Contemporary 1st Century History To Troubled christian Hebrews
Introduction:
Among the 27 contemporary historical Notes, Letters and Treatises by various named historians (nine in total in the 27 pieces of history concerning Jesus) from the 1st century AD, this is the only contemporary history that has no known writer named. There have been all kinds of scholars that make their special wisdom known, leaving the mystery still intact. (I am no scholar, but this Letter best seems to fit Dr. Luke, but only God knows.) The content is, though, not a mystery, as it is completely about Jesus and the unmissable fact that He and His purpose for coming to Earth are superior to any and all other possible important things mankind might stress as superior things. It is carefully structured from known things that are: seen, revealed, and spoken, concerning He and His purpose, in hopes of exhorting Jewish christians that were failing to continue to worship and serve Jesus, likely, due to the persecutions Nero had designed for them, and the cry for help from their motherland-Judah- for the war against Rome [AD66ish]. This Treatise’s plea for them was clear: “There is no rational, historical, intelligent, or genuine reason(s) to reject the King/High Priest, God’s Son-Jesus- as man’s only Way to the Promises the Father made-His eternal Kingdom, which is coming, soon!
This contemporary writer of Jesus uses as much history and Psalms, and then, relating them to Jesus, as any other historical writer does. This was from a writer who knew the Apostles and observed their powers but was not one of them. He is obviously a next generation (from the Apostles) Prophet, but undeclared to us. He seems to know his audience well and their sufferings for Christ Jesus. Finding his structure makes the lesson much more powerful than picking at the words for topical subjects. As you observe this writer’s organization and layout of his Lesson (Jesus is “the” [unique] Superior High Priest/King above all important persons) to exhort these weak Jewish christians, it is clear that this writer was guided by the Holy Spirit, yet was well educated, both in how to present a ‘Declaration’ and use of inspired Text (Old Covenant and Its place today-A.D.68ish). His hermeneutical approach is directed by the Holy Spirit and ought to be your only kind of study method, as man has produced millions of study approaches, which ought not to be even viewed, much less, used. Burn them all and just use the Spirit’s method of study. This Treatise displays the Holy Spirit’s method of studying His Word many times throughout the Letter. His method leaves no use for ‘interpreting’ His Text. Only His Word has authority, all of It without any fluctuation, is exactly accurate. No one has any authority, power, wisdom or talent to not ‘translate’ His Word “only”! Acceptance of His Word’s authority as written is the limit of how He wants It used. There is nothing left out of the complete New Covenant, He was commissioned to reveal from Jesus’ Throne. It (the New Covenant) was designed and decided upon, as the ‘authority’ perfectly representing God, when They (Godhead) implemented Its Plan (from God) while still in eternity, prior to any creating being begun. Its authority is to be completely and accurately revealed by Itself, not by man’s ideas or philosophies (their best wisdoms and expressions of religion are always pathetic when compared to God’s New Covenant). Man is commanded to use the Holy Spirit’s living Oracles only, if they are to be pleasing to God and to be proclaimed by Him (only) as ‘righteous’ in His eyes and His mind. The correct method to assure the right translation of God’s Word is visible and explained several times in this inspired Letter from the 1st century AD. Enjoy It. Proclaim It. Heed Its warning.
“Jesus, our God is Superior to all people and angels and has fulfilled all things except stopping death, which will occur by His Power. He is, now, High Priest and King of all reality, and it is imperative that we by confident ‘faith’ submit to His revealed new Way to please Him and He, then, will reward us with a glorious eternal home with Him.”
