Hebrews 10:35-36 - Exposition

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience (or, endurance) , that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise ; or, doing the will of God, ye may receive, etc. The aorist participle ποιήσαντες does not of necessity express priority to the receiving (cf. Hebrews 6:15 , μακροθυμήσας ἐπέτυχε ). The meaning is that by endurance in doing the will they would receive. The full and final enjoyment of what is promised is still future and conditioned by perseverance. Observe the difference between the words κομίζεσθαι , here used, and ἐποτυγχάνειν , used in Hebrews 6:15 . The former ( occ . Hebrews 11:19 , Hebrews 11:39 ; also 2 Corinthians 5:10 ; Ephesians 6:8 ; Colossians 3:25 ; and 1 Peter 1:9 ) means the actual reception of what is denoted, equivalent to sibi acquirere ; the latter (etc. Hebrews 6:15 ; Hebrews 11:33 ; also Romans 11:7 ; James 4:2 ) means only "to attain to," without involving full possession. It is not said of Abraham ( Hebrews 6:15 ) that he ἐκομίσατο , only that he ἐπέτυχε . So also of all the faithful of old described in the following chapter ( Hebrews 11:39 ). And even to believing Christians, as this verse shows, the κομίζεσθαι is still future and contingent.