Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary

Falling Away
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, 2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. 3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (NKJV)

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The early Eastern Church (Dionysius and Clement, both of Alexandria), from the very beginning, claimed Paul was the writer of Hebrews. The Western Church later agreed.

Luke translated the letter to the Hebrews into Greek, according to Clement in the second century. Luke was with Paul during his second Roman imprisonment and was his amanuensis during Paul’s final days (2 Timothy 4:11). It is logical to assume that Luke was also Paul’s amanuensis for this letter.

The letter to the Hebrews is concerned with two main subjects. The first is to proclaim the superiority of Christ (vv. 1:1-10:18) and the second is to exhort the Hebrews to obedient living (vv. 10:19-13:25).

Previously in this letter Paul proclaimed the superiority of Christ over the prophets, the angels, and mankind. Now, in this passage, the writer proclaims the superiority of Christ over Moses, the writer of the Law, the Torah, and one of Israel’s greatest national heroes.

The passage begins with “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus” (v. 1). The word “therefore” (v. 1a), refers to a previous verse or passage. In this case, Paul is making reference to the previous two verses which proclaim that Christ is the High Priest who is willing and able to help them.

Paul addresses the Hebrews as “holy brethren” (v. 1b), meaning they are fellow Christians, brothers (and sisters) of Christ who share the same Heavenly Father. As brothers, they all share the same “heavenly calling” (v. 1c), to be Holy.

The action Paul is pointing the readers to is to “consider” (v. 1d), to continually focus on, Christ, who can help them. Christ is described here as “the Apostle and High Priest” (v. 1e).

An apostle is one who represents God to us and a high priest is one who represents us to God. Christ does both.

He speaks for God the Father to Christians, through the Holy Spirit, and He intercedes for Christians before God the Father. He pleads our case.

He sits at the right hand and fulfills the role of our lawyer before our Father in Heaven. He has lived on this earth, has walked in our shoes, and knows how to best represent us before the Father.

Next, Paul writes “who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” (v. 2). Before Paul proclaims how Christ is superior to Moses, he proclaims what they have in common.

They both were “faithful” to God (v. 2a). Christ was faithful to the “Him who appointed him”, the Father in Heaven. Moses was faithful to “all His house”, all believers in the Jewish Messiah, Jesus Christ (v. 2).

Paul continues with “For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house” (v. 3). Paul now proclaims how Christ is superior to Moses, in three ways.

First, he identifies Christ as the builder of God’s house, whereas Moses was only part of “the house” itself (v. 3a). Greater “honor” is given to the builder of the house than the house itself (v. 3b).

The word translated “built” is from the Greek word “kataskeoazo”, which means to construct or create. The word expresses more than just building a house.

It includes the equipping of all that is needed in the house, and all that is needed to maintain the house going forward. This is the role that Christ plays in the lives of all Christians.

Next, Paul writes “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God” (v. 4). The second way that Christ is superior to Moses is that Christ is ”God”.

In a reference to Jesus as God, the writer proclaims that God is the builder of everything. Through Jesus all things were created (Jn. 1:3).

Paul continues “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward” (v. 5). The fact that Christ is superior to Moses is not meant to denigrate Moses, for Moses “was faithful” as a prophet of God, testifying to what would be said in the future (v. 5a).

Paul writes “but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end” (v. 6). So, the third way that Christ is superior to Moses is that Christ is the “Son” of God, ruling over God’s house (v. 6a), all believers, and Moses was “a servant” of God (v. 5b).

The writer completes this passage by identifying who is the “house” (v. 6b). The house is “we” (v. 6c), the believers in Jesus Christ, the church.

We are believers “if we hold firm to the end” (v. 6d). We are proven to be believers by our persistence in the faith, not through the action of persisting in the faith.

This is a very important distinction. We are believers through the actions of Jesus Christ, so that we are saved by His grace, not by our works, not even our works of persistence.

When we become a Christian, the Holy Spirit indwells us, sealing us in our belief (Eph. 1:13). The Holy Spirit is a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance” of eternal life (Eph. 1:14).

Christians cannot lose their salvation. However, there are cases of people appearing to “fall away” from Christianity.

These people did not actually fall away from their faith. They were never Christians.

They were never indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Persistence in the faith, therefore, is proof that we are Christians.

Those who do not persist never were Christians in the first place. Jesus knows their heart, and, for some reason, their motives were not right when they made their profession of faith.

They need a do over, with the right motives. The good news is that God is the God of second chances.