The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

26 Those who disobeyed the words of Moses did not enter the rest, and "their bodies fell in the wilderness" (3: 17). The point of application is simply that if those who rebelled against the greatest revelation giver of the Old Testament failed to inherit the promises , what will become of those who rebel against the revelation of Jesus? The readers are then encouraged to remain faithful to Christ and enter the rest planned for them (4: 1-16). To summarize the point of this section, the problem of the audience was most likely not the temptation to exalt the person of Moses over the person of Christ. Rather their temptation was to abandon the revelation about Christ and turn back to the revelation of Moses. The parenetic portion applies the theology of 3: 1-6 in a powerful way. If Christ is greater than Moses (and all would agree that He is) and those who rebelled against Moses ' words were punished then it would be suicidal to turn from the words of Christ. Because Christ has given greater revelation there will be greater punishment for those who disobey. It is by no mistake that this section closes with a warning about the power of the revelation of God , "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit ... " (4:12, 13). Greater Revelation Displaces Older Revelation 5: 1- 12:29 Having laid the groundwork concerning the nece ity of obedience th auth r now move to hi second major and more crucial point that thi newer revelation di pla older revelation. The empha i of the fir t four chapter wa m r h avily w ight d to ard exhortation than instruction. he truth about hri t' uperiority to ang 1 and M e ntially matter of common agreem nt whi h w r fa fortiori a um nt ti n . Ind d , up t h ntb ntr n ind f d nd uld 1 1m 11 1 n f th . In h ter i h h n in hi 1 tt r b , th m nt1 n f