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Hebrews 2: 1 - 4
A | a | Warning, lest let slip.
b | Things spoken by angels.
c | Confirmed (bebaios).
B | No escape from just recompence.
B | How escape from similar recompence?
A | a | Warning, if neglect so great salvation.
b | Spoken by the Lord.
c | Confirmed (bebaioo) 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 not we 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 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
believers today who so emphasize free grace that it may do good to draw attention to the
balance of privilege and responsibility which characterizes the teaching of all Scripture.
There are some who, ignoring Col. 3: 22-25, maintain that the judgment seat of Christ
has no place in the epistles of the Mystery. This can only lead to imbalance.
No.15.
The So Great Salvation (2: 1-4)
pp. 205 - 208
"How shall we escape, if we neglect so GREAT SALVATION?" What is this
salvation which is so great? None would be found to demur at the designation if it
thereby indicated the salvation of the sinner by the blood of Christ. How great that is
none can tell; salvation, as used in Hebrews, however, does not carry with it the
evangelical meaning (see previous articles). Shall we allow the Hebrew usage to help us?
Granting that the word often means individual salvation as in Rom. 1: 16, there are other
usages which show that the word has a wider meaning.
Psa. 14: 7. "Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD
bringeth back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad."
The national restoration of Israel is here called their salvation.