who took a crew to the Arctic Ocean. They wanted to go farther north to continue their chartings, so they calculated their location by the stars and started a very difficult and treacherous march north. They walked hour upon hour, and finally, totally exhausted, they stopped. Taking their bearings again from the stars, they discovered that they were farther south than they had been when they started. They had been walking on an ice floe that was moving south faster than they were walking north. How many people think their good deeds, their merits, and their religiousness are taking them step by step to God, when in fact they are moving away from Him faster than they are supposedly walking toward Him. That is the tragedy of drifting from what we have heard. They awake one day to find, like Parry’s crew, that all the time they have been moving in the wrong direction. A person should never be satisfied with religious feelings, with coming to church, with being married to a Christian spouse, or with church activities. He will be drifting into a hell unless he has made a personal commitment to the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The job of the preacher is to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable. Riddle: How can a man drift too far and still be saved? Read the testimony of a man who drifted too far and yet was saved... Seven-year-old Roger Woodward along with his seventeen-year-old sister was enjoying a boat ride on the Niagara River. They were guests of a man from Niagara Falls, New York, and were boating above the falls. But when the boat developed motor trouble and capsized, all three were thrown into the river. The man went over the falls and was killed. Roger’s sister was plucked from the river about twenty feet from the edge of the falls by two tourists. But Roger went over the falls wearing nothing but his swimming trunks and an orange life preserver. The “Maid of the Mist” tourist boat was just turning away from the falls when the crew spotted him, floating in the basin. Pulling him from the water, they rushed him to the hospital where he remained three days with a slight concussion and was released. Thirty years passed and Roger Woodward returned to Niagara Falls to give his testimony at the Glengate Alliance Church. The audience was hushed as he told his miraculous story, the panic he felt as he drifted helpless toward the precipice, the anger he felt because no one on the shoreline could help him, the flashbacks he experienced as he inwardly said goodbye to his parents and his dog and his toys. He said, “It wasn’t the hand of fate [that saved me]. It wasn’t the hand of luck. It was the Spirit of the Living God that saved my life that day and saved my sister and gave us hope that one day we could come to know Him.” (Morgan, R. J. Nelson's complete book of stories, illustrations, and quotes. Page 654. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) ><>><>><> ARE YOU DRIFTING? BEWARE OF THE HAZARD! Drift - In the 1923 silent movie Our Hospitality, comedian and acrobat Buster Keaton performed a daring stunt near a waterfall. A retaining line, called a “holdback” cable, hidden in the water and attached to him, kept him from being carried over the falls. During filming, the cable broke, and Keaton was swept toward the falls. He managed to grab an overhanging branch, which he clung to until the crew could rescue him. The dramatic scene appears in the finished film. Drifting into unintended hazards can make for exciting film footage. In real life, however, dangers of this kind are usually marked with warning signs to prevent people from venturing into harm’s way. Similarly, the Bible has provided us with warning signs about drifting from the safety of God’s Word. “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away” (Heb. 2:1). When we don’t cling to God’s Word through study and reflection, it’s easy to drift. Like a swift stream, the attractions of this fallen world draw us toward sin. But as we meditate on Scripture and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance, we learn the reality of our spiritual anchor and are kept secure—even in the dangers of the world’s current. --Dennis Fisher (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) The Bible stands like a rock undaunted ’Mid the raging storms of time; Its pages burn with the truth eternal, And they glow with a light sublime. —Lillenas © Renewal 1945 Haldor Lillenas. The compass of God’s Word will keep you from spiritual shipwreck. ><>><>><> Spurgeon has these expository comments on Hebrews 2... As if our apostle had said,—Seeing Christ is so excellent in His person, and seeing the gospel has such a glorious author, let us take great care that we esteem His person, revere His authority, reverence His ministry, and believe His message; and let us take heed that our memories be not like leaking vessels, suffering the word at any time to slip or run from us. That is to say, because Jesus is so great, because the truths which he came to reveal are so infinitely important, “therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip; “for, sometimes, we seem to let them slip. We grow old; our mind is dull; our heart is occupied with other matters, and we let these heavenly things leak out, or drift by us, as if we were not concerned in them. We have heard them; do not let us forget them. Let