◄ Hebrews 3:1 ►
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
Study Bible
Therefore, holy brothers,

Believers belong to one family through faith in Christ and have been set apart for God’s service by His saving grace. Hebrews addresses Christians under pressure to retreat from their confession, reminding them that their identity is not defined by former customs, public approval, or suffering, but by their relationship to the risen Son.

1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood…
Rom 1:7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints…
Eph 2:19 Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners,…

who share in the heavenly calling,

God has called them from heaven to an eternal inheritance that surpasses the earthly land, priesthood, and covenant privileges known under Moses. Like Abraham, who obeyed God’s call and looked for a city built by God, they are pilgrims whose true homeland is with the Lord.

2Ti 1:9 He has saved us and called us to a holy calling…
1Th 2:12 encouraging you, comforting you, and urging you……
Php 3:14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize…

set your focus on Jesus,

Their endurance depends on deliberately considering Christ—His person, faithfulness, sacrifice, and present reign. Jesus is greater than every old covenant mediator and provision, so abandoning Him for the former order would mean turning from fulfillment back to shadow.

Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author…
Heb 12:3 Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners,…
Col 3:1-2 Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ,…

the apostle and high priest

The Father sent Jesus into the world as the perfect revelation of God, and Jesus now represents His people before God as their merciful and faithful High Priest. Moses served as God’s faithful servant in Israel’s house, and Aaron’s priesthood provided temporary sacrifices, but Christ is God’s Son over God’s house and offered Himself once for sins.

1Jn 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent…
Heb 2:17 For this reason He had to be made like His brothers…
Heb 5:5-6 So also Christ did not take upon Himself the glory…

whom we confess.

Christians openly acknowledge Jesus as the Lord, Savior, and sole mediator of the new covenant. Such confession was costly for the first readers of Hebrews, yet holding firmly to Christ was essential because He alone brings believers into God’s presence and secures their eternal salvation.

Rom 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”…
1Ti 6:12-13 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life…
Mat 10:32 Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Holy Brothers
Refers to the believers in Christ, emphasizing their sanctified status and familial relationship with one another through faith.

2. Heavenly Calling
The divine invitation to partake in the eternal life and purpose God has set for believers, highlighting the spiritual nature of their mission.

3. Jesus
Central figure in Christianity, recognized here as both the apostle (messenger) and high priest, underscoring His dual role in God's plan.

4. Apostle
A term meaning "one who is sent," indicating Jesus' role as the one sent by God to deliver His message and accomplish His will.

5. High Priest
A title that signifies Jesus' role in mediating between God and humanity, offering Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for sin.
Teaching Points
Focus on Jesus
Believers are encouraged to continually set their minds and hearts on Jesus, recognizing Him as the foundation of their faith and life.

Understanding Our Calling
Reflect on the nature of the heavenly calling and how it shapes our identity and purpose as Christians.

Jesus as Apostle and High Priest
Appreciate the dual role of Jesus as both the messenger of God's word and the mediator of the new covenant.

Living as Holy Brothers
Embrace the communal aspect of faith, supporting and encouraging one another in the journey of faith.

Confession of Faith
Regularly affirm and live out the confession of Jesus as Lord, allowing it to guide daily decisions and actions.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does it mean to "set your focus on Jesus" in your daily life, and how can you practically implement this?

2. How does understanding Jesus as both apostle and high priest enhance your appreciation of His work and role in your life?

3. In what ways can you actively participate in the "heavenly calling" mentioned in Hebrews 3:1?

4. How can the concept of being "holy brothers" influence your relationships within the church community?

5. Reflect on a time when focusing on Jesus helped you navigate a challenging situation. How can this experience encourage others in their faith journey?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Philippians 3:14
This verse speaks of pressing toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly calling, which aligns with the call to focus on Jesus in Hebrews 3:1.

1 Peter 2:9
Describes believers as a royal priesthood, connecting to the idea of sharing in a heavenly calling and the priestly role of Jesus.

