Hebrews 12:23

New Testament

21 In fact, the scene was so terrifying that Moses said, “I shudder with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly 23 and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. 25 Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven?

4 Maccabees 7:15

Pseudepigrapha

13 Most amazing, indeed, though he was an old man, his body no longer tense and firm, his muscles flabby, his sinews feeble, he became young again 14 in spirit through reason; and by reason like that of Isaac he rendered the many-headed rack ineffective. 15 O man of blessed age and of venerable gray hair and of law-abiding life, whom the faithful seal of death has perfected! 16 If, therefore, because of piety an aged man despised tortures even to death, most certainly devout reason is governor of the emotions. 17 Some perhaps might say, "Not all have full command of their emotions, because not all have prudent reason."

 Notes and References

"... although no scholar would place an exclusive association of perfection in Hebrews with death, the usage in the background literature (e.g. Wisdom of Solomon 4:13; 4 Maccabees 7:15; Philo Allegorical Interpretation 3.45) is often considered to be relevant to the discussion (e.g. Attridge, Hebrews 85–6 and Peterson, Perfection 26, 30). L. K. K. Dey is the name most associated with the philosophical reading of perfection in Hebrews in which even for Christ perfection is access in this life to the noumenal world ..."

Schenck, Kenneth Cosmology and Eschatology in Hebrews: The Settings of the Sacrifice (p. 66) Cambridge University Press, 2007

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