them not be like the driftwood which goes floating down the stream. Let us make a desperate effort to retain them in our memories; and, above all, to ponder them in our hearts. It is well to give heed to what you are now hearing, but it is also important to give heed to what you have heard. Oh, how much have we heard, but have forgotten! How much have we heard, which we still remember, but do not practice! Let us therefore listen to the words of the apostle here: “We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip;”— as it were, slipping through our fingers, and flowing down the stream of time to be carried away into the ocean of oblivion. Drifting away... Whoever strives to withdraw from obedience withdraws from grace. --Thomas à Kempis If thou wilt fly from God, the devil will lend thee both spurs and a horse. -Thomas Adams Withering is a slow process, barely perceptible at first either to one who is being withered or to those who look on. -Donald Grey Barnhouse It is possible to be diligent in our religion, yet distant in our relationship. -John Blanchard A declining Christian must needs be a doubting Christian. - William Gurnall If you find yourself loving any pleasure more than your prayers, any book better than the Bible, any house better than the house of the Lord, any table better than the Lord's table, any persons better than Christ, or any indulgence better than the hope of heaven—be alarmed. - Thomas Guthrie Taking it easy is often the prelude to backsliding. Comfort precedes collapse. -Vance Havner Collapse in the Christian life is seldom a blowout. It is usually a slow leak. - Paul E. Little We are all constantly backsliding but for the grace of God. - Dick Lucas Backsliding is caused by slack abiding. - Ernest Plant If we know anything of true, saving religion, let us ever beware of the beginnings of backsliding. - J. C. Ryle It is a miserable thing to be a backslider. Of all unhappy things that can befall a man, I suppose it is the worst. A stranded ship, an eagle with a broken wing, a garden covered with weeds, a harp without strings, a church in ruins—all these are sad sights, but a backslider is a sadder sight still. - J. C. Ryle It is dangerous to backslide in any degree, for we know not to what may lead. - C. H. Spurgeon It may be hard going forward, but it is worse going back. - C. H. Spurgeon Most observers classify this present section of Hebrews as the first of the five major "warning" passages in Hebrews. THE FIVE WARNING PASSAGES IN HEBREWS He 2:1, 2, 3, 4 (notes) He 3:7-4:13 (notes) He 5:11-6:12 (notes) He 10:19-39 (notes) He 12:14-29 (notes) In his book The Way Into the Holiest, F B Meyer entitles Chapter 4 DRIFTING "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip."-Hebrews 2:1. SALVATION is a great word; and it is one of the keywords of this Epistle. Heirs of salvation (He 1:14-note); so great salvation (He 2:3-note); Captain of salvation (He 2:10-note); eternal salvation (He 5:9-note); things that accompany salvation (He 6:9-note); salvation to the uttermost (He 7:25-note); and his appearance the second time without sin unto salvation (He 9:28-note). Sometimes it is salvation from the penalty of sin that is spoken of. The past tense is then used, of that final and blessed act by which, through faith in the blood of Jesus, we are forever placed beyond fear of judgment and punishment; so that we are to the windward of the storm, which spent itself on the head of our Substitute and representative on Calvary, and can therefore never break on us. "By grace have ye been saved through faith" (Ep 2:8- note.). Sometimes it is salvation from the power of sin. The present tense is then employed, of the long and gradual process by which we are set free from evil, which has worked itself so deeply into our system. "Unto us which are being saved the word of the cross is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1:18, R.V.). Sometimes salvation from all physical and other evils is implied. The future tense is then summoned into requisition, painting its splendid frescoes on the mists that hang so densely before our view, and telling us of resurrection in our Saviour's likeness and presentation in his home, faultless, with exceeding joy. "We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1Jn 3:2-note). "Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed: the night is far spent; the day is at hand" (Ro 3:11, 12-note). In the above passage the word "salvation" includes the entire process, from its beginning to its end; though perhaps it is especially tinctured with the first thought mentioned above. And if we follow out the figure suggested by the rendering of the first verse of this chapter in the Revised Version, we may compare salvation to a great harbor, past: which we are in danger of drifting through culpable neglect. "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them." "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation!" I. CONSIDER GOD'S SCHEME OF SALVATION AS A GREAT HARBOR After a wild night, we have gone down to the harbor, over whose arms the angry waves have been dashing with boom of thunder and in clouds of spray. Outside, the sea has been tossing and churning; the cloud rack driving hurriedly across the sky; the winds howling like the furies of olden fable. But within those glorious walls, the barks which had put in during the night were