Week 51

Reading

Day 1: 2 Timothy 4:19-22, Hebrews 1:1-4:13

Day 2: Hebrews 4:14-7:28

Day 3: Hebrews 8:1-10:39

Day 4: Hebrews 11:1-12:29

Day 5: Hebrews 13:1-25, 1 Peter 1:1-2:3

Day 6: 1 Peter 2:4-5:11

Day 7: 1 Peter 5:12-14m 2 Peter 1:1-3:18

Preview

Hard Questions

1. (Heb. 6:4-8) What do we do with this? 4 main interpretations: 1) “the danger of a Christian losing his salvation is described, a view rejected because of biblical assurances that salvation is a work of God which cannot be reversed; (2) that the warning is against mere profession of faith short of salvation, or tasting but not really partaking of salvation, (3) that hypothetically if a Christian could lose his salvation, there is no provision for repentance[ Homer A Kent, Jr.: the impossibility of starting over], (4) that a warning is given of the danger of a Christian moving from a position of true faith and life to the extent of becoming disqualified for further services and for inheriting millennial glory” (Zane C. Hodges, Bible Knowledge Commentary 794). One note, about the field being burned… in many cultures, fields are burned in order to make them profitable again. It could be the idea the text has in mind.
2. (7:1-4) “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated ‘king of righteousness,’ and then also king of Salem, meaning ‘king of peace,’ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils.” Is Melchizedek a preincarnate Christ?
3. (10:26-31) fearful expectation of judgment. You can’t go back and sacrifice Jesus again when you choose to live as a traitor to Him. This is one function of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church—repeating the sacrifice over and over again, while a lot of the people who take part have no concept of God’s holiness. This text deals with believers, and the “fearful expectation of judgment” is probably not the eternal judgment of hell, but the judgment of God letting you be exposed and having to live out the consequences of sin. God doesn’t owe it to any of us to hide our sins and protect our reputations. We can hope He might, but He will eventually expose us if we win willfully. It’s a good thing to fear God.
4. (1 Pet. 3:19-20) “Preached to the spirits in prison” (Roger M. Raymer, Bible Knowledge Commentary, 851). Roger M. Raymer takes the view that these are humans who were alive in Noah’s day, and that Christ was preaching to them through Noah. These people are awaiting God’s final judgment. He continues: “The problem remains as to when Christ preached to these ‘spirits.’ Peter’s explanation of the resurrection of Christ (3:18) ‘by the Spirit’ brought to mind that the preincarnate Christ was actually in Noah, ministering through him, by means of the Holy Spirit. Peter (1:11) referred to the ‘Spirit of Christ’ in the Old Testament prophets. Later he described Noah as a ‘preacher of righteousness’ (2 Peter 2:5). The Spirit of Christ preached through Noah to the ungodly humans who, at the time of Peter’s writing, were ‘spirits in prison’ awaiting final judgment.”
5. (2 Pet. 2:4) “ For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment.” See also Jude 6, “And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.” Likely fallen angels who sinned with Satan in the beginning. We see in Revelation that there’s basically an army of them kept in prison. Seems like God bound most demons under torment rather than let them roam the earth.
6. (2 Pet. 3:8) “one day is as a thousand years”?

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