Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Hebrews · About this commentary
Not Forsaking Our Assembling
Hebrews 10:19-25
19 Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, · WEB
The whole argument funds three invitations — draw near, hold fast, consider one another — and the third lands on attendance.
Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus.
The therefore spends everything the letter has earned. Ten chapters of priesthood and covenant come down to a single change of status: boldness, at the exact place where the old system posted its restrictions — one man, one day, not without blood Hebrews 9:7. The word means freedom of speech, the right to walk in and say what you came to say.
The way in is described as new and living and then identified: through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. The veil was the barrier that made the second room a mystery; the letter reads his flesh as the veil passed through — the barrier became the door, and the way is living because the one who is the way is.
Then three invitations, each hanging on something already established, and the verbs are the letter's whole program.
Let's draw near — with a true heart, hearts sprinkled, body washed: the priestly consecration bath applied to everyone, because the approach is now everyone's Hebrews 4:16.
Let's hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering — and the ground given is not the grip but the promiser: for he who promised is faithful. The hold is only as good as the one held to, which is why the letter spent two chapters on the oath Hebrews 6:17–18.
Let's consider how to provoke one another to love and good works — the word for provoke is a sharp one, usually used of irritation. The readers are told to study one another for the purpose of deliberate incitement, aimed at love.
And then the third invitation turns concrete, and lands on the most ordinary failure in the letter: not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is.
Some had stopped coming. Not renounced anything — just stopped showing up, the same drift the book opened with Hebrews 2:1. The remedy for hardening was daily exhortation by others Hebrews 3:13, and a person absent from the room is beyond the reach of the only medicine prescribed.
The last clause raises the stakes by raising the horizon: so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Attendance is indexed to the calendar of the end — the nearer the Day, the fuller the room should be.
settled What this mark means