Hebrews 3:12–16

"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God." For from hardness unbelief ariseth: and as in bodies, the parts that have become callous and hard do not yield to the hands of the physicians, so also souls that are hardened yield not to the word of God. For it is probable besides that some even disbelieved as though the things which had been done were not true.

Therefore he says, "Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing From the living God." For since the argument from the future is not so persuasive as from the past, he reminds them of the history, in which they had wanted faith. For if your fathers (he says) because they did not hope as they ought to have hoped, suffered these things, much more will you. Since to them also is this word addressed: for, "To-day" (he says) is "ever," so long as the world lasts.

Above all things indeed, he says, "let there not be an evil heart of unbelief." But even suppose there should be, let no man despair, but let him recover himself; for as long as we are in this world, the "To-day" is in season.

Fearful of the saying. See, he says, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, from the rest, the kingdom of heaven.

"an evil heart." There are many wicked hearts of unbelief. For there is a wicked heart of unbelief, which does not believe, but is greedy for gain, is arrogant, is drunken, and many other things. Moreover, and incomparably, a heart is a wicked heart of unbelief, which departs from the faith in God. Therefore, see," he says, "that there never be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief." And of unbelief, I say, he means the departure from the living God. And he says well. An evil heart of unbelief. For there is also a good heart of unbelief, as in, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God." (1 Jn. 4:1)

In the departing, that is, through unbelief, from the living God. For otherwise unbelief does not find a way unless one departs from God. For as long as one holds on to God and trusts in Him, as the Almighty, he considers nothing impossible.

Many have evil, unbelieving hearts. To have an evil, unbelieving heart means to have no faith. Evil is the love of property, wantonness, alcohol, and the like.… Beware that your heart may not become evil and unbelieving; unbelief, he says, is separation from the living God.

Thinking, then, that they could find a better, they wander and become wretched, and enter upon pathless places. But those which fell into the fire and were burned are those who have departed for ever from the living God.

This word comes to ones who have already come to faith, as I understand it. So that it is fitting for you to praise the same things so that you might remain in the same opinions once and for all. This then Paul says, because those who believe and who have received the Spirit "share" in the substance of Christ, since they have received some physical fellowship with him. Then finally it remains to guard thoroughly this beginning with an uncontaminated mind.

This is said for the purpose of intimidation. There were probably some who did not believe in the truth of what was said about retribution, and therefore wished to test the power of God and His care for them in the trials to which they were subjected. Therefore he guards them, reminding them of what those who did not believe endured in ancient times. For future terrors do not restrain many as much as past ones that are already known to all. Note also that from unbelief everyone passes to evil thoughts and to equally evil deeds.

Unbelief finds no other way out than for everyone to fall away from God. As long as a person holds to God and hopes in Him as the Almighty, he considers nothing impossible.

185. – Above, the Apostle showed on the authority of the Psalmist that Christ must be obeyed strictly. In that authority he found three things, namely, the exhortation, the guilt, and the punishment. These he now explains in that order: first, the exhortation; secondly, the guilt (v. 16); thirdly, the punishment (v. 18). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he exhorts them to be carefully attentive; secondly, to mutual exhortation (v. 12).

186. – He says, therefore, take care. For every man should consider the state in which he is: 'Let everyone prove his own work' (Gal. 6:4); 'See your ways in the valley' (Jer. 2:23). Take care therefore, brethren, each one to himself, because each is part of the assembly, and 'to each one God gave commandment concerning his neighbor' (Sir. 19:12): take care, i.e., let one prove the other, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. As if to say: many of you are in a perfect state, yet because of weakness and free will, there could be evil in some of you: 'Behold, they that serve him are not steadfast; and in his angels he found wickedness. How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation' (Jb. 4:18-19)? 'Have I not chosen you twelve and one of you is a devil' (Jn. 6:71). Therefore no one should be solicitous for himself only, but also for each member of his group. But why? Lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart. This is the evil about which the Apostle speaks, namely, an unbelieving heart, i.e., not firm in faith. In this does wickedness consist, because just as the soul's good consists in clinging to God, 'It is good for me to adhere to my God' (Ps. 72:27), through faith, so man's evil consists in withdrawing from God: 'Know and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for you to have left the Lord, your God' (Jer. 2:19). And again he says, of falling away, because one departs by unbelief, from the living God: 'They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water' (Jer. 2:15). But he says, from the living God, because He is life in Himself and is the life of the soul: 'In him was life' (Jn. 1:4). He says this to show that by withdrawing from God, man incurs spiritual death.

Perhaps my bad temper or my jealousy are gradually getting worse—so gradually that the increase in seventy years will not be very noticeable. But it might be absolute hell in a million years: in fact, if Christianity is true, Hell is the precisely correct technical term for what it would be.

