Art Toombs Ministries
Online Bible Commentary
Make Every Effort to be Holy
Hebrews 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled: 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. no one will see the Lord. (NKJV)
The early Eastern Church (Dionysius and Clement, both of Alexandria), from the second century, 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 likely that Luke was also Paul’s amanuensis for this letter. My conclusion is that this was Paul’s last writing, written in late 67-early 68 A.D.
In this letter, Paul is writing to Hebrews who have converted to Christianity from Judaism. Family and friends are likely pressuring them to return to Judaism, so Paul is writing to these Hebrew Christians to encourage them to remain steadfast in their faith and not to return to Judaism.
The book of Hebrews is divided into two main topics Through Hebrews 10:18 the topic is the superiority of Christ to Judaism. The rest of the book is devoted to exhortations to obedient living, a fitting conclusion to Paul’s writings.
Initially, in this second topic, Paul gave examples of great men and women of faith who were honored for their obedient living. Now, he turns to exhorting Christians to obedient living.
The Book of Hebrews contains five warnings concerning missing out on or neglecting our salvation. Hebrews 12:14-29 is the last of these warnings. Previous warnings were found in 2:1-4; 3:7-4:13; 5:11-6:20; and 10:26-39.
Paul begins this passage by writing “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:” (14). Here, Paul sets the tone for the fifth warning and the rest of this chapter.
Paul calls Christians to “make every effort to live in peace…and to be holy” (v. 14a). Without holiness we have no salvation (v. 14b). The literal translation of the Greek of verse 14a is “Follow peace with all, and holiness”.
Holiness is evidence of the Holy Spirit living in a Christian and peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). “Without holiness” (v. 14b), the presence of the Holy Spirit, one is not a Christian.
When a person becomes a Christian, he is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. He is set apart for God.
The process of being set apart, or growing in holiness, is called sanctification. The Christian goes through three stages of sanctification.
The first stage of sanctification occurs when the believer receives positional sanctification upon becoming a Christian. This means that in the eyes of God he is now sanctified forever. Once God begins this good work, He will be sure to finish it.
The second stage of sanctification is practical sanctification. This is the stage of progressively becoming more holy as we live a life in obedience to God by allowing the Holy Spirit to live through us.
The third stage of sanctification is perfect sanctification. This is realized by the Christian when he gets to Heaven and is free from the presence of sin forever. He is then perfectly holy.
The stage of holiness that Paul is referring to in this passage is that of practical sanctification. He is warning the Christians to endure in becoming progressively holy. He is warning them to resist the influence of the look-alikes.
Next, Paul writes “looking carefully” (v. 15a). This begins the fifth warning.
He follows with “lest anyone fall short of the grace of God” (v. 15b). The warning is not to miss out on the grace of God, our salvation.
This letter is written to Hebrews who claim to be Christians. Paul knows better than to believe all these claims.
He knows that there are wheat and tares among those who claim to be Christians (Mt. 13:24-43). There are true Christians, the wheat, and there are those who may look like Christians, the tares.
In the wheat field there are tares, darnell weeds, that grow up among the wheat and look like wheat. Only God knows the true Christians from the look-alikes.
So, in writing this passage, Paul is acknowledging that there are some tares in the church. He is warning them to not miss out on their salvation, and the true Christians to not to be influenced by them.
Paul continues with “lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;” (v. 15c). He is warning to not let these tares, these bitter roots, cause trouble and defile many, both inside, and outside, the church.
He is warning against the tares turning others away from Christ, because of their testimony. Their testimony, both verbal and lifestyle, may turn others away from Christ because that testimony is not Christlike.
Next, Paul writes “lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau” (v. 16a). Here, he brings up an example of disobedience to avoid, such as being immoral, or godless like Esau.
He continues with “who for one morsel of food sold his birthright” (v. 16b). Esau was godless, not Christlike, when he allowed his hunger, his physical gratification, to cause him to trade his birthright for a bowl of soup.
Paul follows with “For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected” (v. 17a). His younger twin, Jacob, instead received the birthright, and the blessing of becoming a great nation, Israel.
Esau was “rejected”, left in a jealous rage, and founded the Arab nation. Israelites and Arabs have been fighting ever since.
Paul completes this passage by writing “for he found no place for repentance though he sought it diligently with tears” (v. 17b). Once Esau was rejected, he could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
Once one dies in rejection of God, it is too late for repentance at that time. He will miss out on salvation.
So, the warning is to not miss out on our salvation, and to not let those who do influence us to follow their ways. Christians should be progressively holy.
We should be more Christ like every day. We should be allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us, becoming more holy as we do.
We should be living a life of obedience to God. We should make every effort to be holy.
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