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Hebrews

About this book
Chapter 4

1 Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For we had good news proclaimed to us just as they did. But the message they heard did them no good, since they did not join in with those who heard it in faith. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’” And yet God’s works were accomplished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has spoken somewhere about the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” 5 but to repeat the text cited earlier: “They will never enter my rest!” 6 Therefore it remains for some to enter it, yet those to whom it was previously proclaimed did not enter because of disobedience. 7 So God again ordains a certain day, “Today,” speaking through David after so long a time, as in the words quoted before, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward about another day. 9 Consequently a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. 10 For the one who enters God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works. 11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow;⁠ it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart.⁠ 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.⁠ 14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.⁠ 16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.

Texts in conversation

Compare Philo, Who is the Heir of Divine Things 130 and Hebrews 4:12

Classical · New Testament

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Summary

Philo describes God’s Word as a sword that divides creation into balanced opposites. Hebrews uses similar language, closer to Philo rather than the Hebrew Bible’s more common “sword of judgment.”

Passages

Philo, Who is the Heir of Divine Things 130

Classical
Again, of the mortals he made two divisions, one of which he called men, and the other women; and, in the same manner, he divided the irrational animals into male and female. And these things were also subjected to other necessary divisions, which made distinctions between them: winged animals were distinguished from terrestrial ones, terrestrial from aquatic creatures, and aquatic creatures, again, from both extremes. Thus God, having sharpened his own word, the divider of all things, divides the essence of the universe, which lacks form and all distinctive qualities, and the four elements of the world which were separated from this essence, and the plants and animals which were compacted from these elements.

Hebrews 4:12

New Testament
11 Thus we must make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following the same pattern of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing even to the point of dividing soul from spirit, and joints from marrow; it is able to judge the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.
80–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hebrews

References

... The tradition on which it is based is anchored in the Old Testament and familiar in contemporary Judaism and early Christianity. A complex combination of these metaphors is found in Wisdom of Solomon 18:14-16 where the word of God is personified as a warrior who bears the sharp sword of God's decrees of judgment upon the Egyptians at the exodus. Philo knows this traditional imagery and exploits it in his own characteristic ways, particularly by finding an allegorical reference to his complex notion of the Logos in various biblical swords. Finally, in interpreting the sacrifice between the pieces of Genesis 15:10, Philo introduces the image of the ‘severing Logos’ (logos tomeus), the cosmic principle that created a harmoniously balanced universe, intelligible to the human reason that exercises the analytical process of dichotomous division (compare Who is the Heir of Divine Things 130-32, 225, 234-36) ...
Harold W. Attridge, Hebrews (Fortress, 1989), 133–134.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Philo, Who is the Heir of Divine Things 130 and Hebrews 4:12

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