This audience was, due to pressures, no longer able to muster the courage to even attend local ‘Worship’, which is a weekly imperative for Jesus’ local Kingdom people. They had in their past service to Jesus, served with great honor and zeal. Now, though, they have ‘dropping hands’ and ‘wobbly knees’. The writer has done a spectacular presentation from God, to which they must respond, or they will miss the eternal home that they once held as the superior goal of all mankind, and instead go to God’s prepared HELL for all that are rejecters and all that are disobedient souls. This Letter is a last attempt of reaching ‘into the fire and rescuing them’ and, also, to generate genuine reform among these Jewish christians. Truly, a sobering and accurate fate of all of us that have allowed anything to weaken our commitment and activity in our ‘faith’. Learning the Letter perfectly will not make anyone a “doer” of God’s planned righteousness, as only the person that reforms (mind and life) to His New Covenant Way pleases Him. This, then, is the ultimate purpose of this Letter: “Will you or will you not, with all that is revealed by and about Jesus and His Power-the Superior to all things, God-reform your weak and erring ways and joyfully rejoin the other immersed saints, waiting for the beginning of His eternal City-our new Jerusalem?” This begins when God reveals His ‘new heavens and new Earth’, which is the eternal City!
Date: A.D. 68ish
Text:
(1st) Long ago, God spoke to the fathers by the Prophets at various times and in many ways; but in these last days He has spoken to us by [His] a Son, Whom He has appointed the heir of all things, by Whom, also, He made [x] the worlds. Who is [->], both: [1] the radiance of His Splendor, and [2] the exact expression of His reality. He bears up ‘all’ things by His mighty [ultimate power] Word. {1:3}
(2nd) After He executed a cleansing of sins, He sat at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven, having become so much [far more] superior to the angels, because He has inherited a more [far superior] excellent Name than they. Has God spoken to any angel at any time, saying, [1] “You are My Son! I have begotten You today” [Ps.2:7], and again, [2] “I will be a Father to Him, and He will be a Son to Me.”? [2 Sam.7:14] And again, [3] when He brought the Firstborn into the world, He says, “All the angels of God must worship Him.” [Dt.32:43/LXX] {1:6}
Concerning the angels, He says, “He makes His angels winds, and His servants a flaming fire” [Ps.104:4], [4] but to the Son He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” [Ps.45:6-7] And, [5] “In the beginning, Lord, You laid the Earth’s foundation, and the heavens are the works of Your hands: they will perish, but You remain; they all will become old as a garment, and as a coat. You will roll them up, and as a garment they will be altered; but You are the same, and Your years will not cease.” [Ps.102:25-27] {1:12}
Has He spoken to any angel at any time, saying, [6] “Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool”? [Ps.110:1] Are they [angels] not all serving spirits sent out to minister to the ones who are to inherit salvation? Therefore, we must all the more hold on to the things which we have heard, lest we drift away. {1:15}
(3) If the Message spoken by angels was verified, and every transgression and disobedience received just punishment, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was spoken first by the Lord, and it has been verified to us by them who heard Him, God bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and various miracles and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to His Will. {2:4}
He did not subject to angels the coming world, of which we speak, but a certain one somewhere testified, saying, “What is a man, that You remember him, or a Son of man, that You visit Him? You made Him a little lower than the angels. You crowned Him with glory and honor. You placed everything in subjection under His feet.” [Ps.8:4-6]
In His subjecting everything to Him, He left nothing not subject to Him; yet now we do not see everything subject to Him. But we see Jesus, made “a little lower than the angels” because of the suffering of death (that by God’s Grace He might taste of death in behalf of everyone), crowned with splendor and honor. {2:9}
It was proper for Him (by Whom and for Whom are all things), in leading many children to glory, to make the Originator of their salvation complete through sufferings. Both He Who consecrates [sets apart holy ones], and they who are consecrated [set apart ones that He defines as holy], are all of one, and so He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will proclaim Your Name to My brothers. I will sing hymns of praise to You among the called-out people.” And more, “I will trust Him,” [Ps.22:22-23] and again, “Here am I, and the children whom God [Yahweh] has given to Me.” [Is. 8:18] {2:13}
Since the children partake of flesh and blood, He also partook of them, that through death He might conquer him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and that He might deliver those who through fear of death had always lived in slavery. {2:15}
It is certain that He does not help angels, but He helps Abraham’s offspring. Therefore, He was obligated in all things to become like His brothers, so that He might become a merciful and faithful ‘High Priest’ before God, to make satisfaction for the sins of the people. Since He Himself has suffered being tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. {2:18}
(4th) Therefore, dedicated brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, you all must consider Jesus, the Apostle [unique and ‘sent’ from God] and ‘High Priest’ of our profession: He was faithful to the One Who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. He was considered worthy of ‘more’ glory [far superior] than was Moses, just as he who builds a house has more honor than the house.
