Hebrews 3:1-6

The First 2 Chapters of Hebrews Were Devoted to 2 Main Ideas

Jesus is Superior to the Angels

Because He is God’s Son - Creator and King Over Creation

Jesus Became Human in Order to:

Live the Perfect Life, Suffer, and Die…

So He Could Defeat the Devil and Death and Bring Many Sons to Glory…

As Our Faithful and Merciful High Priest

Now in Chapter 3 the Author is Going to Show Us How Jesus is Superior to Moses

Hebrews 3:1–6 (NASB95)

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.

For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

Hebrews 3:1 (NASB95)

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

“Therefore” - Don’t Forget All that We’ve Discussed Up to This Point

Hebrews 3:1 (NASB95)

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

When the Author Calls His Audience “Holy Brethren”…

He is Calling Upon the Idea He Brought Out in Chapter 2

Hebrews 2:11 (NASB95)

For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

“Holy” and “Sanctifies” are Different Forms of the Same Word

Jesus Sanctified Us/Made Us Holy

He Set Us Aside for God’s Special Purposes and Made Us Part of God’s Family

We are Now Jesus’ Brothers and Sisters…

And Therefore Brothers and Sisters to Each Other

“Holy Brethren” Means We are the Specially Chosen Family of God…

Set Aside for God’s Special Purpose

What is God’s Special Purpose?

The Author Answers in His Next Few Words

Hebrews 3:1 (NASB95)

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

“Partakers” = Companions or Partners

Siblings of Christ are Partners

We are to Work Together

What are We Partners in?

A Heavenly Calling

What is a Heavenly Calling?

A “Calling” is an Invitation to a Special Blessing and/or Responsibility

God Has Invited Us to Share a Special Blessing and Responsibility

God Through Jesus Has Given a Special Blessing and Responsibility to His Children

The Blessing is that Those of Faith in Jesus Will Receive Glory and Honor at His Return

The Responsibility is to Remain Faithful Until His Return

“Therefore, Holy Siblings of Jesus Christ, Partners in an Invitation of Special Blessing and Responsibility From God…”

Hebrews 3:1 (NASB95)

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

This is an Imperative Verb - A Command

Consider = To Give Careful Thought and Consideration to Something

This is More or Less the Point of the Whole Book

To Encourage These Hebrews Christians to Carefully Think About Jesus

They Were Tempted to Forsake Him, But the Author Calls Them to Think Carefully About Him

Think Carefully About Who He is, What He’s Done, What He is Doing, and What He Will Do!

If They Will Only Do That, They Would Never Turn Their Backs On Him

Hebrews 3:1 (NASB95)

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

Hebrews is the Only Book in the NT that Refers to Jesus as “Apostle and High Priest”

Though These Words are Never Used…

The Idea of Him Being an Apostle and High Priest is a Fundamental Truth Throughout the NT

That Jesus the Apostle and High Priest is Essential to the Christian Faith

Apostle = One Who is Sent to Represent the Interests of Another

The Apostles Were the Ones Jesus Sent to Represent Himself…

And to Spread the Message of His Kingdom

Jesus was the One Who was Sent to Earth to Represent His Father

High Priest = The Chief Priest Who Would Enter into God’s Presence to Make Atonement for All the People

He was the Only Human Allowed into God’s Presence in the Most Holy Place

He was a Representative of the People to God

What the Hebrews Writer is Saying About Jesus is:

He is God’s Representative to Humans as the Apostle

And He is Our Representative to God as the High Priest

As the Apostle, He was the Perfect Representation to Us of Our God

As the High Priest, Who Experienced Every Ounce of What it is Like to Be Human…

Is the Perfect Representation of Humanity to God

Also, as Our High Priest, He Remains in God’s Presence for Us…

Faithfully Interceding for Us On Behalf of Our Sins

Does This Idea of Jesus Representing God to Humanity and Representing Humanity to God Sound Familiar?

Was There Anyone Else Who Fulfilled Such a Role?

