Hebrews 3:2-12

2 who was faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses also [was] in his household.
3 For this one is considered worthy of greater glory than Moses, inasmuch as the one who builds it has greater honor than the house.
4 For every house is built by someone, but the one who built all [things] [is] God.
5 And Moses [was] faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony to the things that would be spoken,
6 but Christ [was faithful] as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast to our confidence and the hope we can be proud of.

A Serious Warning Against Unbelief

7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested [me] by trial and saw my works
10 [for] forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and I said, 'They always go astray in their heart, and they do not know my ways.'
11 As I swore in my anger, '{They will never enter} into my rest.'"
12 Watch out, brothers, lest there be in some of you an evil, unbelieving heart, [with the result that you] fall away from the living God.

Hebrews 3:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS 3

The apostle having discoursed, in the preceding chapters, concerning the dignity of Christ's person, and his wondrous grace in the assumption of human nature, and suffering in the room and stead of his people, exhorts the Hebrews in this to a serious consideration of him, attention to him, and faith in him, and constancy in it; the arguments he uses to engage them to these things are taken from the grace and benefit they themselves were partakers of through him, from the office in which he was, and his faithfulness to his Father in the discharge of it, Heb 3:1,2 which is illustrated in the case of Moses, who was faithful in the house of God, and whom Christ excelled, and therefore was worthy of more honour; partly, because he is the builder of the house; and partly, because he is a Son in it, when Moses was only a servant; which house is Christ's own, and consists of true and steadfast believers in him, Heb 3:2-6, wherefore the exhortation to regard him is renewed, enforced, and expressed in the words of the Holy Ghost, Heb 3:7-11 which are taken out of Ps 95:7-11 and applied to the present case: hence the apostle cautions against unbelief, as being a great evil in itself, and bad in its consequence, causing persons to depart from the living God, Heb 3:12, in order to prevent which he advises to a daily exhortation of each other to their duty, that so they might not be hardened in sin through the deceitfulness of it, Heb 3:13 and the rather it became them to be concerned to hold fast their faith in Christ to the end, since this is the grand evidence of being a partaker of him, Heb 3:14. And then the exhortation in the above passage of Scripture is recited, Heb 3:15 to show, that though not all the persons spoken of, yet some did provoke the Lord by their unbelief, and unbecoming carriage, Heb 3:16 wherefore, by the example of punishment being inflicted on such, of which instances are given in the forefathers of these people, such as their carcasses falling in the wilderness, and their not entering into the land of Canaan, which they could not, because God swore they should not, being grieved and provoked by them, and because of their unbelief, they are dissuaded from the same evils, lest they should be punished in like manner, Heb 3:17-19.

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Some manuscripts have "in all his household"
  • [b]. *The words "[was faithful]" are not in the Greek text, but are an understood repetition from the previous verse and v. 2
  • [c]. Some manuscripts have "if indeed"
  • [d]. Literally "if they will enter"
  • [e]. A quotation from Ps 95:7b-11
  • [f]. *Here "[with the result that]" is supplied as a component of the infinitive ("fall away") which is understood as result
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.