[In context: Lewis is arguing that the "mark on the soul" left by a moral choice may be the same whether the external action is a small private anger or mass murder.]

Each has done something to himself which, unless he repents, will make it harder for him to keep out of the rage next time he is tempted, and will make the rage worse when he does fall into it. Each of them, if he seriously turns to God, can have that twist in the central man straightened out again: each is, in the long run, doomed if he will not.

This dim uneasiness needs careful handling. If it gets too strong it may wake him up and spoil the whole game. On the other hand, if you suppress it entirely--which, by the by, the Enemy will probably not allow you to do--we lose an element in the situation which can be turned to good account. If such a feeling is allowed to live, but not allowed to become irresistible and flower into real repentance, it has one invaluable tendency. It increases the patient's reluctance to think about the Enemy. All humans at nearly all times have some such reluctance; but when thinking of Him involves facing and intensifying a whole vague cloud of half-conscious guilt, this reluctance is increased tenfold. They hate every idea that suggests Him, just as men in financial embarrassment hate the very sight of a pass-book. In this state your patient will not omit, but he will increasingly dislike, his religious duties. He will think about them as little as he feels he decently can beforehand, and forget them as soon as possible when they are over. A few weeks ago you had to tempt him to unreality and inattention in his prayers: but now you will find him opening his arms to you and almost begging you to distract his purpose and benumb his heart. He will want his prayers to be unreal, for he will dread nothing so much as effective contact with the Enemy. His aim will be to let sleeping worms lie.

"Today" means always, for the one who gives us advice pertaining to salvation must always have our attention. The Apostle expressed the meaning of this word powerfully: "But encourage one another every day, as long as it is called 'today.' "

Take also another like expression. "To this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds." Does "to this day" mean "up to the time that Paul wrote the words and no longer"? Does it not mean until this present day and indeed to the very end? And if Paul should say, "We are come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ, having hope, when your faith is increased, to preach the gospel in lands beyond you," you can see clearly that the phrase "all the way" sets no limit but indicates what lies beyond. With what meaning, therefore, ought you to recall the words "till he has put all enemies"? Just the same as in another saying of Paul, "But exhort each other daily, as long as it is called 'today,' " which clearly means for all time. For as we must not talk of a beginning of the days of Christ, so never suffer anyone to speak of an end of his kingdom. For Scripture says, "his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom."

"Give us this day our superessential bread." Ordinary bread is not "superessential," but this holy bread is superessential in the sense of being ordained for the essence of the soul. Not of this bread is it said that it "passes into the stomach and is discharged into the drain." No, it is absorbed into your whole system to the benefit of both soul and body. By "this day" he means "daily," as in Paul's "while it is called 'today.' "

Wherefore "exhort ye one another daily, while it is called to-day." That is, edify one another, raise yourselves up: lest the same things should befall you. "Lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Seest thou that sin produces unbelief? For as unbelief brings forth an evil life, so also a soul, "when it is come into a depth of evils, becometh contemptuous", and having become contemptuous it endures not even to believe, in order thereby to free itself from fear. For "they said", "The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard." And again, "Our lips are our own: who is Lord over us?"; and again "Wherefore hath the wicked man provoked God to wrath?"; and again, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; they are corrupt and become abominable in their doings." "There is no fear of God before his eyes, for he was deceitful before Him, to find out his iniquity and to hate." Yea and Christ also says this same thing, "Every one that doeth evil, hateth the light and cometh not to the light."

"To-day," that they might never be without hope. "Exhort one another daily," he says, "while it is called today," that is, even if a man have sinned, as long as it is "To-day," he has hope: let no man then despair so long as he lives. Above all things indeed, he says, "let there not be an evil heart of unbelief." But even suppose there should be, let no man despair, but let him recover himself; for as long as we are in this world, the "To-day" is in season...

"But exhort one another." Observe the gentleness and mildness of the expression: he said not "Rebuke," but "Exhort." Thus we are required to bear ourselves towards those who are straightened by affliction. This he says also in writing to the Thessalonians, "Warn them that are unruly", but in speaking of the feeble-minded, not so, but what? "Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men"; that is, do not cease to hope; do not despair. For he that does not encourage one who is straightened by affliction, makes him more hardened.

"Lest any of you," he says, "be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." He means either the deceit of the devil (for it is indeed a deceit, not to look for the things to come, to think that we are without responsibility, and that we shall not pay the penalty for our deeds here, neither will there be a resurrection); or in another sense insensibility or despairing is deceit. For to say, "What is there left? I have sinned once for all, I have no hope of recovering myself," is deceit.

"But encourage one another." Build each other up, and spur one another on. "As long as it is called 'today'." Until the end, he says; for until the end, today is called. For he said, "Today, if you hear his voice," he says, until that which is spoken of as today. "so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." So that it does not happen, he says, as it occurred with our ancestors, and that their hearts may become hard and unyielding, deceived by unbelief, which now calls sin.

