Hebrews 10:35

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(35) Cast not away therefore your confidence.—Rather, Cast not away therefore your boldness, seeing it hath a great recompence. To “cast away boldness” is the opposite of “holding fast the boldness of the hope” (Hebrews 3:6); the one belongs to the endurance of the faithful servant (Hebrews 10:32; Hebrews 10:36), the other to the cowardice of the man who draws back (Hebrews 10:38). This verse and the next are closely connected: Hold fast your boldness, seeing that to it belongs great reward; hold it fast, for “he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” On the last word, “recompence,” see Hebrews 2:2.

Benson Commentary

Hebrews 10:35-37. Therefore, having formerly behaved with such fortitude, cast not away your confidence — As cowardly soldiers cast away their shields, and flee in the day of battle; but since God has supported you under, and brought you through all your sufferings hitherto, with much patience and joy maintain and improve your confidence and courage against all difficulties and dangers; which hath — That is, will receive; great recompense of reward — That is, a great reward, (namely, eternal glory,) by way of recompense for your obedience. For ye have need of patience — Or, of perseverance, as υπομονης may be properly rendered; that is, ye have need of the continual exercise thereof in well-doing, and waiting for the accomplishment of the promises; that after ye have done the will of God — Have conducted yourselves as it is God’s will you should, by enduring whatsoever he is pleased to lay upon you; ye might receive the promise — The promised reward of glory. For yet a little while — Μικρον οσον οσον, a little, a very little time. And he that shall come — Ο ερχομενος, he who is coming; the appellation given by the Jews to Messiah, Matthew 11:3, Art thou he, ο ερχομενος, who should come? will come — As if he had said, Be patient, for it will not be long before he will take you hence by death, and release you from all your trials. Or rather, It will not be long before Christ will come to take vengeance on your persecutors, the unbelieving and obdurate Jews, and deliver you from all the sufferings to which you are exposed from them; and will not tarry — Beyond the appointed time. It must be observed, though the apostle in this verse uses some words of the Prophet Habakkuk, (Habakkuk 2:3,) he doth not introduce them as a quotation from him, containing a prophecy of any coming of Christ. There is therefore no necessity of endeavouring to show that, as they stand in Habakkuk, they may be interpreted of Christ’s coming to destroy Jerusalem. In the passage where they are found, the prophet exhorted the Jews to trust in God for deliverance from the Chaldeans, by putting them in mind of the faithfulness of God in performing his promises. Wherefore, as the faithfulness and power of God are a source of consolation to which good men, at all times, may have recourse in their distresses, the apostle might, with great propriety, apply Habakkuk’s words, by way of accommodation, to Christ’s coming to destroy Jerusalem and the Jewish state. Christ had promised to come for that purpose before the generation then living went off the stage; and as the believing Hebrews could entertain no doubt of his being faithful to his promise, the apostle, to encourage them to bear their afflictions with patience, very fifty put them in mind of that event in the words of this prophet, because it assured them that the power of their persecutors would soon be at an end.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:32-39 Many and various afflictions united against the early Christians, and they had a great conflict. The Christian spirit is not a selfish spirit; it puts us upon pitying others, visiting them, helping them, and pleading for them. All things here are but shadows. The happiness of the saints in heaven will last for ever; enemies can never take it away as earthly goods. This will make rich amends for all we may lose and suffer here. The greatest part of the saints' happiness, as yet, is in promise. It is a trial of the patience of Christians, to be content to live after their work is done, and to stay for their reward till God's time to give it is come. He will soon come to them at death, to end all their sufferings, and to give them a crown of life. The Christian's present conflict may be sharp, but will be soon over. God never is pleased with the formal profession and outward duties and services of such as do not persevere; but he beholds them with great displeasure. And those who have been kept faithful in great trails for the time past, have reason to hope for the same grace to help them still to live by faith, till they receive the end of their faith and patience, even the salvation of their souls. Living by faith, and dying in faith, our souls are safe for ever.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Cast not away therefore your confidence - Greek "your boldness;" referring to their confident hope in God. They were not to cast this away, and to become timid, disheartened, and discouraged. They were to bear up manfully under all their trials, and to maintain a steadfast adherence to God and to his cause. The command is not to "cast this away." Nothing could take it from them if they trusted in God, and it could be lost only by their own neglect or imprudence. Rosenmuller supposes (Alte und Neue Morgenland, "in loc.") that there may be an allusion here to the disgrace which was attached to the act of a warrior if he cast away his shield. Among the Greeks this was a crime which was punishable with death. Alexander ab Alexand. Gen. Dier. L. 2 Corinthians 13. Among the ancient Germans, Tacitus says, that to lose the shield in battle was regarded as the deepest dishonor, and that those who were guilty of it were not allowed to be present at the sacrifices or in the assembly of the people. Many, says he, who had suffered this calamity, closed their own lives with the baiter under the loss of honor. Tac. Germ. c. 6. A similar disgrace would attend the Christian soldier if he should cast away his shield of faith; compare the notes, Ephesians 6:16.

