For the word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow; (the Word of God) exposes our innermost thoughts and desires, nothing in all creation is hidden from God; everything is naked and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we are accountable. [IVV]
Hebrews 4:13
The Remaining Key Words
- [ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ] (ho logos tou Qeou) – the word of God
- [Ζῶν] (zōn) “alive”, “living”
- [ἐνεργὴς] (energēs) “powerful”, “active”, “energized”
- [τομώτερος ὑπὲρ] (tomōteros huper) “sharper than”, “sharper beyond”
- [πᾶσαν μάχαιραν δίστομον] (pasan maXairan distimon) “sharpest two-edged sword” “every sword double-edged”
- [διϊκνούμενος ἄχρι μερισμοῦ] (diiknoumenos aXri merismou) “cutting between” “passing through to the point of dividing”
- [ψυχῆς] (psuXēs) “soul”
- [πνεύματος] (pneumatos) “spirit”
- [ἁρμῶν] (armōn) joint
- [μυελῶν] (muelōn) marrow
- [κριτικὸς] (kritikos) It “exposes”, “exposing”
- [ἐνθυμήσεων καὶ ἐννοιῶν καρδίας] (enthumēseōn kai ennoiōn kardias) “our innermost thoughts and desires“, “thoughts and desires of the heart”
- [οὐκ ἔστιν κτίσις] (ouk estin ktisis) “Nothing in all creation” “there is no creature”
- [ἀφανὴς ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ] (aphanēs enōpion autou) “hidden from God” “unmanifest” “not laid bare”
- [πάντα] (panta) “Everything” “all things”
- [γυμνὰ] (gumna) “naked”
- [τετραχηλισμένα] (tetrachēlismena) “exposed”
- [τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ] (tois ophthalmois autou) before his eyes “to the eyes of Him”
- [πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος] (pros hon hemin ho loyos) “To the One to whom we are accountable” “before the One we the account (word)”
13 There is No Creature [οὐκ ἔστιν κτίσις] (ouk estin ktisis)
[κτίσις] (ktisis) refers to a resultant act of creation- thus, nothing which is or was a result of creation, i.e. a creature, a thing or individual which has been created. Nothing at all that has been created. Not one thing! Now that covers everything, doesn’t it?
14 Hidden from God [ἀφανὴς ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ] (aphanēs enōpion autou)
[ἀφανὴς] (aphanēs) is made up of [a-] the negating particle that we use in English in the sense of ‘atypical’ or ‘amoral’ – ‘to not be typical’ or ‘to be without morals’ and [phanēs] which comes from the verb [φαίνω] (phainō) meaning “to be seen”, “visible”, “bring to the light”, “appear”, “evident”. With the negative particle the meaning is reversed – “to be hidden”, “out of sight”, “concealed”, “covered over”, “not seen”, “unseen”, “invisible”. However the negative particle (a-) reverses the meaning resulting in “Nothing is invisible or hidden to God” [ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ] (enōpion autou) “before him” – The Him here is God. a simple preposition – “before”, “in front of”. This combination of preposition and pronoun serves a dual role. It is placed last in the first phrase and then also relates to the following phrase.That is:
- “nothing is invisible before Him“
- “everything is naked before Him“
So we have a combination of ‘nothing’ and ‘everything’. This forms a strong hendiadys – figure of speech which takes two expressions which mean the same which are put together for emphasis. Nothing is invisible; everything is naked. i.e. ‘manifestly obvious and clear’.
15 Everything [πάντα] (panta)
[πάντα] (panta) here is the neuter for [pan] ‘all’, ‘every’ where things are being referred to. Everything, every animate and inanimate created thing – including people.16 Naked [γυμνὰ] (gumna)
[gumna] / [gumnos] is the word for ‘naked’, ‘nude’, ‘without clothing’, ‘unclothed’ or generally and even spiritually “without covering”.17 Exposed [τετραχηλισμένα] (tetrachēlismena)
[τετραχηλισμένα] I have singled out this participle which is interesting to say the least. [τετραχηλισμένα] is a very specific word which has deep meaning, even more so when it is added to the two words which precede it. The word comes from the root verb [τραχηλίζω] (trachēlizō) which means to grip the neck; to bend the neck back, so as to make bare or expose the throat. The context can be in the slaughtering animals, or in the case of a defeated wrestler in front of the spectators or criminals whose head is thrust backward to expose their face to the public. The participle is set in the perfect tense which carries the notion of the action being done in the past with continual residual effect down to the present time.
18 Before His eyes [τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ] (tois ophthalmois autou)
Now we have another repetition of the sense of “before Him” only by way of a different construction. Here we have a dative case of the noun “eyes”. [Don’t worry I am not going to go into grammatical detail to explain the dative case.] Only to emphasise the fact that they are clearly God’s eyes. The spectators at the wrestling match, or the public in the case of the criminal are replaced by “God’s eyes”. The dative case in effect adds the preposition “to” – with head bent back and the face exposed to His eyes. We must take the meaning that “his eyes” are God’s eyes because of the following relative pronoun. [ὃν] – him, the one. But it is clearly God the author is talking about while using very classical Greek expressions to say it is Him (God).
19 To the One to whom we [owe / give] the account [πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος] (pros hon hemin ho loyos)
πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος
to whom we the {word ~ account}
The word [λόγος] (logos) here was most likely used by this writer as an accounting term to “give account” when you are settling up the books. But of course the Apostle John used this term in his Gospel to refer to the transcendent Christ, the Word of God. Is that what this writer is doing? It is unlikely as it was not John writing this letter. Rather the normal usage of the word “logos” in this case is to assume the meaning “with whom we have to reckon”, or “give an account”. But it is a curious construction to say the least to use the noun rather than the verbal form. [Some of you picked up on the strange order of words I have gave you for #19 in Gem 2081.]
However I trust it is clear to you now that there are some deep structure things going on in this section. The writer makes it clear to us with the dual use of “before Him” and then the “to the One with whom we must give account” that he was indeed referring to God through this concluding verse. I am sure you can see now the power of these two verses is to bring home to us the sense that the Word of God cuts away all pretence and leaves us prone and exposed like defeated wrestlers before our God and Saviour. However, THIS ONE, is none other than THE SON of Hebrews 1:1-2 and before whose eyes we are exposed and visible all the way down to the marrow of our bones. Our thoughts and the intentions of our hearts, are known and visible to God’s eyes. Oh how much we need the piercing power of the Word of God to expose any and all hypocrisy within us!
You’re not finished when you’re defeated, you’re only finished when you quit.
Paulo Coelho
Don’t resort to working out your salvation yourself by the works of the flesh. Your salvation was, is and always will be on the basis of what Christ did for you.
Ian
Expose yourself to the Word of God now so that you won’t be exposed later for being a hypocrite.
Ian
How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
Galatians 3:3