Verse 3
3. And this The going on to perfection.
Will we do There is considerable authority for the reading, this let us do.
If God permit But why this if? Would not God, of course, permit so good a thing? Alford approves the interpretation that our apostle means here to imply that our so doing is not in our own power, but must be wrought in us by God. But for that meaning a mere permit would not be the true word, but grant grace, or empower. Delitzsch thinks that the implication is, that God may not permit, because they may be already in an irrecoverable, apostate state; but that is contradictory to Hebrews 6:9; and, besides, we cannot admit that this irrecoverability from apostasy arises from God’s non-permission of recovery. St. Paul uses the very same words in 1 Corinthians 16:7, an indication both of his being author of this epistle and of the meaning of the phrase, which is, if God in his providence permit, by continuing life, power, and opportunity to us.
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