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.
Commentary
Vs. 1-2 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.
The Scriptures in declaring the Preeminence of Christ Jesus now point to His own faithfulness towards God in all things that were appointed to Him, just as Moses was faithful in all that God had appointed to him. Now the point is not to put Jesus' own Righteousness and Faithfulness on par with Moses (since Christ Jesus was without fault and blame before God our Father, Moses however like all men was not, nor could he or anyone else ever be, for then that would put him or anyone else who thinks as much about themselves or anyone else above the place of needing redemption from sin and death). And so the point is to show us that just as Moses was faithful in all of his house, that is faithful to God in what God had appointed for him to do in his house, that is in the house of Israel, so Christ Jesus has been faithful to God in doing all that He has assigned to Christ Jesus to do for us all. Now here Christ Jesus is called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, not an apostle, but the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, that is our confession of faith in His Person and belief in His Gospel which brings remission of sins and everlasting life to everyone who repents and believes (Rom 10:9-10, 13). And so Christ Jesus stands alone in His Position and Preeminence as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, thus there are no other apostle's or priests by which (or through) we draw near to God, for Christ Jesus the Lord is the First and He is the Last, the beginning and the End (see Rev. 22:13). Thus the incarnation of all faith in God begins and ends with Him, not Moses, or anyone else. Therefore all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are holy brethren, because we have been saved by His blameless crusifixion death, washed by His sinless blood, and sanctified by His Holy Spirit. And so in this battle of flesh and Spirit let us all consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession Christ Jesus, who was faithful to God, (who appointed Him), just as Moses was faithful in all of His house (that is in the generation in which He was called). Because faithfulness towards God means that we will at times be (in the eyes of the world) an enemy of the world, that is of it's ungodly agenda, which is always antagonistic and hostile towards the Word of the Lord.
Vs. 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."
Moses was an amazing man of God, yet even he himself transgressed against the Lord at Maribah Kadesh (Deut. 32:48-52), and so the Holy Scripture is making it clear that just as Jesus is exceedingly greater than the angels, so His glory and greatness as a Man excels even that of Moses. Now it is God who built the house, that is the household of faith of which we and Moses and Abraham and everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ belongs too. And thus it is Christ Jesus the Lord the Builder and the Head of the house (1 Cor 11:3), who has much more honor than the house. For the household was established and built by God so that He could glorify His Son as the Head of it all.
Vs. 4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
God chose Abraham and through his seed He raised up both Moses and then the prophets, and Finally our Promised Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to redeem all the people He has chosen for Himself. All things then that pertain to our salvation, from it's origins to its end, have been designed and decreed and ultimately built and established by God. Thus Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior who is culmination of all of God's Work in redeeming sinful humanity from beginning to end is bestowed exceedingly far greater honor than those who are the inhabitants of His House.
Vs. 5-6 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.
Vs. 5-6 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.
Moses was faithful in all of His house as a servant (not a Savior), but a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward. And so just as with all the apostles and prophets who have always considered themselves only as servants of the Word of the Lord, so with Moses. (consider Num. 12:1-16). Now what Moses was appointed (and faithful too) was the Law of God, ministering to God and people through it. Yet the Law of God was not the end, but was given for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward. Thus the priesthood, the sacrifices, the ceremonial ordinances, the feast days etc., were all pointing to something and Someone Far Greater than Moses and the Law, and that is the the Lord Jesus Christ through whom you and I can have Gods glorious grace and eternal salvation by repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through His Gospel. And so Christ Jesus as a Son, God's Son, was faithful to God over His own house, because He (like Moses) did all those things which God commanded of Him, and yet unlike Moses, Jesus was the objective of them all, to bring people to faith in and obedience towards God through Himself. Therefore the Scripture also says that we are apart of Christ's household if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Now this holding fast the confidence is not confidence in or our own faithfulness or righteousness or goodness etc. which one thinks they have earned for themselves through the Law (consider Hab. 2:4; Phil. 3:7-9), but rather we are all too hold fast to our confidence in Christ Jesus the Lord who has fulfilled every righteous required of the Law for us all who believe in Him, and thus through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we are now both redeemed from sin and death, but we also now stand justified in the sight of God, because Christ Jesus has satisfied every righteous requirements of the Law for us all who believe in Him. Therefore holding fast ones confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ and and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end is what we who are of His Household must always do. For there is no salvation in any other, for there is no other name given under heaven amongst men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12; 1 Tim 2:5).
Scripture Quotation
The New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
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