Hebrews 3:12

Take heed (blepete). Present active imperative as in Philippians 3:2 (three times) of blepw in place of the more usual orate. Solemn warning to the Jewish Christians from the experience of the Israelites as told in Psalms 95:1 ff. Lest haply there shall be (mh pote estai). Negative purpose with mh pote and the future indicative as in Mark 14:2 . But we have in Colossians 2:8 mh ti estai as in Hebrews 12:25 ; mh occurs with the aorist subjunctive, and mh pote with present subjunctive ( Hebrews 4:1 ) or aorist subjunctive ( Acts 5:39 ). In any one of you (en tini umwn). The application is personal and pointed. An evil heart of unbelief (kardia ponhra apistia). A remarkable combination. Heart (kardia) is common in the LXX (about 1,000 times), but "evil heart" only twice in the O.T. ( Jeremiah 16:12 ; Jeremiah 18:12 ). Apistia is more than mere unbelief, here rather disbelief, refusal to believe, genitive case describing the evil heart marked by disbelief which is no mark of intelligence then or now. In falling away from the living God (en twi aposthnai apo qeou zwnto). "In the falling away" (locative case with en of the second aorist active (intransitive) infinitive of apisthmi, to stand off from, to step aside from (apo with the ablative case qeou) the living God (common phrase in the O.T. and the N.T. for God as opposed to lifeless idols)). "Remember that to apostatize from Christ in whom you have found God is to apostatize from God" (Dods). That is true today. See Ezekiel 20:8 for this use of the verb.