Which hath great recompense of reward - It will furnish a reward by the peace of mind which it gives here, and will be connected with the rewards of heaven.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

35-37. Consequent exhortation to confidence and endurance, as Christ is soon coming.

Cast not away—implying that they now have "confidence," and that it will not withdraw of itself, unless they "cast it away" wilfully (compare Heb 3:14).

which—Greek, "the which": inasmuch as being such as.

hath—present tense: it is as certain as if you had it in your hand (Heb 10:37). It hath in reversion.

recompense of reward—of grace not of debt: a reward of a kind which no mercenary self-seeker would seek: holiness will be its own reward; self-devoting unselfishness for Christ's sake will be its own rich recompense (see on [2582]Heb 2:2; [2583]Heb 11:26).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Cast not away therefore your confidence: this introduceth the last direction for helping on their perseverance in Christianity. Mh apoballhte denieth all degrees of apostacy, from secret undervaluing to an utter renouncing, not to slight, despise, or reject; they had endured already so much as might steel and fortify them against what remained, and implieth the bold, resolute, and courageous retention, Ephesians 6:10,16, of the boldness of their confession of the Christian faith. It is an ingenuous, free, bold, and daring profession of it, which no brow beating nor violence can dash out of countenance, the fruit of a mighty, invincible faith, and hope of eternal life. This makes them persevere courageously in their religion, notwithstanding their being laden with reproaches and sufferings for it, as Christ himself gave them a pattern, Mark 8:31,32 Ac 4:13,29,31.

Which hath great recompence of reward: what greater encouragement can there be to the retaining this confidence, than the great remuneration secured in the New Testament to them: God himself, in all his fulness, to be their exceeding great reward, seen and enjoyed by them; and which for quality and quantity is inexpressible, Genesis 15:1 Matthew 5:12 10:32.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Cast not away therefore your confidence,.... The same word is used here, as in Hebrews 10:19 where it is translated "boldness"; and may design here, as there, an holy boldness in prayer, free from a servile and bashful spirit; and which appears in a liberty of speaking to God, and in a confidence of being heard; prayer itself should not be left off, nor should freedom, boldness, and confidence in it be slackened, or laid aside: or else a profession of faith is intended, which ought to be free and open, bold and courageous, firm and constant; and which ought by no means to be let go and dropped: or the grace of faith in its full assurance, with respect to interest in God, as a covenant God and Father, and in his love; and with respect to interest in Christ, and in his grace, and a right to the glorious inheritance, the better and enduring substance: and this shield of faith is by no means to be cast away; it was reckoned infamous and scandalous in soldiers to lose or cast away their shield; with the Grecians it was a capital crime, and punished with death (b); to which the apostle may here allude. There are two sorts of believers, nominal and real; and there are two sorts of faith; an historical one, which may be in persons destitute of the grace of God, and is in devils; and a true and unfeigned one, which has salvation connected with it; the former may be cast away and lost; the latter, though it may be remiss and weak in its exercise, yet it cannot be wholly and finally lost; and this exhortation may be designed as a means of continuing it, and of perseverance in it: the reason urging it follows,

which hath great recompence of reward; freedom and boldness in prayer has its reward, for such that ask in faith shall have; and so has a firm and constant profession of religion, for he that endures to the end shall be saved; and so has a true and strong faith in Christ; everlasting salvation is connected with it; the reward of the inheritance follows upon it; and this reward is the recompense of God's own grace: and it is a very great one; it is the fruit of great love and grace; yea, it is no other than God himself, who is the exceeding great reward of his people; it is Christ and his glory, and the riches of it; it is a reward exceeding, and beyond all deserts of men, and beyond all thought and expression.