Every house is built by someone, and He who built all things is God. Moses was indeed faithful as a servant in all His house, for a testimony of things to be spoken; but Christ, as a Son over His house, Whose house we are, if, we hold fast our courage and confidence of hope. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear His Voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion in the day of the desert trial. Your fathers tested and tried Me and saw my works forty years. So, I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My Ways. As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest.’” [Ps.95:7-11] {3:11}
You must beware, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil and disbelieving heart, in departing from the living God. It is imperative that you encourage one another daily, while it is called “Today”, lest any of you becomes hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, for we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast to the end, the firm beginning of our confidence. {3:14}
There is the saying, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” [Ps.95:8] Who rebelled when they heard? Indeed, did not all they who came out of Egypt by Moses? With whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? To whom did He swear they would not enter His rest, except the disobedient? We see that because of unbelief they could not enter. {3:19}
Since the ‘Promise’ of entering His rest is still open [A.D.68ish], we should, therefore, fear, lest anyone of you should fall short of it. We have had the Good News evangelized to us, as they did; but the Message that was heard did not benefit them, since it was not united with faith in the ones who heard. We who have faith do enter the rest, as it was said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” [Ps.95:11] although the works had been done from the foundation of the world.
He has spoken somewhere of the seventh day in this way, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works,” [Gen.2:2] and in this place again, “…they shall not enter My rest.” Therefore, it remains that some would enter His rest, although the ones who first had the Good News evangelized to them did not enter, because of unbelief. Again, He has appointed a certain day, “Today” (speaking in David, after so long a time, as it was previously said), “Today, if you hear His Voice, do not harden your hearts.” [Ps.95:8] {4:7}
If Joshua had given them rest [~1400BC], he [David] would not afterward have spoken [~970BC] of another day. Therefore, a sabbath rest continues to remain for God’s people [until the end of time]. He who has entered His rest also himself has rested from his works, as God did from His own. Therefore, we should be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone should fall, after the same pattern of disobedience. {4:11}
The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to a separation of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is able to judge the heart’s thoughts and intentions. No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are laid bare and exposed to the eyes of Him with Whom we must reckon. {4:13}
(5th) Since we have a great ‘High Priest’ Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the [unique] Son of God, we should hold fast our profession. We do not have a ‘High Priest’ unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One Who has been tempted in everything, though without sin. We should, therefore, come confidently to the gracious Throne, that we may receive mercy, and find Grace for timely help. {4:16}
Every High Priest taken from among men is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to sympathize with the untaught and the misled. Since he himself also is beset with weakness; and because of it, he is obligated to make sin offerings for himself, even as, for the people. {5:3}
No one takes the honor to himself, but he who is called by God, even as Aaron. In the same way, Christ also did not glorify Himself to be a High Priest, but the One Who spoke to Him, “You are My Son! I have begotten You today.” [Ps.2:7] As He said also in another place, “You are a ‘Priest’ forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” [Ps.110:4] {5:6}
In the days of His flesh, He brought both petitions and pleas with loud crying and tears to the One Who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered, and after He was made complete, He became the Cause of eternal salvation to all who are obeying Him, since He was designated by God a ‘High Priest’ after the order of Melchizedek. {5:10}
There is much to say about Him, but difficult to explain, since you are hard of hearing. By this time, you ought to be teachers, but you again need someone to teach you the first principles of God’s Oracles; you need milk, not solid food. Everyone who drinks milk is untested in the Message of Righteousness, for he is a child; but solid food is for adults, who by experience have insights, trained to discriminate between good and evil. {5:14}
(6th) Therefore, let us leave the first principles of Christ’s Message, and we ourselves should grow to adulthood, not laying again the foundation: [1] of a reform of minds and lives from dead works, and [2] of faith toward God, [3] of the teaching of immersions, and [4] of laying on of hands, and [6] of the resurrection of the dead, and [7] of eternal judgment. God permitting, we will do this! {6:3}
It is impossible, for those once enlightened [about these], and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted God’s precious Word, and the powers of the coming world, and have fallen away, to renew them again to a reform of mind and life. They are re-crucifying God’s Son and exposing Him to public shame. {6:6}
The Earth, which has drunk the rain that comes often upon it, produces a useful crop, and it receives God’s blessing. But, when it bears thorns and briars, it is useless; a cursing is near, and its end is fire.
