Hebrews Chapter Ten, Defining Rewards

 

Hebrews 10:35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

 

The Jewish Christians are instructed not to cast away, or throw out, their confidence, which has great reward. Two words in this verse merit closer inspection: confidence

and reward.

Returning to Hebrews 10:23, the author reminds his readership, “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” The Christian’s confidence, we are told, ought not to be “cast away.” The NASB renders the phrase, “throw away,” and indeed, that is what the Greek means. It is the term, “apoballo,” and means “to throw off or (fig.) to lose.” The term is employed twice in Mark 10:50, and once here in Hebrews. The hope of our faith from verse 23 shares the same foundation as our confidence. The Hebrews had been confident; otherwise it would have been pointless counsel to warn them not to cast away said confidence. The good works they performed, and the tribulations they endured, testified of their confident trust in the Son of God, and they lived their lives accordingly. But then an opposing or corrupting thought interposed, drawing back these Jewish believers to the Mosaic Law and temple sacrifice. But, the writer reminds them their confidence, which will yield reward, is found in their confession of Christ, not in adherence to the obsolete Mosaic covenant, Hebrews 8:13.

 

The nature of reward in Scripture is based upon the deeds done in the flesh while a believer lives. We know that, of these rewards, salvation is not one of them. How? Paul explains in Romans that salvation is a free gift of God, and a gift is not a reward; you don’t win or earn a gift, like you do a reward, Romans 5:15, 16, 18, 6:23. Toward the conclusion of Revelation we read, “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work,” Revelation 22:12. The reward, by our Lord’s own words, is determinant upon what type of work we have done, and why we have done it. Paul writes of this matter: “Therefore we make it our, aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad,” 2 Corinthians 5:9, 10.

 

We know that this judgment seat is a place for believers, not the unsaved. Paul uses the first person plural pronoun “we,” when referring to it, inferring that he too will stand before this seat to have his work appraised. The Great White Throne, which God erects at the end of time to judge, has marked differences. The Book of Life is present, and the names of the dead gathered before the throne are searched for, but apparently not discovered. We know the saints’ names are found in the Book of Life, so believers do not stand at this throne, Philippians 4:3, John 5:24. The saints are not appointed to wrath, but to salvation, 1 Thessalonians 5:9. So a set of books, the records of every human life on Earth are examined, and the dead (synonymous with the unsaved dead, see for instance Isaiah 14:9-11) are judged according to their works, based upon the knowledge or light they possessed, Luke 12:45-48.

 

A Christian’s confidence is that Jesus took the punishment due us, freeing us from sin and death so that we, now being alive to God, might do works befitting our new life. The Hebrew Christians were aware of this and had practiced it, but they backslid, now needing milk rather than solid food, Hebrews 5:12. Their spiritual senses, once exercised to discern between good and evil, had become flaccid from lack of use. They were born along, despite Paul’s warning, on every wind of doctrine that the cunning of man could fabricate, Ephesians 4:14. Note how Paul addresses such people as children in Ephesians, much the same way the writer of Hebrews refers to the Jewish saints as babes. Children are easily deceived or misled, but the mature, whose senses are trained and whose moral faculties are grounded in their Savior, are not easily led astray, Hebrews 5:14.

 

Rewards in Scripture are sometimes addressed as crowns. A symbol of rulership, or victory, there are several crowns listed in the New Testament, perhaps a sampling of the rewards that await the faithful saint whose purpose is not to gratify the flesh, but to glorify his God. We also know that in Heaven the saints “cast their crowns” before the feet of the One who saved them from their eternal doom, glorifying Him who gave them the opportunity to serve and to be adopted into His household, Revelation 4:10. The idea is that, back of the work committed, was the motive energizing it. The believers, now glorified and in Heaven, reveal that the acts were done in Christ, so the work was ultimately His, and the glory of the crown belongs to Him because it was by His Spirit that it was even possible, Zechariah 4:6. There is no glorying before the Savior, because no man will have the ability to boast of things done in the flesh, 1 Corinthians 4:7, Galatians 2:16.

 

Peter inquired of the Lord what the recompense would be for following Him, Matthew 19:27. Jesus replied to Peter, stating that whomever left worldly things to seek the kingdom of Heaven would receive, “a hundredfold,” Matthew 19:29. Peter isn’t asking about whether or not he is saved; he’s inquiring about how a man, if he chooses to serve Jesus Christ, might be compensated. Mankind was designed to work, as Adam did in the garden. But work implies wages, or in this instance, rewards. Paul informs the Corinthians that they may choose how to build upon the foundation that is Christ, but the material chosen determines reward or lack thereof, 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. Note how the apostle states that whether we have built well or poorly, all who qualify to build begin on the same foundation, which is Christ Jesus. So, all are saved, and the quality of our work is determinant upon why, and for whom, we have done what we have done. Some work merits reward at Jesus’ judgment seat, 1 Corinthians 3:14, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:10-12. Some work is burned, 1 Corinthians 3:15, John 15:6, Hebrews 6:8.

 

Paul further employs an illustration familiar to his current audience, and one which we too may easily comprehend, from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. He likens our Christian ministry to a race that we must all run, but which not all win. We run for an imperishable crown, competing with confidence, temperance and discipline. Paul is concerned about being disqualified for the prize he covets. He had earlier likened the ministerial aspect of his life to building upon a solid foundation, but earning or losing reward depending on how worthy his materials were. Now, thinking back on that reality, Paul doesn’t wish to find himself in that situation, using the term, “disqualified,” which literally means disapproved, 1 Corinthians 9:27. John urges his audience likewise to look to ourselves, so that we do not lose our reward, 2 John 8. The Colossian church received a similar warning, framing the admonition that no one, “cheat you of your reward,” Colossians 2:18. The cheating occurs when we stop holding fast the Head, which is Christ, and delve into topics and doctrines that pervert or replace the simplicity of the gospel truth, rendering our spiritual life fruitless, Colossians 2:23.

 

The burned building of Corinthians, the withered, burned branch in John, the burned field in Hebrews; in these things we see a pattern of fire determining something’s worth, 1 Peter 1:7. But eternal life, a free gift of God’s condescending grace, is not so given, earned, merited, or retained. Once received (which is all one can do with it: reception or rejection), it is forever, because eternal life is how the life God imparts is defined. It is His life, therefore it is unending. But it is not competed for, or burned away at the last. Scripture is clear, explaining that there are true believers, and there are false professors, deluded in their beliefs. But we, God’s children by faith, may have confidence in His promises, and in so doing reap great reward for our diligence in service to the God we love.