Hebrews 6:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
to be an attendant · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Hebrews 13:16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Matthew 10:42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, h…
Galatians 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and o…
Colossians 3:17 And what soever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Acts 10:4 And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a mem…
Matthew 25:35-40 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
1 Timothy 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hebrews 6:9–end
The apostle, having applied himself to the fears of the Hebrews, in order to excite their diligence and prevent their apostasy, now proceeds to apply himself to their hopes, and candidly declares the good hope he had concerning them, that they would persevere; and proposes to them the great encouragements they had in the way of their duty.
I. He freely and openly declares the good hope he had concerning them, that they would endure to the end: But beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, Heb 6:9. Observe, 1. There are things that accompany salvation, things that are never separated from salvation, things that show the person to be in a state of salvation, and will issue in eternal sal…
not unrighteous--not unfaithful to His own gracious promise. Not that we have any inherent right to claim reward; for (1) a servant has no merit, as he only does that which is his bounden duty; (2) our best performances bear no proportion to what we leave undone; (3) all strength comes from God; but God has promised of His own grace to reward the good works of His people (already accepted through faith in Christ); it is His promise, not our merits, which would make it unrighteous were He not to reward His people's works. God will be no man's debtor.
your work--your whole Christian life of active obedience.
labour of love--The oldest manuscripts omit "labor of," which probably crept in fr…
God is not unrighteous - God is only bound to men by his own promise: this promise he is not obliged to make; but, when once made, his righteousness or justice requires him to keep it; therefore, whatever he has promised he will certainly perform. But he has promised to reward every good work and labor of love, and he will surely reward yours; God's promise is God's debt.
Every good work must spring from faith in the name, being, and goodness of God; and every work that is truly good must have love for its motive, as it has God for its end.
The word του κοπου, labor, prefixed to love, is wanting in almost every MS. and version of importance. Griesbach has left it out of the text.
Ministered…
The Church Fathers
"For God is not unjust." Therefore, we are convinced of the good things concerning you, knowing that God is not unjust. If He is not unjust, He will not forget your good work and the love which you have shown in His name, having endured all for Him. So do not lose heart, but always hope for better things; for God is always righteous. Therefore, I have not spoken about you in a discouraging way; for I know that you are not worthy of curses. "in serving the saints."Greatly testifies to them, not only by works, but also by works done with eagerness; for serving is a sign of eagerness. To the saints, that is, to the faithful. For every believer is holy, even if he is of the world [κοσμικὸς]. But see how he ministers to them. For he did not say, having served, and stood; but added, and serving; that is, continuing to do the same.
"For God" (he says) "is not unrighteous to forget your love" and the zeal "which ye have showed toward His Name, in that ye have ministered unto the saints, and do minister." He testifies great things of them, not deeds only; but deeds done with alacrity, which he says also in another place, "and not only so, but they gave themselves also to the Lord and to us." (2 Cor. viii. 5.) "Which" (he says) "ye have showed toward His Name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister." See how again he soothes them, by adding "and do minister." Still even at this time (he says) ye are ministering, and he raises them up by showing that they had done [what they did] not to them [the saints], but to God. "Which ye have showed" (he says); and he said not "unto the saints," but "towards God," for this is "toward His Name." It is for His Name's sake (he means) that ye have done all. He therefore who has the enjoyment from you of so great zeal and love, will never despise you nor forget you.
"For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the love, which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered unto the saints and do minister." O how did he here restore their spirit, and give them fresh strength, by reminding them of former things, and bringing them to the necessity of not supposing that God had forgotten. (For he cannot but sin who is not fully assured concerning his hope, and says that God is unrighteous. Accordingly he obliged them by all means to look forward to those future things. For one who despairs of present things, and has given up exerting himself, may be restored by [the prospect of] things future.) As he himself also said in writing to the Galatians, "Ye did run well" (Gal. v. 7): and again, "Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain." (Gal. iii. 4.) And as in this place he puts the praise with the reproof, saying, "When for the time ye ought to be teachers" (c. v. 12), so also there, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed." (Gal. i. 6.) With the reproof is the praise. For respecting great things we marvel, when they fail. Thou seest that praise is concealed under the accusation and the blame. Nor does he say this concerning himself only, but also concerning all. For he said not, I am persuaded, but "we are persuaded better things of you," even good things (he means). He says this either in regard to matters of conduct, or to the recompense. In the next place, having said above, that it is "rejected and nigh unto a curse," and that it "shall be for burning," he says, we do not by any means speak this of you. "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and love."
Dictionary and topics
Saint — One separated from the world and consecrated to God; one holy by profession and by covenant; a believer in Christ (Ps. 16:3; Rom. 1:7; 8:27; Phil. 1:1; Heb. 6:10). The “saints” spoken of in Jude 1:14…
Alms · .The early Christians — .The early Christians
Beneficence · 5:8,16;6:18; — 5:8,16;6:18;
Diligence · Labors of love — Labors of love
Liberality · 3:10-12; — 3:10-12;
Love · 1:9,20,21,23;3:7,8; — 1:9,20,21,23;3:7,8;
Love To Man · Is an active principle — Is an active principle
Perseverance · IN WELL-DOING: Leads to assurance of hope — IN WELL-DOING: Leads to assurance of hope
Salvation · Saints: Evidence, by works — Saints: Evidence, by works
Works · .God remembers — .God remembers
Works, Good · Called: Works and labours of love — Called: Works and labours of love
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
For God is not unrighteous,.... He is just and true, righteous in all his ways and works; there is no unrighteousness nor unfaithfulness in him; and this the apostle makes a reason of his strong persuasion of better things concerning the believing Hebrews; because he was well satisfied of the good work upon them, and he was assured that God was not unrighteous and unfaithful:
to forget your work: which is not to be understood of any good work done by them, for these are generally expressed in the plural number; and besides, these, if at all, are designed in the next clause; moreover, external good works, or such as appear to men to be so, are performed by hypocrites; nor can they be said to…
Hebrews 6:7-10
7. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
7. Siquidem terra quae imbrem saepius in se venientem imbibit, et progignit herbam commodam iis opera quorum et colitur, recipit benedictionem a Deo:
8. But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
8. At quae produxerit spinas et tribulos, reproba est, et obnoxia maledictioni, cujus exitus tendit ad combustionem.
9. But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
9. Caeterum persuasimus nob…
He will not forget how hard you have worked: In showing that they love God and his people, their works bear witness to their true relationship with God (Rom 2:6-7; 1 Cor 3:13-15; Jas 2:14-20). God remembers (Exod 2:24; 1 Chr 16:15; Ps 106:45) and acknowledges those who are truly his.