Though we speak this way, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, things that belong to salvation. God is not unfair to forget your work and the love you have shown because of His Name, as you served the saints, and whom you continue to serve. We desire that each one of you show the same zeal toward the full assurance of hope to the end, that you not be lazy, but be imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the Promises. {6:12}
When God made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless and multiply you.” [Gen.22:16-17] In this way, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the Promise.
Men swear by that which is greater, and the confirming oath is an end for them of every disagreement. Since God wants even more to show to the heirs of the Promise that His ‘Plan’ is unchangeable, He added an Oath; so that – by two unchangeable things, in both of which it is impossible for God to lie – we might have strong encouragement. We have taken refuge, seizing the hope that is placed before us, which we have as an anchor of the soul, both safe and reliable, and entering the veil, where Jesus, our forerunner, has [earlier] entered, having become a ‘High Priest’ forever after the order of Melchizedek. {6:20}
This Melchizedek, king of Salem, Priest of God Most High, met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings, and blessed him. Abraham divided to him a tenth of everything. [Gen.14:7-20] By translation he is, in the first place, “King of righteousness,” and then also, “King of Salem,” which is “King of peace.” Fatherless, motherless, without genealogy, having neither a beginning of days nor an end of life, and resembling the Son of God, he continues as a Priest unto forever. {7:3}
Consider how great he was, to whom Abraham, the patriarch, gave a tenth of the choicest spoils. They indeed of the sons of Levi, who received the priesthood, had a commandment to take tithes from the people according to the Law, that is, from their brothers, though they had come from the loins of Abraham; but, he who is not of their genealogy received a tithe from Abraham, and blessed the one who had the Promises! {7:6}
(7th) Now beyond all controversy, the less is blessed by the better. Here, indeed, mortal men receive tithes; but there, the testimony is that he lives! Also, so to speak, Levi, the one who received tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was yet in his father’s loins when Melchizedek met him. {7:10}
If indeed, completion was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it, the people were given the Law), what further need was there for another ‘Priest’ to arise after the order of Melchizedek [Ps.110], and not after the order of Aaron? {7:11}
When the Priesthood was changed [A.D.30, May 28], there was also necessarily a change of the Law [Jer.31:31f]. He, of whom these things were spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has served at the altar. It is clear that our Lord has descended from Judah, of which tribe Moses said nothing about priests.
