Hebrews 6:13–20

6:13–14, 16 Repetition of the themes of patient faith (v. 15), inheritance (v. 17), and promise (vv. 13, 15, 17) indicates that this paragraph gives grounds for the exhortation to imitate those who have trusted in God’s promises, even when fulfillment was long delayed (v. 12).

Abraham was the prototypical OT recipient of God’s promises (7:6; 11:17). God promised to bless Abraham, to multiply his descendants, to grant him a homeland, and to make him a blessing to other peoples (Gen. 12:1–3; 15:5–7). The oath that God “swore by himself” came after Abraham sustained the testing of his faith, proving himself willing to sacrifice Isaac, the son through whom God had promised to multiply Abraham’s descendants (Gen. 22:16–17).

God’s oath, by which he committed himself to bless and multiply Abraham, now emerges as the main topic of this section of Hebrews. The OT describes God’s securing his promises by swearing oaths (Ex. 13:5; 32:13; Deut. 1:8; Isa. 45:23; Jer. 22:5; 49:13; cf. Luke 1:73; Acts 2:30). Hebrews elsewhere discusses OT texts referring to two other divine oaths, one negative and the other positive. Negatively, Psalm 95:11 recounted the oath God swore at Kadesh that the unbelieving generation of Israelites would not enter his rest (Heb. 3:11, 18; 4:3; cf. Num. 14:21–23). Positively, the Lord has sworn that the king enthroned at his right hand is priest forever in the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 110:1, 4), an irreversible commitment establishing the permanence of Jesus’ tenure as high priest (Heb. 7:20–22, 28).

In antiquity, an oath was an appeal to “something greater” (6:16)—often a deity—to witness the veracity of a statement or the commitment expressed in a promise, and to impose punishment if the witness perjured himself or if the promise maker failed to follow through. “In the Graeco-Roman world oaths were sworn in the name of God, a king, the genius of the emperor, or the emperor himself. Those who took oaths made themselves liable to the judgment of God or the emperor if they proved false to such a commitment.”¹ To take an oath was to seal one’s word with one’s very life. Likewise, in covenant ratification ceremonies, slain animals symbolized the cursed death that would ensue if one party violated the covenant (Gen. 15:9–21; Ex. 24:3–8; Jer. 34:15–20; cf. comments on Heb. 9:15; 9:16–17; 9:18–20).

Israel was to swear oaths in the Lord’s name only, revering his omniscient perception, justice, and power to enforce fidelity to commitments made (Deut. 5:11; 6:13; 10:20; cf. Gen. 31:50; 1 Sam. 20:12). Likewise, Paul invoked God as witness to the truth of his statements (Rom. 1:9; 9:1; Phil. 1:8). An oath invoked the Lord himself to function as a third party—both witness and enforcer—to a legal transaction, certifying the human parties’ obligations and therefore ending their dispute with each other.² Our preacher again builds his argument from lesser to greater: if human oaths, witnessed and enforced by a superior power, are so reliable that they end disputes, how much more can we trust God’s oath-bound promise, which he swore “by himself”! There is no greater person to witness and enforce his commitment.

6:15 Because Abraham patiently waited, he “obtained the promise” of God’s blessing and multiplied descendants. Abraham did not merely hear God’s words of promise but actually obtained the fulfillment of God’s promise—“through faith and patience” he was among those who “inherit the promises” (6:12). Likewise, many OT believers “obtained promises” (11:33). Yet Hebrews also states that Abraham and other patriarchs “died in faith, not having received the things promised” (11:13) and that OT believers in general “did not receive what was promised” (11:39). In what sense did Abraham obtain, yet not receive, what God was promising? Abraham waited a hundred years for the conception, from parents “as good as dead,” of the son through whom his “offspring [shall] be named” (11:18; Gen. 21:12). Years later, when on Mount Moriah the Lord provided a ram to die instead of Isaac (Gen. 22:1–19), Abraham “figuratively speaking” received his only son of promise back from the dead (Heb. 11:19). Isaac’s twofold “resurrection,” in conception and again on Mount Moriah, began the fulfillment of God’s promise to multiply Abraham’s descendants to countless numbers.

