 |  |
Hebrews 1:, 2:
A |
1: 1, 2. God once spoke by prophets. Now by His Son.
B
| 1: 2-14. The Son. His glories. God and Lord, better than angels.
A |
2: 1-4. God once spoke by angels. Now by the Lord.
B
| 2: 5-18. The Son. His sufferings. Man and Abraham's seed, lower than angels.
The "therefore" of 2: 1 is dia touto, "on this account", or "for this reason". We must
not look for the prime reason in the preceding verse, which speaks of the ministry of
angels, but to the preceding clause which speaks of the superior testimony of the Son
(1: 1, 2). "On this account it behoves us to give more earnest heed to the things which we
have heard, lest at any time we should let slip". We differ from the A.V. in the rendering
of this verse, agreeing more with the R.V. which reads, "drift away from them".
Rotherham renders the word, "drift away"; J.N.Darby renders it, "we should slip away".
A great deal of controversy has arisen over this word, one set of interpreters taking the
passage to mean, "lest we should fall or stumble", the other taking it to mean, "lest we
forget". The one makes the passage teach that we should give earnest heed lest WE slip
away, the other that we should give earnest heed so that we do not let the WORDS slip
away. Both sides refer to Prov. 3: 21 to prove their point. J.N.Darby says:--
"Proverbs is a free translation, for the Hebrew is plural `let them slip away from thine
eyes', that is, what is spoken of in the end of the verse; but it shows the sense of the
word."
Moses Stuart says:--
"This is the very proverb to which Chrysostom and Theophylact appeal as an
illustration of the word in question: but the true sense of this word in Prov. 3: 21 they
do not seem to have apprehended. Pararrheġ here plainly does not mean to perish, to
fall, but is the antithesis to tērēson, keep, attend to, practice, and consequently means, to
pass by, to neglect, to transgress."
Dr. Bullinger in his Lexicon and Concordance says:--
"Pararrheġ, to flow near, flow by, glide away; here the 2nd Aorist passive, carried
away, beside, or with, referring, not like the active, to the act of floating away, but to
being carried beside, or floating away past anything with the stream (the marginal
reference is quite wrong and follows the Vulgate pereffluamus)."
The reader may wonder how it can be possible to arrive at a settled understanding
where so many learned writers have so differently expressed themselves yet it is possible
to perceive truth in both sets of interpretation. It is certain that if earnest heed be not
given, we are apt to let the words slip, it is equally scripturally true that, if we do not give
earnest heed, we ourselves shall slip. It appears therefore that the true meaning of the
passage is a combination of both thoughts; we cannot let slip the words of truth without
sliding away ourselves. An extension of the argument comes in chapters 3: and 4::--
"And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to those who
believed not; let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it."