riding in safety; the sailors resting, or repairing rents in sail and tackle, whilst the waters were unstirred by the storm raging without. Such a refuge or harbor is a fit emblem of salvation, where tempest-driven souls find shelter and peace. It is great in its sweep. Sufficient to embrace a ruined world. Room in it for whole navies of souls to ride at anchor. Space enough for every ship of Adam's race launched from the shores of time. He is the propitiation for the whole world." "Whosoever will." Already it is becoming filled. There a vessel once manned by seven devils, a pirate ship, but captured by our Emmanuel; and at her stem the name, Mary of Magdala. And here one dismasted, and almost shattered, rescued from the fury of the maelstrom at the last hour; on her stem the words, The Dying Thief And there another, long employed in efforts to sap the very walls of the harbor, and now flying a pennon from the masthead, Chief of Sinners and Least of Saints. And all around a forest of masts, "a multitude which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues." It is great in its foundations. The chief requisite in constructing a sea-wall is to get a foundation which can stand unmoved amid the heaviest seas. The shifting sand must be pierced down to the granite rock. But this harbor has foundations mighty enough to inspire strong consolation in those who have fled to it for refuge; the promise, and as if that were not enough, the oath, of God (Heb. 6:17-18). Hark, how the storm of judgment is rising out there at sea! "If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?" Fear not! there is no room for alarm. The waves may wash off some mussel-shells, or tear away the green sea-lichen which has incrusted the moldings on the walls; but it would be easier to dig out the everlasting hills from their base than make one stone in those foundations start. It was great in its cost. By the tubular bridge over the Menai Straits stands a column, which records the names of those who perished during the construction of that great triumph of engineering skill. Nothing is said of the money spent, only of the lives sacrificed. And so, beside the harbor of our salvation, near to its mouth, so as to be read by every ship entering its enclosure, rises another column, with this as its inscription: "Sacred to the memory of the Son of God, who gave his life a sacrifice for the sin of the world." It seems an easy thing to be saved: "Look unto me, and be ye saved." But we do not always remember how much happened before it became so easy-the agony and bloody sweat; the cross and passion; the precious death and burial. It has been great in its announcement. The Jews thought much of their Law, because of the majesty of its proclamation. Spoken from the inaccessible cliffs of Sinai, with its beetling crags, its red sandstone peaks bathed in fire; while thunders and lightnings, thick clouds and trumpet-notes, were the sublime accessories of the scene. It was the authorized belief also that the Law was given through angels (Deut. 33:2, Acts 7:53, Gal. 3:19, Heb. 2:2). And the thought that these strong and sinless beings were the medium of the Almighty's will served, in the eyes of all devout Hebrews, to enhance the sanctity and glory of the Law. Compared with this, how simple the accessories of the words of Jesus! Spoken in sweet and gentle tones, falling as the soft showers on the tender grass, and distilling quietly as the dew; not frightening the most sinful, nor startling little babes, they stole as the melody from silver bells, borne on a summer wind into the ears of men. The boat or hill-slope his pulpit; the poor his audience; the common incidents of nature or life his text. But in reality there was a vast difference. The announcement of the Law was by angels. The announcement of the Gospel was by the Son. If the one were august, what must not the other have been! If the one were made sure by the most tremendous sanctions, what should not be said of the other! Proclaimed by the Lord; confirmed by Apostles and eye-witnesses; testified to by the Almighty himself, in signs and wonders, and gifts of the Holy Ghost how dare we treat it with contumely or neglect? Or, if we do, shall not our penalty be in proportion to the magnitude of our offense? "If the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them." It will be great in its penalties. The tendency of our age is to minimize God's righteous judgment on sin. It seems to be prevalently thought that, because our dispensation is one of love and mercy, therefore there is the less need to dread the results of sin. But the inspired writer here argues in a precisely contrary sense. Just because this age is one of such tender mercy, therefore sins against its King are more deadly, and the penalties heavier. In the old days no transgression, positive, and no disobedience, negative, escaped its just recompense of reward; and in these days there is even less likelihood of their doing so. The word spoken by the Son is even more steadfast (i.e., effective to secure the infliction of the punishment it announces) than the word of angels. My readers, beware! "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God!" (see notes Hebrews 10:28; 29) II. THE DANGER TO WHICH WE ARE MOST EXPOSED "Lest haply we drift away" - For every one that definitely turns his back on Christ, there are