Hebrews 4:2
Good news to them as well
- The gospel’s word εὐαγγελίζομαι euangelizomai · to speak good news
Original
Translations
For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
for we also are having good news proclaimed, even as they, but the word heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard,
저희와 같이 우리도 복음 전함을 받은 자이나 그러나 그 들은 바 말씀이 저희에게 유익되지 못한 것은 듣는 자가 믿음을 화합지 아니함이라
우리뿐만 아니라 그들에게도 복음이 선포되었으나 선포된 그 말씀이 그것을 들은 자들 속에서 믿음과 섞이지 아니하였으므로 그들에게 유익을 끼치지 못하였느니라.
Commentaries
Matthew Henry on Heb 4:1-10 as a whole
The privileges we have under the gospel, are greater than any had under the law of Moses, though the same gospel for substance was preached under both Testaments. There have been in all ages many unprofitable hearers; and unbelief is at the root of all unfruitfulness under the…
Read the whole commentary →Wesley Heb 4:2
But the word which they heard did not profit them - So far from it, that it increased their damnation. It is then only when it is mixed with faith, that it exerts its saving power.
Read the whole commentary →
Note
Hebrews says that Israel in the wilderness heard good news too. They heard the same kind of message we have heard, and it did them no good, because it never met with faith.
For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.
Hebrews 4:2Chapters 3 and 4 of Hebrews are a sermon on Psalm 95, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 4:7). The generation that Moses led out of Egypt heard and rebelled, and their bodies fell in the wilderness. The writer draws the conclusion: "So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter" (Hebrews 3:19). He opens chapter 4 with a warning, "while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be deemed to have fallen short of it" (Hebrews 4:1). This verse gives the reason for the warning.
The gospel word here is the verb , in a striking form: esmen euēngelismenoi, a perfect passive participle with "we are." It describes people who have had good news brought to them and now stand as those who have heard it. Then comes kathaper kakeinoi, "just as they did." The good news brought to the wilderness generation was the promise of the land, God's rest, and Hebrews uses the same verb for what they heard and for what the church has heard. The difference lay not in the message but in what happened to it. "The message they heard" is literally "the word of hearing" (ho logos tēs akoēs), and it was "of no value to them."
Why it did them no good is where the versions part, and the reason is a single ending in the Greek manuscripts. The verb means to mix or blend, as wine is mixed with water. In one reading the participle is singular and goes with "the word"; in the other it is plural and goes with "them." The KJV follows the first: "the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." The word, that is, never blended with faith in its hearers. The BSB follows the second: the people "did not share the faith of those who comprehended it," that is, they were not joined in faith to those who truly listened, often taken to mean Joshua and Caleb. The LSV, like the KJV, has "not being mixed with faith in those who heard." Both Korean Bibles give the first sense. On either reading the word was the same; what was missing was faith.
Matthew Henry sees here that "the same gospel for substance was preached under both Testaments" Matthew Henry, and he puts the lesson in a sentence: "Faith in the hearer is the life of the word" Matthew Henry. Wesley is sharper. Far from doing them good, he says, the word they heard increased their condemnation: "It is then only when it is mixed with faith, that it exerts its saving power" Wesley.
Hearing the gospel is not yet receiving it. The verse tells anyone who has heard the good news that the promise of rest is still open, and that it becomes theirs when the message they have heard meets with faith.