(b) Alex. ab. Alexand. Genial. Dier. l. 2. c. 13.

Geneva Study Bible

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Hebrews 10:35. Exhortation deduced from Hebrews 10:32-34. The self-sacrificing zeal for Christianity displayed in the past ought to animate the readers to a joyful maintenance of the same likewise in the present, since of a truth this very stedfastness in zeal leads to the longed-for goal.

ἀποβάλλειν] here not the involuntary losing (Jac. Cappellus, Lösner, and others), but the voluntary casting from one, or letting fall away (comp. Mark 10:50), as though it were a question only of a worthless, useless thing; μὴ ἀποβάλλειν thus the same as κατέχειν, Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 3:14, and κρατεῖν, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 6:18.

τὴν παῤῥησίαν ὑμῶν] your joyful confidence, sc. towards Christ as your Saviour. The free, courageous confession of Christianity before the world, of which Beza, Grotius, and others understand the expression, is only the consequence of the παῤῥησία, which here, too, as Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 4:16, denotes a frame of the mind.

ἥτις] which of a truth. Introduction of a well-known, indisputable verity.

μεγάλην μισθαποδοσίαν] great rewarding retribution (see at Hebrews 2:2), namely, the promised everlasting blessedness (Hebrews 10:36).

The present ἔχει, although the μισθαποδοσία is as yet something future, of the undoubted certainty of its containing in itself, or having as a consequence.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Hebrews 10:35. μὴ ἀποβάλητε οὖν τὴν παρρησίαν … “Cast not away, then, your confidence, for it has great recompense of reward”. The exhortation begun in Hebrews 10:19 is resumed, with now the added force springing from their remembrance of what they have already endured and from their consciousness of a great possession in heaven. A reason for holding fast their confidence is now found in the result of so doing. It has great reward. μισθαποδοσία used in Hebrews 2:2 of requital of sin, here and in Hebrews 11:26 of reward. Cf. Clem. ad Cor. 6, γέρας γενναῖον, and Wis 3:5. Therefore, μὴ ἀποβάλητε, do not throw it away as a worthless thing you have no further need of. Retain it, ὑπομονῆς γὰρ ἔχετε χρείαν, “for ye have need of endurance,” of maintaining your hopeful confidence to the end under all circumstances. Without endurance the promise which secures to them the enduring possession cannot be enjoyed, for before entering upon its enjoyment, the whole will of God concerning them must be done and borne. ἵνα τὸ θέλημα τ. θεοῦ ποιήσαντες κομίσησθε τὴς ἐπαγγελίαν, Davidson and Weiss agree in thinking that “the will of God is His will that they should hold fast their confidence”. Rather, that accepting all privation, as they once did (Hebrews 10:32) and recognising all they were called to endure as God’s will concerning them, they should thus endure to the end (cf. Hebrews 3:6) and so receive the promised good (ἐπαγγελία = the thing promised as in Hebrews 6:12; Hebrews 6:15). κομίσησθε, the verb properly means to carry off or to recover what is one’s own. See Matthew 25:27; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 11:13; Hebrews 11:19; Hebrews 11:39. And their entrance on the reward of their endurance will not long be delayed ἔτι γὰρ μικρὸν ὅσον ὅσον.… “For yet a little—a very little—while and He that cometh will have come and will not delay.” [“Es ist noch ein Kleines, wie sehr, wie sehr Klein” (Weiss), “noch eine kleine Zeit, ganz Klein” (Weizsäcker). “Adhuc enim modicum aliquantulum” (Vulg.). “For yet a little—ever so little—while” (Hayman)]. The phrase μικρὸν ὅσον ὅσον is found in Isaiah 26:20, “Go, my people … hide thyself for a very little, till the indignation be overpast”. The double ὅσον is found in Aristoph. Wasps, 213, where however Rogers thinks the duplication due to the drowsiness of the speaker. Literally it means “a little, how very, how very”. The following words from ὁ ἐρχόμενος to ἐν αὐτῷ are from Hebrews 2:3-4, with some slight alterations, the article being inserted before ἐρχόμενος, οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃ instead of the less forcible words in Hebrews, and the two clauses of Hebrews 10:4 being transposed. In Habakkuk the conditions are similar. God’s people are crushed under overwhelming odds. And the question with which Habakkuk opens his prophecy is ἕως τίνος κεκράξομαι και οὐ μὴ εἰσακούσεις; The Lord assures him that deliverance will come and will not delay. By inserting the article, the writer of Hebrews identifies the deliverer as the Messiah, “the coming One”. Cf. Matthew 11:3; Luke 7:19; John 6:14. ὁ δὲ δίκαιος.… “And the just shall live by faith,” i.e., shall survive these troublous times by believing that the Lord is at hand. Cf. Jam 5:7-9. καὶ ἐὰν ὑποστείληται, “and if he withdraw himself” or “shrink”. The verb, as Kypke shows, means to shrink in fear, and it is thus used in Galatians 2:12. It is the very opposite of παρρησία. Accordingly it is thoroughly displeasing to God, whose purpose it is to bring men to Himself in confident hope. But the idea that any of the “Hebrews” can be in so ignominious and dangerous a position is at once repudiated. ἡμεῖς δὲ.… “But as for us we are not of those who shrink (literally of shrinking) to perdition but of faith to the gaining of the soul”. That is, we are not characterised by a timid abandonment of our confession (Hebrews 10:23) and confidence. Cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:5. What such timidity leads to (εἰς ἀπώλειαν, cf. Acts 8:20; Romans 9:22) is hopeless perdition. Cf. M. Aurelius on the δραπέτης, Hebrews 10:25. ὁ φοβούμενος δραπέτης. But we are of faith whose end is περιποίησις ψυχῆς the acquisition of one’s soul. Very similar is Luke 21:19, “By your endurance win your souls”. See also Jam 5:20, and 1 Thessalonians 5:9. Like our word “acquisition” περιποίησις sometimes means the acquiring as in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and 2 Thessalonians 2:14; sometimes the thing acquired as in Ephesians 1:14. [In Isocrates, 2nd Ep., occurs the expression διὰ τὸ περιποιῆσαι τὴν αὐτοῦ ψυχήν (Wetstein)].