He introduces the present age as one day.

That is, edify one another and strengthen each other, so as not to fall. And if anyone falls, correct him while he is still alive; this is what the expression means: "while it can be said: 'today,'" for there is hope. And especially, let there not be in anyone an evil heart; but if it happens, let him not fall into despair, but comfort him, and you will win him back again.

That is, lest from despair he come to hardness and remain incurable. For just as hardened and rough bodies do not yield to the efforts of physicians, so hardened souls do not obey the word of God. By "the deceitfulness of sin" he means either the deception of the devil—that is, not to hope that there will be recompense—or carelessness. For, he says, if I have sinned once, then I no longer have any hope—this is truly the deceitfulness of sin. Sin, deceiving and drawing one to itself, causes one to think in the way that is said: "When the wicked comes, contempt comes also" (Prov. 18:3). And whoever holds in contempt can no longer believe. Thus, from sin comes unbelief. "And they say: 'The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it'" (Ps. 94:7). And again: "saying in his heart: 'You will not require it'" (Ps. 10:13), and: "God has forgotten" (Ps. 10:11), and everything of that sort.

187. – But if that evil should be found in anyone, should he despair? No; he should be admonished all the more. Therefore, he says, but exhort one another every day, i.e., continually, namely, by discussing your conscience and by exhorting to good, as long as it is called today, i.e., while the present time of grace lasts: 'I must work the works of him that sent me, whilst it is day' (Jn. 9:4). And this in order that none of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For, as has been stated above, the heart is hardened by persisting in evil. But a person clings to sin because he is deceived. Or, it is natural for the appetite to cling to the good; but it withdraws from good, because it is deceived: 'They err who work evil' (Pr. 14:22); 'I have strayed from the path of truth' (Wis. 5:6).

"For we have been made partakers of Christ." What is this, "We have been made partakers of Christ"? We partake of Him (he means); we were made One, we and He - since He is the Head and we the body, "fellow-heirs and of the same body; we are one body, of His flesh and of His bones."

"If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence [or, the principle of our subsistence] steadfast unto the end." What is "the principle of our subsistence"? The faith by which we stand, and have been brought into being and were made to exist, as one may say.

Then he suggests hopes to them, saying, "We are made partakers of Christ"; All but saying, He that so loved us, He that counted us worthy of so great things, as to make us His Body, will not suffer us to perish. Let us consider (he says) of what we have been thought worthy: we and Christ are One: let us not then distrust Him. And again, he hints at that which had been said in another place, that "If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." For this is implied in "We are made partakers," we partake of the same things whereof Christ also partakes.

He urges them on from the good things; "for we are," he says, "partakers of Christ."

"For we have become partakers of Christ." One, he says, we have become partakers with Christ, since He has deemed it worthy to be our head and to make us His members. "if we hold the beginning of our confidence." The beginning of confidence is faith towards Christ. For by it we have endured and have become partakers of Christ. "to the end." The 'to the end' clearly indicates that they had begun.

He says that those who have believed and shared in the Spirit have become partakers in Christ's "hypostasis" in that they have received a certain natural communion with him. Now there remains the task of preserving this foundation with a pure resolve.

We shared in death with Christ the Lord through all-holy baptism, and after being buried with him we prefigured the resurrection, provided of course we kept faith firm. He referred to this by the phrase "first confidence." Through it we were renewed, we were joined to Christ the Lord, and we shared the grace of the all-holy Spirit.

That is, we and He became one, and we became partakers of Him to the same degree that the body is of the head. Here he inspires them with hope, as if saying: He Who loved us so much that He even made us His body will not allow us to be torn away from Him, if only we ourselves do not desire it. At the same time he hints at what is said in another place: "if we endure, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. 2:12). Being now partakers in the same things as Christ, evidently in afflictions, let us strive to be partakers also then in glory.

That is, faith; for through it we exist and realize a divine and spiritual existence and regeneration. And here he requires standing firm in the faith until the end.

188. – Then (v. 14) he explains their condition. As if to say: That condition is more powerful than the other, because they only hear, but we share in Christ. And he speaks properly, because in the Old Testament, there was only hearing, and grace was not conferred ex opere operato; but in the New Testament there are both the hearing of faith and the grace given to the very one acting. Hence, we are partakers of grace, first, by accepting the faith: 'That Christ by faith may dwell in your hearts' (Eph. 3:17); secondly, by the sacraments of faith: 'As many of you as have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ' (Gal. 3:27); thirdly, by partaking of the body of Christ: 'The bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of Christ' (1 Cor. 10:16)?