And since another ‘Priest’ has arisen after the likeness of Melchizedek, it is even clearer that He has come, not according to the Law of a fleshly Commandment, but according to the power of an indestructible life! It was testified, “You are a ‘Priest’-forever-after the order of Melchizedek.” [Ps.110:4] Certainly, the former Commandment is annulled [Is59:2ff], because it was weak and useless. The Law completed nothing, but it was an introduction of a better hope, by which we draw near to God. {7:19}
And It was not without an oath. There were those who became priests without an oath, but He with an oath, by the One saying to Him, “The Lord has sworn, and shall never be regretful, ‘You are a ‘Priest’ forever.'” [Ps.110:4] In this way, Jesus became the guarantee of a better Covenant. [Jer. 31:31f; Is59:2ff] {7:22}
There were many who became priests, but because of death, they were prevented from continuing; He, however, because He remains forever, has an unchangeable ‘Priesthood’. He is therefore able to save-forever-those who are coming to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. {7:25}
Such a ‘Priest’ is appropriate for us: holy, guiltless, spotless, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens! He does not need daily to bring offerings, first for His own sins, then, for the sins of the people, as those High Priests; since when He offered Himself, He did this ‘once’ for all. The Law makes High Priests of men who are weak; but the declaration of the Oath, which came after the Law [Ps.110:4-950ish bc, was after Moses-1440bc], has appointed the Son, completed forever. {7:28}
(8th) Now the main point in the things which are being said is this: we have such a ‘High Priest’, Who sat down at the right hand of the Throne of the Majesty in heaven, a Minister of the holy things, and of the true tent, which the Lord built, not man.
As every High Priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, so it was necessary that He have something which He might offer. However, if He were on the Earth, He would not be a ‘Priest’, since there are those who offer gifts according to the Law. They, by example and shadow, serve the heavenly things, even as Moses, when he was about to finish the tent, was divinely commanded: “You must see to it,” He said, “that you make everything according to the ‘pattern’ which was shown to you in the mountain.” [Ex.25:40] {8:5}
But now, He has obtained a more excellent Ministry, because He is the Mediator of a better Covenant, which is based on better promises. If that First had been faultless, no place for a Second would have been sought. But since He has found Them at fault, He says [around 600b.c.], “Behold [It is imperative that you all pay close attention!]! The days come, says the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the Covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day when I took them by their hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not continue in My Covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. [Jer.31:31]
This is the Covenant [New] which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My Laws in their mind, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. They will not teach each one his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, ‘You must understand the Lord,’ because all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. I will be merciful to their wrongdoings, and I will remember their sins no more.” [Jerm.31:31-34; Is61:8,55:3] By saying “New” He has made the First old. That which is old, and aging is near destruction. [in AD 70] {8:13}
Therefore, the First indeed, had ordinances of service, and an earthly sanctuary: The first compartment, called “the Holy Place,” was prepared, in which were the lamp, and the table, and the sacred bread, and the golden altar for incense. The second compartment, beyond the second veil, was called “the Holy of Holies.” In It was the Ark of the Covenant, covered all around with gold. In the Ark was the golden jar containing manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the Covenant. Cherubs of glory stood on each end of the Ark, overshadowing the ‘mercy seat’; but it is not now the time to speak in detail of these things.
After these things had been prepared in this manner, the priests entered the first tent continually, performing the services; but into the second, only the High Priest once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins which the people committed in ignorance. By this, the Holy Spirit showed that the way into the Holy of Holies had not yet been revealed while the first tent was standing. It was a figure for that time, according to which both gifts and sacrifices were offered which could not complete the conscience of the worshiper. They only affected fleshly ordinances (foods and drinks and various washings) given until the time of complete rectification is imposed. {9:10}
But, after Christ appeared as a ‘High Priest’ of the good things that came through the greater and more complete ‘Tent’ not made with hands (that is, not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood), He entered the [genuine] Holy of Holies ‘once for all time’, obtaining eternal redemption. If the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer which sprinkle the unclean, set apart the flesh to purity, how much more will the blood of Christ (Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God) purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God!
