9
In the Greek world the term parrhsiv
a
(confidence) denotes the sign of the freedom of
speech in a political sense.
30
In the Septuagint and Hellenistic Jewish literature it is used in
reference to open access toward God or free and joyful standing before God.
31
This sense of
confident openness toward God is carried over to the New Testament, including Hebrews. For
example, in 4:16 the word refers to the confident access to the throne of the grace of God.
However, in 10:35 it has the sense of "a public demonstration of Christian commitment."
32
In 3:6
the meaning of the term is ambiguous, perhaps denoting both one's devotion to Christ and the
outward demonstration of faith in Christ. In this sense, the author's exhortation to hold fast the
confidence may be understood as his way of exhorting the readers not to forsake their faith in
Jesus whom they believed. Thus for the author of Hebrews Jesus is considered the object of faith.
The next phrase in 3:6b, to;
kauv
chma th'
" ej
lpiv
do"
(the boast of hope), also brings out the
nature of faith in Jesus. I take the word "hope" (ej
lpiv
do"
) to be a genitive of content, which
means that ej
lpi"
does not refer to one's act of hoping, but an object for which one hopes.
33
Then
what is the content of the hope that the believers were exhorted to hold fast? The context of 3:16
suggests that it refers to the faithfulness of Jesus. The parallel thought between 3:1 and 3:6b
implies that the object of hope mentioned in 3:6b is the high priesthood of Christ. Therefore the
expression "holding fast the confidence" and "the pride of hope" in 3:6 is the author's way of
showing that Jesus, our apostle and high priest, is the object of faith in Hebrews, even though it is
described in terms of Christian conduct.
The meaning of
oJ
mologiv
a
30 H. Schlier, "P arrhsiva, parrhsiavzomai," Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard
Friedrich, tr. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1967), 5:87172.
31 Ibid., 87576.
32 Attridge, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 112.
33 Paul Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek
Testament Commentary, ed. I. Howard Marshall and W. W. Gasque (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Co., 1993), 212.