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accompanied by stubbornness and rebellion. Let us remember the many examples of
those under the old covenant who transgressed or rebelled against the terms of the
covenant confirmed by God. Let Moses himself bear witness that his act of transgression
caused him to forfeit that land of promise, let all Israel who wandered forty years in the
wilderness enforce the same principle, and let Caleb and Joshua also declare that the
"recompense of reward" took into account good as well as evil. It is the transgression,
however, that is in view for the time being.
"The recompense of reward" (misthapodosia), and "the rewarder" (misthapodotes) are
both peculiar to Hebrews. They indicate the idea of the epistle upon which we have
again and again insisted, namely, that Hebrews is parallel with Philippians, which speaks
of the prize, and of working out our own salvation. "The recompense of the reward"
comes as follows, 2: 2, 10: 35, 11: 26, where the two sides, the good and the evil, are
illustrated. The parenthetical way in which verse 6 comes in chapter 11: indicates that all
those witnesses whose overcoming faith is instanced in that remarkable chapter, believed
that God was the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
Without suggesting that the following is verbally accurate, it will nevertheless set out
the argument of the apostle sufficiently for the general reader:--
Hebrews 2: 1-4.
A | a | Warning, lest let slip.
b | Things spoken by angels.
c | Confirmed (bebaios).
B | No escape from just recompense.
B | How escape from similar recompense?
A | a | Warning, if neglect so great salvation.
b | Spoken by the Lord.
c | Confirmed (bebaioġ) in special manner by God.
The argument is resumed in Heb. 12: 25, 26, after a vast ground has been covered:--
"See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh, for if they ESCAPED not who refused Him
that spake on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from Him that
speaketh from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth" (i.e. at Sinai, when the law was
given by the disposition of angels).
That there was a tendency on the part of the Jews to think that they would escape is
indicated by the question in Rom. 2: 3:--
"And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the
same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?"
Covenant relationship and privilege notwithstanding, the Jew was in error. There are
some believers to-day who so estimate free grace that it may do good to draw attention to
these things.