By:
Thomas Clayton Booher
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.
The
author of the letter to the Hebrews is unknown. The writer does not identify
himself, and the clues are sufficiently weak as to make it impossible to offer
a suggestion with any certainty. The Scofield
Reference Bible ascribes the letter to Paul. Most all other such Bibles refrain.
It is very unlikely that Paul was the author. The writer places himself among
those who had not received any direct revelation from Christ, but heard only
those who had (Heb 2:3). Paul insists that he had received his Gospel from
Christ himself (Gal 1:11, 12; Cf Eph 1:3).
The
occasion of the letter is an apparent danger of some Jewish converts to turn
back to the Old Testament system of worship in some fashion. The temptation to succumb
is easier because the temple and priestly offices were still in tact, as the
letter seems to indicate (Heb 5:1; 8:13; 10:1-3, 11). If the temple had been
destroyed, as it was in 70 AD, its significance would have disappeared.
Because
of this danger, the author’s purpose is to persuade his readers not to leave
their confidence in Christ and turn back. Hence, his theme is the superiority
of Christ over anything that had previously come in redemptive history: OT
prophets (1:1,2), angels (1:4ff), Moses (3:2-6), the High Priest (4:14-5:10;
6:20; 7:26ff; 8:1, 2; et. al.), Abraham (7:1-7), the Levitical priesthood
(7:11-25; 8:3-6); the Old Covenant sacrifice (8:7-13; 10:1-18).
Hebrews
6:4-6 underscores the danger. Although the interpretation of this text is
problematic, however it is interpreted, we may discern a stern warning. For those
who have been so enlightened, as his Jewish audience has, but after careful
consideration turn back to the old ways, there is no more sacrifice. The
implication is that such persons will fall away and cannot be restored for they
will not come to repentance. Their hardhearted disdain of the enlightenment of
the Holy Spirit and the word of God is akin to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit
(Matt 12:31) wherein there is no forgiveness.
But
the writer is persuaded of better things of his readers, that they are not
going to apostatize but rather continue on in the way of salvation (Heb 6:9).
It is with this confidence that the author addresses his readers as holy
brothers and partakers
of the heavenly calling.
Our
calling is a heavenly calling because it is a calling whose origin is not of
this world. From Paul we learn that all of humanity by nature comes under the
dominion of the prince and power of the air (Eph 2:2). John speaks of the whole
world lying in the power of the wicked one (1 John 4:19). There is nothing in
this world that can produce a calling like the heavenly calling. It is a
calling that comes through the work of his Spirit within us (John 3: 3, 5).
It
is a heavenly calling because those called have been blessed with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, that is, in Christ who is now in
heaven at the right hand of God (Eph 1:3) interceding for us (Rom 8:34). Our
union with Christ in his death and resurrection (Rom 6:5) places us in the
heavenlies with him even now (Eph 2:5, 6) though to the human eye and in our
mundane experience it does not appear to be so and will not until we see Jesus
when he comes again (1 John 3:1, 2; Col 3:3, 4).
It
is a heavenly calling because it is a rescuing from this present evil world
(Gal 1:4) into a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15) which has not yet been
fully realized, but will be when Christ returns to recreate the world (2 Pet
3:10) and establish the heavenly tabernacle of God among men in the new heavens
and earth (Rev 21:1-3) where God and man will co-dwell once again as they had
done at the beginning (Gen 3:8, 9).
It
is a heavenly calling because it persuades us to set our affection on the holy
things above, not on the wicked things of this world (Col
It
is a heavenly calling because the Savior who calls us as sheep by name (John
10:3) came down out of heaven (John 3:13; 6:38) as the Bread of Heaven (John
6:31-33, 50, 51) who gives us heavenly life.
Because
our calling is heavenly we are assured that nothing here below can alter its
sure outcome as Paul wrote, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities
nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor
any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38, 39).
Our
heavenly calling assures us that God can do a great work in us with the same
power that he used to raise Christ from the dead and seat him (and us) in the
heavenly places (Eph 1:19, 20) where we are untouched by the principalities,
mights, powers, and dominions of spiritual forces (Eph 1:21).
With
such a heavenly calling, who can be discouraged? There is hope now and for the
end. It is when we forget our heavenly calling that the difficulties and trials
of this world become too great for us. We are drained of assurance and tend to
despair as those who have no hope.
Seeing
then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.... without wavering, for He
who promised is faithful
(Heb 4:14; 10:23).
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