And because of this, He is the Mediator of a New Covenant, since a death occurred for the redemption from the transgressions which were under the First Covenant, that they who were called might receive the Promise of the eternal inheritance. Where there is a ‘last will and testament’, the death of the one who made the ‘will’ must be established; for a ‘will’ is valid at death and is worthless so long as the one who made it lives. {9:17}
Therefore, even the First was not put into force without blood, for after every commandment had been spoken to the people by Moses, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself, and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the Covenant which God has commanded for you.” [Ex.24:8] Likewise, he sprinkled with blood both the tent, and all the service vessels. According to the Law, almost all things are purified by blood, and there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. {9:22}
Therefore, in one way, the patterns of these things in heaven must be purified by these, but, on the other, the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these; for Christ did not enter the sanctuary made with hands, a mere copy of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear for our sake before the face of God. Neither did He offer Himself often, as the High Priest entered the sanctuary every year with blood of another, for otherwise He would have suffered many times since the creation of the world. But now, once, at the consummation of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. {9:26}
And as it is appointed for men once to die, and judgment after this, so Christ, also, once offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time without sin, to those awaiting Him for salvation. {9:28}
The Law, which has a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image, can never – by the same annual sacrifices which they offer continually – complete the ones who come near. Otherwise, they would have stopped making offerings, because when the worshipers had been cleansed, they would no longer have had a consciousness of sins. But with them there is an annual remembrance of sins, as it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take sins away. {10:4}
So, when He came into the world, He said, “You did not want sacrifice and offering, but You prepared a body for Me. You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sin offerings. Then I said, ‘Behold! I have come! It is written of Me, in the roll of the Scroll, to do Your Will, O God.’” [Ps.40:6-8]
Above, He said, “Neither did You want, nor have pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin offerings,” which are offered according to the Law. Then He said, “Behold! I have come to do Your Will.” He removed the First that He might establish the Second, by which Covenant we are set apart, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. {10:10}
Every priest has stood, daily ministering and often offering the same sacrifices which can never remove sins; but after He had offered forever one [unique] sacrifice for sins, He sat down at God’s right hand, and is waiting until His enemies are made His footstool. By one [unique] offering He has completed forever those who are being set apart.
Also, the Holy Spirit has testified to us, for after He had said, “‘This is the [New] Covenant I will make with them after those days,’ says the Lord, ‘when I put My Laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,’ then He said, ‘No longer will I remember their sins and iniquities.’” [Jerm.31:33-34] Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sins. {10:18}
(9th) Brothers, since we were bold to enter the sanctuary by Jesus’ blood (a new and living Way which He opened through the veil, that is, His flesh), and since we have a great ‘Priest’ over God’s house, we should ourselves draw near with a true heart, in the full assurance by faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our whole body having been washed with pure water. {10:22}
We should hold fast the profession of the Hope without wavering, for He Who has Promised [is] faithful! And we should consider one another, with strong motivation unto love and good works, not forsaking the gathering of all of ourselves together, as is customary for some; but more so, exhorting one another, and so much more as you see the day [weekly] approaching. {10:25}
If we sin willfully, after we have received the complete understanding of the Truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, rather a certain frightening prospect of judgment and fierceness of fire which is ready to consume the enemies. Since a man who rejects Moses’ Law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three, how much worse punishment do you think he will deserve, who has: [1] trampled God’s Son, [2] has counted as common the blood of the [New] Covenant (by which He was set apart) and [3] has mocked the Spirit of Grace? We know Him Who said, “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay!” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” [Dt.32:35-36] To fall into the hands of the living God is terrifying! {10:31}
It is imperative that you yourselves remember your former days, during which you endured a severe conflict of sufferings, after you were enlightened; sometimes you all were a public spectacle in abuses and afflictions; and sometimes you were partakers with those who were treated this way. You were sympathetic with the ones in bonds, and you accepted joyfully the seizure of your possessions, understanding that you have for yourselves a better and abiding possession.
Do not throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. Patient endurance is what you ought to have need of, so that when you have done God’s Will, you can receive the Promise. “For yet in a very little while, the Coming One will come, and He will not delay.” [Is.26:20 LXX] “My righteous one will live by faith; but if he shrinks back, My soul will have no pleasure in him.” [Hab.2:3-4 LXX] But, we are not of those who shrink back unto destruction, but more so, [we are] by faith unto the keeping of [our] soul. {10:39}
(10th) Now, faith makes real the things for which we hope [with evidence and confidence] and [is] proof of things unseen. By this, the men of old were commended. By faith we understand that the worlds were created by God’s pronouncement, so that what is seen has not been made of things which are visible. {11:3}
By faith Abel [Gen.4:1] offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than did Cain, through which he was commended as being righteous, God bearing witness about his gifts, and through it he yet speaks, though he is dead.