6:17–18 God’s oath-bound promise to Abraham was not for Abraham alone. It was to reassure all “the heirs of the promise,” including first-century Hebrew Christians, so that “we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement.” In fact, the divine oath that secured blessing for Abraham was contingent on the oath God would swear in order to install Christ as the permanent priest in the order of Melchizedek (7:20–22, 28; Ps. 110:4). The concepts of heirship and inheritance, which entail assured but future ownership, appear throughout Hebrews. Christ is the heir of all things (1:2). Angels serve those who will inherit salvation (1:14; cf. 9:15). Noah was an heir of righteousness (11:7), and Abraham would be heir of a land through his offspring (11:8–9).

God intended to “show”—to provide legal evidence demonstrating (epideiknymi; cf. Acts 18:28)—that his purpose to bless is unchangeable and irrevocable. Therefore he added his oath to his promise. Thus “two unchangeable things” would banish any doubt as to God’s reliability. The first unchangeable thing is the oath God swore to Abraham (Gen. 22:16–17), vowing to impose on himself the penalty of death should he fail to keep his word. But “it is impossible for God to lie”—a theme that pervades the Bible (cf. Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Isa. 46:10–11; Titus 1:2). And it is impossible for God to die, since he is “the living God” (Heb. 3:12; 9:14; 10:31; 12:22). So his oath to Abraham is unchangeable. Yet, just as Hebrews often shows God’s new covenant provision improving upon the old (1:1–2; 3:2–6; 4:14–5:10; 7:15–28; 9:13–14; etc.), so here a second, better oath is brought into view, the oath spoken by God in Psalm 110:4 appointing Christ as “priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The content of that oath was quoted in Hebrews 5:6, and the oath-formula and its implications will appear in 7:20–22. Because Christ lives forever and holds priestly office forever—by inviolable divine oath, not mere command (7:16, 28)—Abraham and we, his new covenant children of faith, have two oaths on which to rest our confidence.¹ These mutually confirming evidences provide “strong encouragement” to us who, though we are “heirs of the promise,” are also exiles who have “fled for refuge” to God’s protection in a hostile world. “Encouragement” or “exhortation” (paraklēsis) characterizes the entire sermon-letter of Hebrews (13:22; cf. 3:13; 10:25; 12:5; 13:19).

6:19–20 The “hope set before us” (v. 18) resembles a ship’s “anchor,” which stabilizes the ship during storms so that it does not “drift away” (2:1) and crash on rocks. The author strikingly adapts the metaphor: whereas ships’ anchors descend deep to the seabed, Christians’ hope ascends deep into heaven, behind the second veil separating the holy outer chamber from the inner Most Holy Place (9:3; 10:20; Lev. 16:2, 12–17). The object of our hope may seem far off in a distant future, but it already exists and we are secured to it “as if it were a grappling hook to which the souls of believers were connected”² through our bond with Jesus.

Jesus’ entrance into the inner chamber behind the veil “as a forerunner on our behalf” conveys two assurance-building truths: First, his entrance “on our behalf” refers to his role as our representative in the presence of God his Father, who intercedes for our forgiveness on the basis of Christ’s sacrificial death (Heb. 9:13–14; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2). Second, his title “forerunner,” possibly an athletic analogy (cf. Heb. 12:1–2), implies that believers will follow him into that privileged place of intimate communion with God (10:19–22). As the discussion returns to the theme of Jesus’ priestly office “in the order of Melchizedek,” deferred after 5:10 but now to be resumed in 7:1–28, the author reverses the wording of Psalm 110:4 that was cited in 5:6 (visible in Greek):

(5:6) You are priest forever,

after the order of Melchizedek.

(6:20) after the order of Melchizedek,

a high priest having become forever.

The inversion of word order emphasizes that Jesus, the High Priest in Melchizedek’s line, holds office and conducts his ministry forever. The eternal duration of Jesus’ priesthood brings assurance to all who approach God through him (7:16–17, 21–25, 28).