Moses

Moses was Sent By God as God’s Representative to the People of Israel

And He Served as a Faithful Priest and Intercessor to God On Behalf of Israel

The Point the Author is Beginning to Make is This:

Jesus is a Greater Apostle and High Priest Than Moses

That May Not Sound Like a Major Claim to Us

But to the Hebrew People, that Would Have Been Huge

Jesus is a Greater Representative of God Than Moses Was

And He is a Greater High Priest for Humanity Than Moses Was

Hebrews 3:2 (NASB95)

He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.

The Author References Numbers 12 in This Verse

Numbers 12:1–8 (NASB95)

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard it.

(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) Suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out.

Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream.

“Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

In This Text, Miriam and Aaron Challenge Moses’ Leadership of Israel

God Tells Them that Moses is His Chosen Leader

He Doesn’t Communicate With Moses Like He Communicates With Other Prophets

He Speaks With Moses “Mouth to Mouth” (Face to Face)

God Had Chosen Moses According to His Divine Will

And Moses was Faithful (Trustworthy) in the Position God Had Placed Him in

The Position of Being an Apostle to and High Priest for God’s Household (Israel)

Hebrews 3:2 (NASB95)

He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.

Like Moses was Faithful in His God-Ordained Services…

Jesus is Being Faithful as Well

He Perfectly Obeyed God’s Will On Earth

And He is Perfectly Acting Our High Priest in the Most Holy Place at the Right Hand of the Father

This meant Moses was an honorable and faithful steward over the household of God (Exod 14:31; Num 11:11; Deut 3:24; Josh 1:2). The word translated “servant” (Heb 3:5) is not the typical Greek doulos but therapōn, occurring only here in the New Testament. It carries a more specific meaning than “servant” or “slave”; it referred to “one who renders devoted service”12 and was used of Moses three times in the lxx (Exod 4:10; 14:31; Num 12:7). While doulos had a pejorative connotation of forced servitude,13 therapōn “speaks of service that is of a nobler and freer character.”14 “Further in the background may lie the distinction between a steward, set over a household, and a servant, who is merely a member of the household.”15 As much honor as Moses deserves as a faithful steward, however, Jesus deserves greater honor because “the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself” (v 3). In other words, the Creator is always greater than his creation. Whenever we behold an architectural marvel, we applaud the architect. Even when we praise the building itself, “the designer is praised by implication.”16 Seen from a different perspective, and as the text makes clear, Moses was faithful in God’s house (v 5), but Jesus is over God’s house (v 6).

Hebrews & James 1. Faithful to the Divine Plan (vv. 1–2)

A faithful representative does his job. Both Jesus and Moses were faithful (Num. 12:7; Heb. 2:17). For Moses, God’s house was the people of Israel. Moses fully carried out all God’s appointed duties with the chosen people. Jesus affirmed his own obedience in the task of representing God to human beings (John 17:4).

1-2 Timothy, Titus & Hebrews Notes

Christ’s superiority to Moses rests on no such distinction but on the fact that Moses is “a servant” (3:5) in the house, while Christ as God’s “Son” (3:6) is over, or in charge of, the house (see John 8:35).

Invitation:

In Hebrews 3, Jesus is Called the Apostle and High Priest

He was Sent From and Represents God to Humanity as an Apostle

And He Ascended to the Most Holy Place to Make Atonement for Human Beings Like Himself as High Priest

The Hebrews Author is Comparing Him to Moses in This Way

Moses was Sent By God and Spoke With God Face to Face On Behalf of the People

How Many Times Did Moses Intercede for the People and God Listened to Him?

How Much More Will God Answer the Intercessions of His Own Son On Our Behalf?

As Great and Faithful as Moses Was…

Jesus is Greater and More Faithful

We Have Jesus as Our Intercessor, Pleading On Our Behalf

And He Brings Us Along With Him to Be in God’s Presence as His Children

This Should Give Us Confidence in Christ

And it Should Lead Us to Praise Jesus and Stay Faithful to His Cause