By faith Enoch [Gen.5:24] was taken up so that he would not see death, and he was not found, because God took him up; before he was taken up, he had been commended as being well-pleasing to God. (It is impossible to be well-pleasing without faith, for the one who comes to God must believe that He always exists [IS-eimi], and that He rewards those who search for Him.) {11:6}
By faith Noah, [Gen.6:1] being divinely warned of things not yet seen, reverently prepared an ark to save his family. In this way he condemned the world and became an heir of righteousness by faith. {11:7}
By faith Abraham [Gen.12:1-25:8], being called to go out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, obeyed. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the promised land, as a foreign country, and lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise. He was waiting for the City which has foundations, whose architect and maker is God. {11:10}
By faith he received strength to father a child when he was old (Sarah herself being barren), because he considered that the One who had promised was reliable. So, from one man as good as dead, these were born, even as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as uncountable as the grains of seashore sand. {11:12}
These all, died in faith, and did not receive the Promises; but they saw and welcomed them from afar, and confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the Earth. They who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. Indeed, if they were remembering the land which they left, they would have had an opportunity to return; but now they long for a better, that is, a heavenly homeland. So, God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, and He has prepared a City for them. {11:16}
By faith Abraham, being tried, offered up Isaac; and he who received the Promises was offering up his unique son, to whom it was said, “Your offspring shall be called in Isaac.” [Gen.21:12] He thought that God could even raise the dead, from which figuratively, He did receive him. {11:19}
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau [Gen.27:27, 38] concerning things to come. By faith, when Jacob was dying, he blessed each of Joseph’s sons [Gen. 48:5], and worshiped, leaning on the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he was at the point of death, mentioned the exodus of the children of Israel, and commanded them about his remains. [Gen.50:24] {11:22}
By faith, when Moses was born [Ex.2:2], he was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw that he was a well-pleasing child, and they were not afraid of the king’s command. By faith, when Moses had grown up [Ex.2:10], he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, having chosen to suffer ill-treatment with God’s people, rather than to enjoy the temporary pleasure of sin. He considered abuse for Christ’s sake greater riches than the Egyptian treasures, for he was keeping his eyes on the reward.
By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; he endured patiently, as seeing the One Who is invisible.
By faith he instituted the Passover [Ex.10:28-13:16], and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. {11:28}
By faith they went through the Red Sea, as on dry ground, which the Egyptians attempted to do, and were drowned. [Ex.14:1-39] {11:29}
By faith the walls of Jericho, after being encircled for seven days, fell. [Josh.6:1] By faith Rahab, the prostitute [Josh.6:22], received the spies with peace, and was not destroyed with the disobedient. {11:31}
What shall I yet say? Time will fail me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah [Judg.6-16], David, and also Samuel [1 & 2 Sam.], and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, did what is right, received promises, closed lions’ mouths, extinguished the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, and routed foreign armies. Women received their dead ones raised to life. {11:35}
But others were beaten to death, and refused freedom, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others underwent a trial of ridicule and beatings, and in addition, chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, sawn apart, murdered by the sword. They went around in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of whom the world is not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes of the earth. {11:38}
These all, who were commended for their faith, did not receive the Promise, since God provided something better for us, that they should not be completed without us. {11:40}
For that very reason, since we have so great a host of witnesses about us, and since we have laid aside every weight and the sin which easily entangles us, we should run with endurance the race which is set before us. We should keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the Originator and Completer of ‘the Faith’, Who endured the cross because of the joy set before Him, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right side of God’s Throne. {12:2}