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

35. your confidence] Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 4:16.

which hath] The Greek relative implies “seeing that it has” (quippe quae).

recompence of reward] The compound misthapodosia as before for the simple misthos (Hebrews 2:2, Hebrews 11:26; comp. Hebrews 11:6).

Bengel's Gnomen

Hebrews 10:35. Μὴ ἀποβάλητε, cast not away) Liberty of speech, boldness, confidence, where once it finds a place, only withdraws, when it is driven out; but it is driven out and cast away, as if it were something vile, by those who do not persevere.—ἔχει, has) The 37th verse is to be referred [has reference] to this present.—μισθαποδοσίαν, a recompence of reward) So ch. Hebrews 2:2, Hebrews 11:26; and μισθαποδότης, he who bestows the reward, ibid. Hebrews 10:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 35, 36. - Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience (or, endurance), that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise; or, doing the will of God, ye may receive, etc. The aorist participle ποιήσαντες does not of necessity express priority to the receiving (cf. Hebrews 6:15, μακροθυμήσας ἐπέτυχε). The meaning is that by endurance in doing the will they would receive. The full and final enjoyment of what is promised is still future and conditioned by perseverance. Observe the difference between the words κομίζεσθαι, here used, and ἐποτυγχάνειν, used in Hebrews 6:15. The former (occ. Hebrews 11:19, 39; also 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 6:8; Colossians 3:25; and 1 Peter 1:9) means the actual reception of what is denoted, equivalent to sibi acquirere; the latter (etc. Hebrews 6:15; Hebrews 11:33; also Romans 11:7; James 4:2) means only "to attain to," without involving full possession. It is not said of Abraham (Hebrews 6:15) that he ἐκομίσατο, only that he ἐπέτυχε. So also of all the faithful of old described in the following chapter (Hebrews 11:39). And even to believing Christians, as this verse shows, the κομίζεσθαι is still future and contingent. Hebrews 10:35

Vincent's Word Studies

Confidence (τὴν παρρησίαν)

Rend. boldness. The boldness and courage which you manifested under persecution.