In our previous post, we examined the nature of the Word of God as living and active, in this post we will focus this verse’s reference to the Word of God as also “sharper than any two-edged sword”. Sharper here is the Greek tomos, “sharper”, here as an adjective in the nominative in its only NT usage. The nominative here indicating that it also modifies the noun phrase “Word of God”, telling us something further about the nature of the Word of God. The usage of the term sharper here identifies for us the nature of the Word of God as a superior type of weapon to the “swords” of the culture. The sword it is asserted as sharper than here is, in English as, two-edged, or “distomon machairan” in the Greek. Distomon is a Greek term literally meaning “two or double edged”. Machairan is one of three Greek terms all referring to a bladed instrument of one form or another. We will look more closely at these terms in light of the somewhat unusual way in which this sword is described here in order to determine what may being communicated to us here. The first term here is “xiphos”, a two edged sword used by soldiers in close, hand to hand combat. the second term is kopis, a single edged heavier cutter, used for cutting and hacking, either militarily in battle or in the butchering of animals. The third term is maxaria, a single edged cutter, which took three distinct forms. The first is as a weapon also used in battle, the second as a knife used for cutting in the butchering and sacrificing of animals, the third, in smaller form, as a scalpel for “surgery”. We must note first that this maxaria here is double-edged, while the normal maxaria is single edged, which presents to us the first aspect of the superiority of this “sword” to the ordinary, everyday ones. We note also that the two edged sword (xiphos) of the culture was fundamentally a weapon of war, which identifies the Word of God as a weapon of war, made to fight a different kind of battle, a spiritual rather than physical one. Note also the reference to this sword as dividing joints and marrow, the Word of God being able, as the kopis, to divide joints and marrow. This again here referring not to physical joints and marrow, but to metaphysical joints and marrow. Note also the use of the term maxarian, here both as the implement through which sacrifice is conducted (the Word of God as the instrument through which we become “living sacrifices” through the “renewing of our minds” -Romans 12:1-2) and as the “scalpel” through which our “surgeon” (the Holy Spirit) removes the diseased and decaying “flesh” from us in the ongoing process of sanctification. So we find here that our present passage presents to us the reality the nature of the Word of God as the: weapon in the spiritual battle, means through which we are cut to the bone, instrument through which God enables us to become living sacrifices and scalpel through which He cuts away the flesh which hinders our sanctification. May we engage more deeply in an ongoing encounter with the Word of God, that this two edged sword may accomplish its purpose in us.
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In our previous post, we found that the Word of God is the means through which we find and enter the Sabbath rest promised to New Covenant believers. We now are presented something about the nature of the Word of God, here we find it is “living and active ” (NIV). “Living” here is the present active participle of zao, a verb basically meaning “to live”. A participle is by nature a verbal adjective, meaning it possesses characteristics of both a verb and an adjective. Participles modify the noun which is in the same case, which here is the nominative. The noun in the nominative is the Word of God, so this participle is telling us something about the Word of God. As an adjective it tells us something about what the Word of God is, and as a verb it tells us also what the Word of God does. So living is both what the Word of God is and what the Word of God does, but what is meant here by the Word of God being living? The term zoe refers to a “higher” form of life, a life whose only source is God, zoe is life given by God and is to be lived in union with Him. The Word of God is both that through which God animates this life in humanity and also through which He brings it to its culmination. It is only through the Word of God which the life of God is both discovered and developed in human beings. This is also essentially due to the fact that the Word of God is also “active”. The term active here is the nominative masculine singular adjective of energeia, from which is derived the English term “energy”. As an adjective in the nominative, this also tells us something about the nature of the Word of God, that it is “energized” by God and enabled by Him to work in His people to empower them to live the life He calls them to, life lived as God intends, united to Him. We may therefore see a basic “definition” of zoe, of eternal life: life lived as God intends it to be lived, fully united with Him, just as Jesus both was and lived. May we endeavor to deepen our ongoing engagement with the Word of God, that we may live more fully as He intends, fully united with Him, more like Jesus.
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As we continue in our examination of the New Covenant “sabbatismos”, we now move, in verse 12, from an examination of the nature of this rest to the means through which we enter into it. Verse 12 reads as follows in the NIV: “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”. We will begin with an examination of the beginning clause of this verse: “For the Word of God is living and active”. We begin with the term “for” (gar in the Greek), serving to connect this to what precedes, continuing on in its examination of the New Covenant sabbath. Next we find the definite article followed by the noun logos, translated as “word” here. Logos is the noun form of the verb lego, which refers to speech of a very particular kind, speech which serves as an explanation of something, a logos is ultimately an explanation of or about something. We next find the genitive of theos with the definite article, identifying this word being “of God”. God is the source of the word, the subject of the word, the word is an explanation from Him, an explanation of ultimate reality. This also expounds on a theme found regularly here in the epistle to the Hebrews, the theme of the Word of God being not only something (the Bible as the written Word of God) but also as someone (Jesus as the living Word of God). It is through an ongoing encounter with the written Word of God that we grow to more fully “know” the person of the living Word of God, more fully know (a relational, experiential knowledge) the person of Jesus, who is the ultimate explanation underlying all of reality. It is also through this ongoing encounter with the Word of God that we find our individual purpose in life and, through the finding and fulfilling of this God-given purpose, that we find meaning in life, that we enter into the sabbatismos rest described in the preceding verses. So it is no accident that this verse appears here, and we are not moving on to a new topic in it. It is placed here to set before us the means through which we enter the New Covenant rest which the preceding verses set forth.
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As we continue in our study of Hebrews 4, we encounter two Old Testament quotes in verses 4 and 5, The first here, in verse 4, is a quote of Genesis 2:2 and refers to God’s rest in creation. It reads as follows: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His work”. We must make note here of the fact that, in the beginning of his explanation of the New Covenant rest, he chooses to compare this rest to the rest of God in creation, and not to the rest of the people of Israel found in the Law of both Exodus and Deuteronomy. Here we find that the rest of the New Covenant is of the same type presented in God’s rest in creation, and not of the same type as the people’s rest provided in the Law. This is what we will find further delineated in the next several verses, which serve to fully establish the superiority of this New Covenant rest to the Old Covenant rest of the Law. To obtain a proper understanding of this New Covenant rest, it becomes necessary to examine more closely the rest of God which is of the same “type” as the rest of the people of God in the New Covenant. Genesis 2:2 is quoted here as follows: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work”. As we may remember, the story of Genesis one is the “creation” story, and is the story of God preparing a home, and ideal habitation, for the creature created in His image and likeness. At the conclusion of the six days of creation, we find that God has created human beings in their ideal environment and pronounces His creation as “very good” (Genesis 1:26-31), which is then the conclusion of the six days. It is then, on the seventh day, which God “rests”. The crucial thing to be mentioned here, for our purposes, is as to the nature of this rest. God rests here not because he is tired and needs a day off, but rests because His work is finished, He has accomplished His purpose, done what He has intended to do, and rests after He has done so. The term translated rest here is the Hebrew “shabat”, or rest. As we examine this term more closely, we will find that it can refer to two different forms of “resting”. The term shabat can refer to rest as either a pause in work or a completion of work. The rest of the Old Covenant is of the first type, a temporary (one day) pause in the work process, while the latter is the type of rest of God in creation and is a completion of the work process. So ultimately here, we find first of all, that the rest of the New Covenant is of a different type than the Old, it is a “ceasing” of the work process, rather than a “pause” in it, and therefore superior to the Old Covenant rest in nature in that it is permanent rather than temporary, a ceasing rather than a pausing.
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