John 20:21
Jesus refers to Himself as being sent by the Father, which ties into His role as the apostle in Hebrews 3:1.

Hebrews 4:14-16
Further elaborates on Jesus as the high priest, providing a deeper understanding of His mediating role.
Sermons
Christ Should be ContemplatedA. C. Price, B. A.Hebrews 3:1
Christ the Only Apostle and High Priest of Our ProfessionE. Deering, B,D.Hebrews 3:1
Christ to be AppreciatedC. Clemance, D. D.Hebrews 3:1
Christians Invited to Consider ChristSketches of SermonsHebrews 3:1
Consider ChristA. Maclaren, D. D.Hebrews 3:1
Consider ChristR. M. McCheyne.Hebrews 3:1
Consider Christ FullyH. W. Beecher.Hebrews 3:1
Consider Christ IntentlyW. Jones, D. D.Hebrews 3:1
Consider JesusT. R. Stevenson.Hebrews 3:1
Consider Jesus and Banish FrivolityF. W. Farrar, D. D.Hebrews 3:1
Directions to be HolyW. Gouge.Hebrews 3:1
Heavenly ThingsD. Young Hebrews 3:1
Of Christ as an ApostleW. Gouge.Hebrews 3:1
Open Christian ProfessionA. Saphir.Hebrews 3:1
Priesthood of ChristJ. Wells, M. A.Hebrews 3:1
The Advantages Derived from Considering JesusR. Boog, D. D.Hebrews 3:1
The Advent CallDean Vaughan.Hebrews 3:1
The Apostle and High PriestD. Hunter, B. D.Hebrews 3:1
The Apostle and High Priest of Our ProfessionW. Amos.Hebrews 3:1
The Causes of Men's Being Holy, and of Calling Them SoW. Gouge.Hebrews 3:1
The Christian and His RedeemerU. R. Tibetans.Hebrews 3:1
The Consideration of the Apostle-Ship and Priesthood of Christ InculcatedF. H. Fell, M. A.Hebrews 3:1
The Heavenly CallingA. B. Davidson, LL. D.Hebrews 3:1
The Heavenly TrillingW. Gouge.Hebrews 3:1
The Study of JesusJ. W. Burn.Hebrews 3:1
The Sublimest ContemplationW. Jones Hebrews 3:1
The Superiority of ChristianityD. C. Hughes, M. A.Hebrews 3:1
What Christ is to UsD. Young Hebrews 3:1
The Superiority of ChristJ.S. Bright Hebrews 3:1-6
The Superiority of Christ to Moses the Reason Why They Should Cleave to ChristC. New Hebrews 3:1-6
People
Hebrews
Places
Egypt, Jerusalem
Topics
Apostle, Brethren, Brothers, Calling, Chief, Christ, Confess, Confession, Consider, Faith, Fix, Followers, Heaven, Heavenly, Holy, Invitation, Marked, Partakers, Priest, Profess, Profession, Reason, Representative, Share, Sharers, Thoughts, Wherefore
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hebrews 3:1

     1065   God, holiness of
     2203   Christ, titles of
     5191   thought
     5408   messenger
     5661   brothers
     6620   calling
     7707   apostles, designation
     7923   fellowship, in gospel
     8349   spiritual growth, means of
     8407   confession, of Christ

Hebrews 3:1-4:13

     7223   exodus, significance

Hebrews 3:1-2

     2306   Christ, high priest
     2339   Christ, example of
     8428   example

Hebrews 3:1-6

     2422   gospel, confirmation
     5104   Moses, foreshadower of Christ
     5340   house
     6684   mediator