hundreds who drift from him. Life's ocean is full of currents, any one of which will sweep us past the harbor-mouth even when we seem nearest to it, and carry us far out to sea. It is the drift that ruins men. The drift of the religious world. The drift of old habits and associations; which, in the case of these Hebrew Christians, was setting so strongly toward Judaism, bearing them back to the religious system from which they had come out. The drift of one's own evil nature, always chafing to bear us from God to that which is earthly and sensuous. The drift of the pressure of temptation. The young man coming from a pious home does not distinctly and deliberately say, "I renounce my father's God." But he finds himself in a set of business associates who have no care for religion; and, after a brief struggle, he relaxes his efforts and begins to drift, until the coastline of heaven recedes so far into the dim distance that he is doubtful if he ever really saw it. The business man who now shamelessly follows the lowest maxims of his trade was once upright and high-minded. He would have blushed to think it possible for such things to be done by him. But he began by yielding in very trivial points to the strong pressure of competition; and when once he had allowed himself to be caught by the tide, it bore him far beyond his first intention. The professing Christian who now scarcely pretends to open the Bible or pray came to so terrible a position, not at a single leap, but by yielding to the pressure of the constant waywardness of the old nature, and thus drifted into an arctic region, where he is likely to perish, benumbed and frozen, unless rescued, and launched on the warm gulf-stream of the love of God. It is so easy, and so much pleasanter, to drift. Just to lie back, and renounce effort, and let yourself go whither the waters will, as they break musically on the sides of the rocking boat. But, ah, how ineffable the remorse, how disastrous the result! Are you drifting? You can easily tell. Are you conscious of effort, of daily, hourly resistance to the stream around you, and within? Do the things of God and heaven loom more clearly on your vision? Do the waters foam angrily at your prow as you force your way through them? If so, rejoice! but remember that only divine strength can suffice to maintain the conflict, and keep the boat's head against the stream. If not, you are drifting. Hail the strong Son of God! Ask him to come on board, and stay you, and bring you into port. III. AN UNANSWERABLE QUESTION "How shall we escape, if we neglect?" - He 2:3-note The sailor who refuses lifeboat and harbor does not escape. The self-murderer who tears the bandages from his wounds does not escape. The physician who ridicules ordinary precautions against plague does not escape. "How then shall we escape?" Did the Israelite escape who refused to sprinkle the blood upon the doorposts of his house? Did the man who gathered sticks on the Sabbath-day escape, although he might have pleaded that it was the first offense? Did the prince who had taken the Moabitess to wife escape, though he bore a high rank? Did Moses and Aaron escape, though they were the leaders of the people? No! None of these escaped. "Every transgression and disobedience received its just recompense of reward." "How then shall we escape?" Is it likely that we should escape? We have neglected the only Name given under heaven among men by which we can be saved. We have added contumely to neglect in refusing that which it has cost God so much to give. We have flouted his only Son, our Lord; and our disrespect to him cannot be a small crime in the eye of the Infinite Father. "How shall we escape?" No, if you neglect (and notice, that to neglect is to reject), there is no escape. You shall not escape the storms of sorrow, of temptation, or of the righteous judgment of God. You shall not escape the deserved and necessary punishment of your sins. You shall not escape the worm which never dies, nor the fire which is never quenched. Out there, shelterless amid the rage of the sea; or yonder, driven to pieces on the rocks: you shall be wrecked, and go down with all hands on board, never sighted by the heavenly watchers, nor welcomed into the harbor of the saints' everlasting rest. As Christ emerged from the cross and the grave, where he had purged our sins, it seemed as if words were addressed to him which David had caught ages before: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool" (He 2:13-note; Psalm 110:1). This is the interpretation which the Apostle Peter, in the flush of Pentecostal inspiration, put upon these words (Acts 2:34). And, accordingly, we are told, "He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God " (Mark 16:19). "He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high" (He 2:3-note). "He sat down." Love is regnant. The Lamb is in the midst of the Throne. Behold his majesty, and worship him with angels and archangels, and all the throng of the redeemed. Prostrate yourself at his feet, consecrating to him all you are and all you have. Comfort yourself also by remembering that he would not sit to rest from his labors in redemption, and in the purging away of sins, unless they were so completely finished that there was nothing more to do. It is all accomplished; and it is all very good. He has ceased from his works, because they are