189. – But it should be noted that there are two ways of sharing in Christ: one is imperfect through the faith and the sacraments; the other is perfect through the presence and vision of the reality. But the first we already possess in reality; the second we possess in hope. But because hope has this condition, namely, that we persevere, he says, if only we hold our first confidence firm unto the end. For whoever is baptized in Christ receives a new nature and Christ is somehow formed in him: 'My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you' (Gal. 4:19). This will be truly completed in us in heaven, but here it is only the beginning; and this by formed faith, because unformed faith is dead: 'Faith without works is dead' (Jas. 2:26). Hence, unformed faith is not a beginning of partaking of Christ, but formed faith: 'Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for', i.e., the foundation and the beginning.

190. – He says, therefore, we are partakers of Christ; yet so, if we hold our first confidence firm unto the end. But it seems that fear is the beginning, because it says in Ps. 110: 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' I answer that faith is formed by charity; but charity does not exist without chaste fear. Therefore, formed faith always has charity annexed to it. Hence, faith and fear are the beginning.

Then he adds, "When it is said, To-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." This is a transposition, "when it is said, To-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts." It must be read thus:

"Let us fear lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it; for to us was the Gospel preached as well as unto them when it is said, To-day if ye hear His voice" (for "To-day" is "at every time").

Then he adds "but the word of hearing did not profit them, as they were not mixed by faith with them that heard." ...

Now what he says is to this effect. They also heard, as we hear: but no profit came to them. Do not suppose then that by "hearing" what is proclaimed ye will be profited; seeing that they also heard, but derived no benefit because they did not believe.

"As in the rebellion." Hyperbaton [ὑπερβατὸν] is: for we must understand it as "Let us fear." The surpassing thing; in what is said: Today, if you hear the voice, and the things following, let us fear, lest, a promise being left behind, and the things following.

He confirms in what sense he said "to the end," and says that this is signified by the expression "today." For "today" means: always, as he also said above: "but exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today'" (Heb. 3:13). Or, what is more approved, as stated by Saint John Chrysostom, the apostle makes a transition from the words "as long as it is said: 'today, when you hear His voice,'" to what follows: "Therefore let us fear, lest, while a promise remains" (Heb. 4:1), and so on.

"For some when they had heard did provoke, howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses: And with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see, that they could not enter in because of unbelief." After again repeating the testimony, he adds also the question, which makes the argument clear. For he said (he repeats), "To-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." Of whom does he speak (he says) as having been hardened? Of whom as not believing? Is it not of the Jews?

Now what he says is to this effect. They also heard, as we hear: but no profit came to them. Do not suppose then that by "hearing" what is proclaimed ye will be profited; seeing that they also heard, but derived no benefit because they did not believe.

Caleb then and Joshua, because they agreed not with those who did not believe, escaped the vengeance that was sent forth against them. And see how admirably he said, not, They did not agree, but, "they were not mixed" - that is, they stood apart, but not factiously when all the others had one and the same mind. Here it seems to me that a faction too is hinted at.

For some, having heard the promises of God, just as we hear them, provoked God to anger through unbelief. For He desires to save them just as He saves those who have heard, and they are of no benefit from merely hearing the promise. Thus, he says, you also will not be fulfilled if you have only heard the preaching, unless you also believe. And that there is a need for faith, from those who heard long ago, but because they did not believe, they perished, is confirmed by the word. For just as it was not sufficient for those to be deemed worthy of the voice of God, but having not believed they perished, so it will not be sufficient for you either to become hearers of faith, unless you also believe sincerely. Moreover, these thought that it was enough to have self-sufficiency from merely having heard the preaching. For this also indicates, in saying, "For we are also evangelized," just as they were. "For some, having heard, provoked, but not all who came out of Egypt." If indeed Caleb and Joshua were not unbelievers, they also entered the land of promise.

He wishes to show that all who went out through Moses perished because of their unbelief, so that these might fear all the more since they were in a similar situation to those against whom he was making the argument.

Having heard, he says, God's promise — "I will give you the land of Canaan" — they did not believe, and by their unbelief they provoked God to anger. See to it, then, that you also do not be unbelieving in the promises. For hearing alone will not benefit you if you do not also believe. Just as hearing did not benefit them either, but on the contrary, they perished with complete justice precisely because they did not believe the words of God.

Caleb and Joshua the son of Nun were not among the unbelievers, and therefore attained the promise and entered Palestine.

191. – Then when he says, who were they that heard, he explains what he had said about their sin. As if to say: You are made partakers of Christ, if you do not harden your hearts, as they who have heard and yet were rebellious. Was it not all? No, not all; for two, namely, Caleb and Joshua remained and consoled the others. And by this we are given to understand that, since not the whole Church falls but only some, the wicked are punished, but not the good, as in those two: 'And I will leave me seven thousand men in Israel, whose knees have not been bowed before Baal' (1 Kg 19:18); 'There is a remnant saved according to the election of grace' (Rom. 11:5).