Library
March 22. "Hold Fast the Confidence and the Rejoicing of the Hope Firm unto the End" (Heb. Iii. 6).
"Hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Heb. iii. 6). The attitude of faith is simple trust. It is Elijah saying to Ahab, "There is a sound of abundance of rain." But then there comes usually a deeper experience in which the prayer is inwrought; it is Elijah on the mount, with his face between his knees, travailing, as it were, in birth for the promised blessing. He has believed for it--and now he must take. The first is Joash shooting the arrow out of the windows, …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 10. "Hold Fast the Confidence" (Heb. Iii. 6).
"Hold fast the confidence" (Heb. iii. 6). Seldom have we seen a sadder wreck of even the highest, noblest Christian character than when the enemy has succeeded in undermining the simple trust of a child of God, and got him into self-accusing and condemnation. It is a fearful place when the soul allows Satan to take the throne and act as God, sitting in judgment on its every thought and act; and keeping it in the darkness of ceaseless condemnation. Well indeed has the apostle told us to hold firmly …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

A Persuasive to Steadfastness
We shall have to show the value of faith while we try to open up the text before us, in which I see, first, a high privilege: "we are made partakers of Christ;" and secondly, by implication, a serious question--the question whether or no we have been made partakers of Christ and, then, in the third place, an unerring test. "We are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end." I. First, then, here is A VERY HIGH PRIVILEGE. "We are made partakers of Christ." …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

The Mind of Jesus.
THE MIND OF JESUS! What a study is this! To attain a dim reflection of it, is the ambition of angels--higher they can not soar. "To be conformed to the image of His Son!"--it is the end of God in the predestination of His Church from all eternity. "We shall be like Him!"--it is the Bible picture of heaven! In a former little volume, we pondered some of the gracious Words which proceeded out of the mouth of Jesus. In the present, we have a few faint lineaments of that holy Character which constituted …
John R. Macduff—The Mind of Jesus

Discourse II.
Chapter XIV.--Texts explained; Fourthly, Hebrews iii. 2 Introduction; the Regula Fidei counter to an Arian sense of the text; which is not supported by the word servant,' nor by made' which occurs in it; (how can the Judge be among the works' which God will bring into judgment?') nor by faithful;' and is confuted by the immediate context, which is about Priesthood; and by the foregoing passage, which explains the word faithful' as meaning trustworthy, as do 1 Pet. iv. fin. and other texts. On the …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

The Exercise of Mercy Optional with God.
ROMANS ix. 15.--"For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." This is a part of the description which God himself gave to Moses, of His own nature and attributes. The Hebrew legislator had said to Jehovah: "I beseech thee show me thy glory." He desired a clear understanding of the character of that Great Being, under whose guidance he was commissioned to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. God said to …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

Of the Creation 0F Man
Gen. i. 26, 27.--"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them."--With Eph. iv. 24.--"And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."--And Heb. …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Weighed, and Found Wanting
'And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron; and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3. And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4. And they said one …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

"And if any Man Sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,",
1 John ii. 1.--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,", &c. There is here a sad supposition, but too certain, that any man may sin, yea, that all men will sin, even those who have most communion with God, and interest in the blood of Christ. Yet they are not altogether exempted from this fatal lot of mankind. It is incident even to them to sin, and too frequently incident, but yet we have a happy and sweet provision, for indemnity from the hazard of sin,--"we have an advocate …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Saints' Privilege and Profit;
OR, THE THRONE OF GRACE ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The churches of Christ are very much indebted to the Rev. Charles Doe, for the preservation and publishing of this treatise. It formed one of the ten excellent manuscripts left by Bunyan at his decease, prepared for the press. Having treated on the nature of prayer in his searching work on 'praying with the spirit and with the understanding also,' in which he proves from the sacred scriptures that prayer cannot be merely read or said, but must …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Jesus Angry with Hard Hearts
But I must not let imagination mislead me: they did nothing of the kind. Instead of this, they sat watching the Lord Jesus, not to be delighted by an act of his power, but to find somewhat of which they might accuse him. When all came to all, the utmost that they would be able to allege would be that he had healed a withered hand on the Sabbath. Overlooking the commendation due for the miracle of healing, they laid the emphasis upon its being done on the Sabbath; and held up their hands with horror …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

