5 And ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, despise not [the] chastening of [the] Lord, nor faint [when] reproved by him;
6 for whom [the] Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
7 Ye endure for chastening, God conducts himself towards you as towards sons; for who is the son that the father chastens not?
8 But if ye are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Moreover we have had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners, and we reverenced [them]; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they indeed chastened for a few days, as seemed good to them; but he for profit, in order to the partaking of his holiness.
11 But no chastening at the time seems to be [matter] of joy, but of grief; but afterwards yields [the] peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Hebrews 12
Commentary on Hebrews 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
The apostle, in this chapter, applies what he has collected in the chapter foregoing, and makes use of it as a great motive to patience and perseverance in the Christian faith and state, pressing home the argument,
Hbr 12:1-3
Here observe what is the great duty which the apostle urges upon the Hebrews, and which he so much desires they would comply with, and that is, to lay aside every weight, and the sin that did so easily beset them, and run with patience the race set before them. The duty consists of two parts, the one preparatory, the other perfective.
Hbr 12:4-17
Here the apostle presses the exhortation to patience and perseverance by an argument taken from the gentle measure and gracious nature of those sufferings which the believing Hebrews endured in their Christian course.
Hbr 12:18-29
Here the apostle goes on to engage the professing Hebrews to perseverance in their Christian course and conflict, and not to relapse again into Judaism. This he does by showing them how much the state of the gospel church differs from that of the Jewish church, and how much it resembles the state of the church in heaven, and on both accounts demands and deserves our diligence, patience, and perseverance in Christianity.