done; and therefore he is entered into his rest. And that word "until" is full of hope. God speaks it, and encourages us to expect the time when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power; and when death itself, the last enemy, shall be destroyed (1Co 15:24, 25, 26). W M Taylor on Drifting... Drifting The influences against which we are warned by the words of my text are those of currents which are flowing just where we are, and which may operate so insidiously that we may not know of their effect until, perhaps, it is too late to resist their power. Of these currents I will specify three. I. Take first the age current, or what a recent essayist, borrowing from the German, has called the "time-spirit." Every epoch has its own special tendency. These vagaries will pass away, even as the fleecy clouds remove from the summit of Mont Blanc; but Christ abides, like the grand old mountain, with its majestic mantle of stainless and eternal white. Hear Him, therefore. Hear Him, and keep fast hold of His sayings; so shall ye partake of His stability. II. The second current to which I would refer is that of the place in which we dwell. Every city has its own peculiar influence. I do not hesitate to say that it is a less difficult matter to be an earnest Christian in some cities than it is in others. But the principles of the Gospel are not shifted by the tendencies of any place; and when we measure ourselves by them we may always discover how it is with us. Let us not take it for granted that because we are making some effort in the right direction, therefore we must be going forward. These efforts may not be enough to neutralise the forces of the current, and we may be drifting backward after all. III. There is, thirdly, the personal drift—the drift in each of us individually. Let us not be self-confident here, or imagine that there is no fear of us. That imagination is itself the beginning of the personal drift. Distrust yourself, therefore, and trust only and always in the Lord. Anchor on to Christ; that is the sure preventive of all such drifting as I have been seeking to expose. (W. M. Taylor, Christian World) Hebrews 2:2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, (NASB: Lockman) Greek: ei gar o di' aggelon laletheis (APPMSN) logos egeneto (3SAMI) bebaios, kai pasa parabasis kai parakoe elaben (3SAAI) endikon misthapodosian, Amplified: For if the message given through angels [the Law spoken by them to Moses] was authentic and proved sure, and every violation and disobedience received an appropriate (just and adequate) penalty, (Amplified Bible - Lockman) Barclay: For, if the word which was spoken through the medium of the angels proved itself to be certified as valid, and if every transgression and disobedience of it received its just recompense, (Westminster Press) NIV: For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, (NIV - IBS) NLT: The message God delivered through angels has always proved true, and the people were punished for every violation of the law and every act of disobedience. (NLT - Tyndale House) Phillips: For if the message given through angels proved authentic, so that defiance of it and disobedience to it received appropriate retribution, how shall we escape if we refuse to pay proper attention to the salvation that is offered us today? (Phillips: Touchstone) Wuest: On this account it is a necessity in the nature of the case for us to give heed more abundantly to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should drift past them. For in view of the fact that the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every over-stepping of the line and neglecting to hear received a just recompense of reward (Eerdmans) Young's Literal: for if the word being spoken through messengers did become stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience did receive a just recompense, FOR IF THE WORD WAS SPOKEN THROUGH ANGELS: ei gar o di aggelon laletheis (APPMSN) logos: (Deuteronomy 32:2; Psalms 68:17; Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19) Spurgeon comments... They could not trifle with the angels' message without receiving just punishment from God. Much less, then, can we trifle with Christ's gospel. We have not an angelic saviour; but God Himself, in the person of His Son, has deigned to be the Mediator of the new covenant. Therefore, let us see to it that we do not trifle with these things. See, brethren, the punishment for disobeying the word spoken by angels was death; what, then, must be the penalty of neglecting the great salvation wrought by the Divine Redeemer himself? He who does not give earnest heed to the gospel treats with disdain the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will have to answer for that sin when the King shall sit upon the throne of judgment. Trifle not, therefore, with that salvation which cost Christ so much, and which he himself brings to you with bleeding hands. And, oh! if you have hitherto trifled with it, and let it slip, may you now, be brought to a better mind, lest haply, despising Christ, the “just recompence of reward” should come upon you. And what will that be? I know of no punishment that can be too severe for the man who treats with contempt the Son of God, and tramples on his blood; and every individual who hears the gospel, and yet does not receive Christ as his Savior, is committing