The Work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ Himself is the one perfect manifestation in history of the complete work of the Holy Spirit in man. 1. Jesus Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit. We read in Luke i. 35, R. V., "And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God." As we have already seen, in regeneration the believer is begotten of God, but Jesus Christ was …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

Apostles To-Day?
"Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are ye not my work in the Lord?"--1 Cor. ix. 1. We may not take leave of the apostolate without a last look at the circle of its members. It is a closed circle; and every effort to reopen it tends to efface a characteristic of the New Covenant. And yet the effort is being made again and again. We see it in Rome's apostolic succession; in the Ethical view gradually effacing the boundary-line between the apostles and believers; …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

Introduction to Four Discourses against the Arians.
Written Between 356 And 360. There is no absolutely conclusive evidence as to the date of these Discourses, in fact they would appear from the language of ii. 1 to have been issued at intervals. The best judges, however, are agreed in assigning them to the fruitful period of the third exile.' The Discourses cannot indeed be identified with the lost account of the Arian heresy addressed to certain Egyptian monks (see Introd. to Arian Hist. supra); but the demand for such a treatise may have set Athanasius …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Humility is the Root of Charity, and Meekness the Fruit of Both. ...
Humility is the root of charity, and meekness the fruit of both. There is no solid and pure ground of love to others, except the rubbish of self-love be first cast out of the soul; and when that superfluity of naughtiness is cast out, then charity hath a solid and deep foundation: "The end of the command is charity out of a pure heart," 1 Tim. i. 5. It is only such a purified heart, cleansed from that poison and contagion of pride and self-estimation, that can send out such a sweet and wholesome …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Predestination and Calling
Eternal Father, who shall look Into thy secret will? None but the Lamb shall take the book, And open every seal. None but he shall ever unroll that sacred record and read it to the assembled world. How then am I to know whether I am predestinated by God unto eternal life or not? It is a question in which my eternal interests are involved; am I among that unhappy number who shall be left to live in sin and reap the due reward of their iniquity; or do I belong to that goodly company, who albeit that …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

How Shall the Soul Make Use of Christ, as the Life, which is under the Prevailing Power of Unbelief and Infidelity.
That we may help to give some clearing to a poor soul in this case, we shall, 1. See what are the several steps and degrees of this distemper. 2. Consider what the causes hereof are. 3. Shew how Christ is life to a soul in such a case; and, 4. Give some directions how a soul in that case should make use of Christ as the Life, to the end it may be delivered therefrom. And, first, There are many several steps to, and degrees of this distemper. We shall mention a few; as, 1. When they cannot come …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Coming of the Called.
"That the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth."--Rom. ix. 11. The question is, whether the elect cooperate in the call. We say, Yes; for the call is no call, in the fullest sense of the word, unless the called one can hear and hears so distinctly that it impresses him, causes him to rise and to obey God. For this reason our fathers, for the sake of clearness, used to distinguish between the ordinary call and the effectual call. God's call does not …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Shepherd and the Fold
... Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation.' EXODUS XV. 13. What a grand triumphal ode! The picture of Moses and the children of Israel singing, and Miriam and the women answering: a gush of national pride and of worship! We belong to a better time, but still we can feel its grandeur. The deliverance has made the singer look forward to the end, and his confidence in the issue is confirmed. I. The guiding God: or the picture of the leading. The original is 'lead gently.' Cf. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am o jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of then that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.' Exod 20: 4-6. I. Thou shalt not …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

After Prayer Jesus Selects Twelve Apostles.
(Near Capernaum.) ^A Matt. X. 2-4; ^B Mark III. 13-19; ^C Luke VI. 12-16. ^c 12 And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain ^b 13 And he goeth up into the mountain, ^c to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God. [It was a momentous occasion. He was about to choose those to whom he was to entrust the planting, organizing, and training of that church which was to be the purchase of his own blood. Jesus used such important crises, not as occasions for anxiety and …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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