But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Parallel translations
- WEB But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.
- BSB But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
- NKJV But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
- NASB But we are not among those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith for the safekeeping of the soul.
- NLT But we are not like those who turn away from God to their own destruction. We are the faithful ones, whose souls will be saved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
But we are not those who shrink back and are destroyed; we are those who have faith and are saved. The author confidently identifies his readers with persevering believers.
Overview
The chapter closes on a note of confidence: 'we' are not of those who draw back to ruin, but of those whose faith leads to the saving of the soul. This both encourages the readers and transitions to chapter 11's great exposition of faith. True faith endures and results in salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 27
- 1 Jn 5:5Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
- 1 Pet 1:5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Mark 16:16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
- 2 Th 2:12–14That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
- 1 Jn 5:16If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
- 1 Sam 15:11It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
- 2 Pet 3:7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
- John 20:31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
- Heb 11:1Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
- 1 Th 5:9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Luke 11:26Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.
- John 6:40And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
- Ps 44:18Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;
- John 3:15–16That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- Acts 16:30–31And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
- John 17:12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
- Heb 6:6–9If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
- Prov 1:32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
- Rom 10:9–10That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
- 2 Th 2:3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
- Prov 14:14The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.
- Heb 10:26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
- John 5:24Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
- 1 Tim 6:9But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
- Rev 17:11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
- Jude 1:12–13These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
- Rev 17:8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 10:39 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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