In his epistle Paul addressed folks whom he called holy (G40) brethren. He addressed all Jews as his brethren (Acts 13:26; 22:1), even those unbelieving Jews who accused him of evil (Acts 23:1, 5-6). Likewise, Peter addressed all Jews as his brethren (Acts 2:29, 37), even those whom he claimed had called out for Jesus’ crucifixion (Acts 3:14-17). However, in Hebrews 3:1 Paul addressed particular Jews of his nation, whom he referred to as holy (G40). These Jews were believers, men and women who had claimed Jesus was the Messiah.
In his first epistle Peter quoted Leviticus 11:44 (cf. Leviticus 19:2; 20:7) saying: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1Peter 1:16). Although Peter told his readers that they should fashion themselves after the One who called them rather than continue in their former evil habits (1Peter 1:14-15), the word hagios (G40) doesn’t actually have the meaning of righteousness. Righteousness is expected of one who is holy (G40) or called a saint (G40 – hagios), but primarily hagios has the meaning of being consecrated to or belonging to God (Luke 2:23; cf. Exodus 13:2; 22:29; Numbers 3:13). Therefore, since the saints “belong to the Lord,” it behooves them to act accordingly (cf. Romans 16:2; Ephesians 5:3). In other words, in Hebrews 3:1 Paul is recalling to the minds of his believing Jewish brethren that they are holy. God is separate, so, since they belong to God, they need to be separate, as well. They need to stand apart from their Jewish brethren who don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah (cf. Amos 3:3). Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews is meant especially for his believing Jewish brethren who are being intimidated into compromising their faith in Christ in favor of being patriotic, or in favor of embracing the old, traditional faith.
First of all Paul claimed believers are partakers (G3363) “of the heavenly calling” (Hebrews 3:1). We met with this word in chapter one of this epistle. There Jesus was said to have been “anointed with the oil of gladness above your fellows” (G3363 – see Hebrews 1:9). In Matthew 25:3-4, 8 this oil is used as a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and on the very first day of Jesus’ public ministry he applied the Scripture in Isaiah to himself:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18, quoting Isaiah 61:1; emphasis mine).
When David was anointed by Samuel to replace Saul as King of Israel, the Spirit of the Lord came and rested upon him from that day forward (1Saumuel 16:13). In John 1:34 it is difficult to know for certain whether the Gospel writer is still quoting John the Baptist or whether he is testifying of what he knows to be true, namely, that God had sent Jesus and gives him his Spirit without any limitations. In other words, Jesus has been given the whole Spirit of God, but we, who are also partakers of the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6:4), have been given the earnest of the Spirit (2Corinthians 1:22; 5:5), which Paul describes as the pledge or down payment of our full inheritance. Nevertheless, this earnest of the Spirit of God, which makes us partakers or partners (G3363) with Christ (cf. Luke 5:7) is ours, until we are wholly redeemed upon our death. Jesus claimed that he was anointed to preach the Gospel (Luke 4:18), and we partner (G3363) with him to reach out to the world in his stead, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. This is our high calling of God in Christ (Hebrews 3:1; Philippians 3:14).
Paul asked his readers to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, namely, the Messiah, Jesus. As believers, they confessed what is called Peter’s Great Confession, which is, “You, Jesus, are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). In other words, Paul was asking his Jewish audience who were called by a heavenly calling to “reconsider” Jesus, whom they called their Messiah, the Son of the Living God.
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