14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
14 Work at getting along with each other and with God. Otherwise you'll never get so much as a glimpse of God.
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.
26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
26 If we give up and turn our backs on all we've learned, all we've been given, all the truth we now know, we repudiate Christ's sacrifice
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
26 Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.
(Read Hebrews 10:26-31)
The exhortations against apostacy and to perseverance, are urged by many strong reasons. The sin here mentioned is a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life. Of this destruction God gives some notorious sinners, while on earth, a fearful foreboding in their consciences, with despair of being able to endure or to escape it. But what punishment can be sorer than to die without mercy? We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance! All this does not in the least mean that any souls who sorrow for sin will be shut out from mercy, or that any will be refused the benefit of Christ's sacrifice, who are willing to accept these blessings. Him that cometh unto Christ, he will in no wise cast out.
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 Nobody's getting by with anything, believe me.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
31 It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
(Read Hebrews 10:26-31)
The exhortations against apostacy and to perseverance, are urged by many strong reasons. The sin here mentioned is a total and final falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and the words of eternal life. Of this destruction God gives some notorious sinners, while on earth, a fearful foreboding in their consciences, with despair of being able to endure or to escape it. But what punishment can be sorer than to die without mercy? We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance! All this does not in the least mean that any souls who sorrow for sin will be shut out from mercy, or that any will be refused the benefit of Christ's sacrifice, who are willing to accept these blessings. Him that cometh unto Christ, he will in no wise cast out.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Hebrews 12:14
Commentary on Hebrews 12:12-17
(Read Hebrews 12:12-17)
A burden of affliction is apt to make the Christian's hands hang down, and his knees grow feeble, to dispirit him and discourage him; but against this he must strive, that he may better run his spiritual race and course. Faith and patience enable believers to follow peace and holiness, as a man follows his calling constantly, diligently, and with pleasure. Peace with men, of all sects and parties, will be favourable to our pursuit of holiness. But peace and holiness go together; there can be not right peace without holiness. Where persons fail of having the true grace of God, corruption will prevail and break forth; beware lest any unmortified lust in the heart, which seems to be dead, should spring up, to trouble and disturb the whole body. Falling away from Christ is the fruit of preferring the delights of the flesh, to the blessing of God, and the heavenly inheritance, as Esau did. But sinners will not always have such mean thoughts of the Divine blessing and inheritance as they now have. It agrees with the profane man's disposition, to desire the blessing, yet to despise the means whereby the blessing is to be gained. But God will neither sever the means from the blessing, nor join the blessing with the satisfying of man's lusts. God's mercy and blessing were never sought carefully and not obtained.