It is imperative that you all consider carefully the One who endured such hatred by sinners against Himself, lest you lose heart and give up. You have not yet resisted to blood in your fight against sin, and you have forgotten the encouragement which was spoken to you as sons, “My son, you must not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline, and you must not give up when you are corrected by Him; for the Lord loves those whom He disciplines, and He chastens every son whom He receives.” [Pv.3:11-12] Endure discipline! God is treating you as sons. What son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are without discipline, of which all are partakers, you are illegitimate, and not sons. After all, our fleshly fathers disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be submissive to the Father of all spirits [Zech.12:1] and live? They indeed for a few days disciplined us as they thought best, but He for our profit, that we might partake of His purity. No discipline at the time seems pleasant, but painful. However, it later produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, you all must straighten up the drooping hands and the wobbly knees, and you must make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather may be healed. {12:13}
(11th) You must strive for peace with all men, and dedication, without which no one will see the Lord. Take care that no one falls short of God’s Grace, that no bitter root may spring up and trouble you (and by it many be defiled); and that no one be immoral or irreligious like Esau [Gen.25:30], who gave up his birthright for one meal. You know that when he later wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a reform of mind and life, though he tearfully searched for it. {12:17}
You have not come to a mountain that cannot be touched, nor to a blazing fire, nor to a dark cloud, nor to a thick darkness, nor to a whirlwind, nor to a trumpet’s blast, nor to a sound of words. When they heard them, they begged that the Message be not spoken to them again, for they could not bear that which was commanded, “If a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am frightened and trembling.” [Ex.19-31] {12:21}
But more so, you have come to mount Zion, and to the City of the living God [Ps.2:6], to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the joyful Assembly [all eternal family together], and to the called-out firstborn people who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous ones who have been made complete, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling which speaks better than that of Abel. {12:24}
It is imperative that you all see that you do not refuse Him who speaks; for if these did not escape, these who refused the divine warning spoken on Earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from Him Who speaks from heaven. At that time His Voice shook the Earth, but now He has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the Earth, but also heaven.” [Hag.2:6] Now the words “yet once more” refer to the removal of the things which are shaken, as of things which are made, so that the things not shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable Kingdom, we should have Grace, by which we may serve God pleasingly, with reverence and awe, for our God is a devouring fire. {12:29}
(12th) Strong affections for others must continue. You all must not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by it some have unknowingly entertained angels. You must remember those who are in bonds, as having been bound with them; and those suffering ill-treatment as being also yourselves subject in [your] body. {13:3}
Respectable [is] a marriage in all, and the bed is chaste, but God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers. Do not be greedy, but be content with what you have, for He Himself has promised, “I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you!” [Dt.31:6,8] Therefore, we may boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I will not be afraid! What will a person do to me?” [Ps.118:6] {13:6}
You must remember your leaders who spoke God’s Message to you all; and as you beheld attentively their manner of life, you yourselves must imitate ‘the Faith’ of them. {13:7}
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. You must not be carried away [influenced] by various and strange doctrines. It is good for the heart to be established by Grace, not by foods, in which those so living have not benefited. We have an altar from which they who serve in the tent, have no right to eat. The bodies of the animals (whose blood is carried by the High Priest into the sanctuary for sins) are burned outside of the camp. In like manner, Jesus, that He might consecrate the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. We ourselves should then go out of the camp with Him, carrying His shame. {13:13}
We have no abiding city here, but more so, we are seeking the One [City] that is coming. Through Him, we should continually offer up the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips, confessing His Name. Also, you must not forget well-doing and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. {13:16}
You all must obey your leaders, and must be submissive, for they keep watch for your souls, as they who will give an account, that they may do this with joy, not with groaning (which would be harmful for you). {13:17}
You all must pray for us. We trust we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in everything. Even more I request you to do this, so that I may be restored to you right away. {13:19}
May the God of peace, who brought from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep, with the blood of the Eternal Covenant, even our Lord Jesus, equip you with every good thing to do His Will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Whom is the glory forever and ever, amen. {13:21}
I request you, brothers, you must receive the Message of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. Understand that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom, if he comes right away, I will see you.
Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you. Grace be with all of you.