Exposition of Hebrews, by John Owen. Hebrews 12:15-17. An Excerpt.

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
~ Hebrews 12:15-17

Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
~ Deuteronomy 29:18, 32:32

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
~ Jeremiah 2:21

But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
~ Hebrews 6:8, Revelation 22:11-12

For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth:
~ James 1:11 a-d

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
~ Romans 3:23, Hebrews 4:1

"2dly. When those in whom this root is are either confident or many, they will trouble the church, disorder it, and cast things into confusion, by wrangling disputes, speaking perverse things, endeavoring to draw disciples, to corrupt and deceive; as is the way and manner of all apostates.

"3dly. They trouble the church, by bringing an evil report upon it, for divisions, contentions, and instability; ofttimes also, by one means or another, exposing it to external trouble and persecution. This is the first effect which the springing up of this root of bitterness in churches, or among professors of the gospel, doth produce; it troubleth them. And herein the apostle includeth an argument unto the diligent inspection which he exhorts unto, namely, the prevention of this trouble in the church.

"[4.] The last effect of it, the utmost of its progress, is, that “many be defiled” by it. “And thereby,” — by this root, so springing up, and bearing this fruit of trouble. A dangerous thing it is to have such things fall out in churches; namely, that there be amongst them a man or woman, a family or tribe, few or more, that on any pretences incline unto a departure from the truth of the gospel. It seldom stops with themselves. The ignorance, negligence, darkness, but especially the want of experience of the power of the truth of the gospel, are easily imposed on by them, and thereby they are defiled. And thus it often falls out, not with one or two, but with “many.” Ofttimes whole churches have been ruined by this means; yea, hereby a fatal apostasy was introduced in all the visible churches of the world.

"There is no difficulty in the expression of the apostle, of their being “defiled;” as though it were not proper to be defiled by a root springing up. For the apostle doth not speak of the manner of its operation and infection, but of the effect it produceth; and this is, that men who have been cleansed by baptism, and the profession of the truth, should be again contaminated with abominable errors, or filthy lusts, as it is fully declared, 2 Peter 2:18-22. And we may observe, —

"Obs. 5. That the root of apostasy from God and the profession of the gospel may abide invisibly in professing churches — So our apostle declares it at large, 2 Timothy 2:16-21; with the reason of it. And we may hence infer,

"1. That we ought not to be surprised when any such root discovereth itself by springing up; it is no more but what we are warned of.

"2. That in such a season it is divine election that secures true believers from apostasy and defilement, 2 Timothy 2:19, Matthew 24:24."

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