At the close of his letter to a group of Christians who were struggling under persecution, the author of Hebrews offers a prayer for their perseverance (Heb 13:20-21). Perseverance is a primary theme of Hebrews, and the author marshals all of his pastoral resources toward that end. The author’s aim throughout the letter is to enable the perseverance of these beleaguered saints by providing them with a glorious view of Jesus Christ, reminding them of God’s promises of a heavenly city, and giving them examples of past saints who kept believing despite their challenging circumstances.
But an essential tactic in his overall strategy to help these Christians persevere is to register several sharp warnings throughout the letter. These warnings begin in chapter two, and they appear at a steady clip until chapter twelve, with the final warning depicting God as a consuming fire.
The Author Anticipates his Readers’ Perseverance
Some interpreters have concluded that, given their severity, these warnings imply that genuine believers can lose their salvation. This interpretation, however, misses several important features of the letter.
First, the warnings are prospective, not descriptive. That is, they explain what will happen if certain conditions are met, not what has already happened to people in the group. The author does not suggest that any genuine Christian has apostatized from the group.
Second, the author is confident that his readers will persevere and not fall away. He expresses his confidence by saying, “We are sure of better things for you, things that pertain to salvation” (Heb 6:12), and “We are not those who shrink back and destroy our souls” (Heb 10:39). Grouping himself together with his readers, the author expresses his conviction that they will all make it to the end.
Third, the author sees these believers as members of the New Covenant (Heb 8:1-12). A distinguishing feature of the New Covenant is that it cannot be broken (see Jer 31:31-33). If these believers are members of the New Covenant, their covenant status cannot be changed or otherwise revoked—by themselves or anyone else. These warnings do not imply that genuine Christians can lose their salvation. No, they function as an essential means of a Christian’s perseverance.
It is fitting, then, that the author concludes his letter with a prayer for their perseverance rooted in the New Covenant. Jesus inaugurated and presently mediates the New Covenant. On the cross, he purchased his people’s salvation with his own blood. Now raised from the dead, he mediates the New Covenant, and God distributes his saving grace to his people through Christ, supplying his people with everything they need to do his will in this life.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Heb 13:20-21
God’s provision of “everything good” includes external resources—biblical promises and warnings, the church, and the exhortations and encouragements of our spiritual siblings—and internal resources. The author highlights these internal resources when he prays that God would “[work] in us that which is pleasing in his sight” (emphasis added). This internal work in the heart is distinguishing feature of the New Covenant. Old Covenant commanded Israel to obey but didn’t provide them with inward desire to obey. The New Covenant changes the heart to want to obey and supplies the Holy Spirit to enable obedience (see Ezek 36:26-27).
New Covenant Perseverance
It is possible, however, when confronted with the warnings in Hebrews, that we may start to worry if we will make it to the end. Wanting to ensure our own perseverance, we take immediate action and shore up areas of spiritual dullness and apathy in our own lives. These are good and appropriate responses to the letter’s warnings, but we must be careful that we do not start depending on ourselves to secure our perseverance.
The author has already emphasized our need to rely upon God in our aim to persevere in the faith. In a section where he had just warned his listeners to watch out for each other lest anyone develop a hard heart (Heb 3:12-15), followed by a strong exhortation for them to strive to reach their final rest (Heb 4:1-15), the author reminds his listeners that Jesus’ high-priestly work has secured for them unhindered access to God’s throne of grace. Where must we go when we face trials that threaten to undo our faith? Not to ourselves and to our own resources. We must make our way directly to God’s throne where we will “receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb 4:16). When faced with the frightening prospect of apostasy, we may be tempted to fold in on ourselves. The author of Hebrews points us to a better path: New Covenant perseverance.
The author’s closing prayer begins with acknowledging the God of peace (Heb 13:20). God is not only the God of peace in his own essence—not hurried, confused, rushed, or anxious that his plans may or may not succeed—he is also the God who has made peace with his people through Christ’s all-sufficient atonement.
God is also the one who raised our great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, from the dead. Related to our perseverance, our Shepherd will make sure that he never loses one of his sheep. If we are in Christ’s fold, he will ensure that we make it all the way home (see John 10:27-30; also 6:37-44 and Romans 8:31-39).
But the author also reminds us that God will equip us, through the New Covenant, for everything we need to do God’s will. The author’s reference to the New Covenant is vital because it underscores the permanence and consistency of God’s supply of grace in our lives. As we noted above, the New Covenant is an unbreakable covenant because our Savior’s sufficient atonement provides us complete forgiveness of sin, so we always have ready access to God’s grace.
What’s important for us to grasp is that Christ didn’t just purchase our salvation in the New Covenant—he also purchased our perseverance. Our initial salvation (when we first trusted Christ), our final salvation (when we enter into heaven), and our perseverance (which gets us from one to the other) have all been bought for us by the Lord Jesus through his death on the cross. Now, through the New Covenant (what the author calls in the “eternal covenant”), God dispenses free grace to his people so that they have everything they need to fulfill God’s will and make it to the end. These New Covenant truths provide the basis by which the author can pray for this congregation.
Our Obedience, Empowered by God’s Grace
Yes, it is our responsibility to persevere to the end, to keep believing, to serve the Lord with diligence, and to strive to enter our final rest. But this activity is divinely enabled and always sustained by God’s grace. We can never forget that behind all our working, serving, and obeying is God’s free and abundant grace. This truth is repeated multiple times and multiple ways throughout the New Testament. Consider Paul’s statement to the Corinthian Church. He worked hard—harder than anybody else—but he didn’t finally attribute his diligence to his own native work ethic. Rather, it was all the grace of God:
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me (1 Cor 15:10)
But this wasn’t true only for Paul. As we learn from the apostle Peter, every Christian should aim to have his Christian service empowered by God’s grace.
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (1 Pet 4:10-11).
According to the apostle, our dependence on God is not only vital for our empowerment—it is the means by which God receives all the glory after we’ve rendered our service. Finally, consider Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians:
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13).
Paul is not encouraging this congregation to work for their salvation, but to work out—give real-time expression to the reality of—their salvation. What is the underlying spiritual reality that grounds this working out of one’s salvation: the truth that God is at work in us. We don’t work out our salvation to get God to work in us. We work out our salvation because God is already at work in us. Grace precedes, undergirds, and empowers our obedience, including our perseverance. Jesus even said, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:6). That “nothing” that we can’t do without Jesus includes persevering in the faith.
Your Perseverance Has Already Been Purchased
The good news of the New Covenant is that Christ has already purchased your perseverance and will enable it by his grace. This is why Paul can speak of the order of our salvation in ways that assume our perseverance. For example, in Romans Paul describes the process of our salvation by starting with eternity pass and ending in eternity future.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Rom 8:29-30).
Those whom God chooses (foreknows) for salvation will be justified. And those who are justified will be glorified. The implication is that this justified person will persevere in the faith because their glorification is guaranteed.
Again, we have a responsibility to keep believing, serving, seeking the Lord, and pressing into the kingdom. But this effort is supported, empowered, and sustained by God’s grace alone. These twin truths of our responsibility and God’s grace can never be separated. If you are saved, you were saved entirely by God’s grace, apart from any works of your own (Eph 2:8-9; Rom 4:5; Titus 3:4-7), and your faith is currently sustained by God’s grace alone, as we have seen. Yet, we must persevere in real-time. As we obey the Lord, put sin to death, and serve diligently, our hearts must be rooted at all times in the grace of Christ—a grace that has purchased our salvation and our perseverance.