that atrocious crime. If (1487) (ei) is referred to as a condition of first class, which means that what follows is assumed as true. The word spoken through angels did in fact did prove unalterable. If you broke that law, that law broke you. If a person in the Old Testament committed adultery, worshiped false gods, or blasphemed God, he was stoned. The law was inviolable and punishment for breaking it was sure and certain. The law punished every sin. And that punishment was fair. (just recompense). Pentecost explains that... Careful attention to what we have heard is the divinely prescribed antidote to drifting. And the writer wants to drive this point home in an even more forceful way to his wandering friends. So he uses a Hebrew argument style called "qal wa homer" (literally, “light and heavy”), which employs the reasoning that if something is true in a light or lesser thing, it is true in a heavy or greater thing. So the argument or logic follows that if the word of the Law that was mediated by angels was so binding that every infraction was punished (this is the qal or “light” truth), then how much more accountable are those who have the word of salvation direct from Christ’s lips, plus the confirmation of eyewitnesses, plus the testimony of miracles, signs, wonders and gifts (this is the homer or “heavy” truth). Thus, the writer's weighty question “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” Stated another way, since God has spoken in His Son Who is better than angels and the Word spoken through them was worth hearing, how much more is the Word spoken in Jesus worth hearing? Does that make sense to you? Each and every revelation from God carries with it a responsibility. God’s revelation given through angels at Sinai carried with it a penalty for disobedience (Lev. 26:1–46; Deut. 28:15–68). Even this now-inferior revelation had serious consequences if it was neglected. And so the writer asks, “how shall we escape if we [that is, we who have received God’s superior revelation in the Son] neglect so great a salvation?” (Pentecost, J. D., & Durham, K. Faith that endures : A practical commentary on the book of Hebrews. Rev. ed. Page 58. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications) Through angels -- stresses the important truth that the law did not originate from the angels but from God. As shown below both Stephen and Paul indicate that the Law was ordained by angels. Stephen...speaking to a Jewish audience says that it was... you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it. (Acts 7:53) Comment: Ordained is diatasso means to arrange thoroughly, institute, prescribe, appoint, set in order or ordain and is a technical word for carrying out laws. Paul... Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained (diatasso) through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made. (Gal 3:19) Henry Morris comments: 'The account of the giving of the law through Moses on Mt Sinai (Ex 19:9-25) makes no mention of angels, although it does record the prolonged sounding of a trumpet. Apparently a mighty host of angels was present. [Dt 33:2] mentions "ten thousands of saints" as "the LORD came from Sinai" (Ps 68:17 Acts 7:53). (Institute for Creation Research) MacArthur: The Bible teaches that angels were involved in the giving of the law (Acts 7:53 Heb 2:2), but does not explain the precise role they played. (MacArthur, J.: The MacArthur Study Bible Nashville: Word or Logos) In Deuteronomy we read... He said, "The LORD came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them. (Deuteronomy 33:2) Comment: The Septuagint adds the phrase "on his right hand were his angels with him." The rabbis also thought of angels as there on that great occasion. Psalm 68... The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; The Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness. (Ps 68:17) Comment: In this psalm the phrase "chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; The Lord is among them as at Sinai" is taken by most commentators as indicative of angelic accompaniment. In short, although it is never said explicitly in the OT that the Law was delivered through angels, this was a common conviction in the Jewish community because of the presence of angels at Sinai. Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrote that... And for ourselves, we have learned from God the most excellent of our doctrines, and the most holy part of our law, by angels or ambassadors; for this name brings God to the knowledge of mankind, and is sufficient to reconcile enemies one to another. Lest we become too embroiled in a discussion of the relationship of the angels and the law, remember that the writer's main concern in this section is for those who have heard the gospel and neglect the great salvation it offers. Those who hear the news of this great salvation and show little concern, care or interest in it (even making light of it) are in grave danger of drifting away from it. Practically speaking, we all know those who have heard and heard and heard and yet showed little regard for the gospel. The writer would seem to imply that they are in danger of drifting like these Hebrew hearers. PROVED UNALTERABLE: egeneto (3SAMI) bebaios: William Barclay has an interesting rendering: "if the word which was spoken through the medium of the angels proved itself to be certified as valid"