Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 26 Aug 2018
Omitting greyed-out text should bring sermon delivery down to about 40 minutes.
What do you have to do to go to hell?
· If you blaspheme God, would that do it?
· Or is it just mass-murderers like Hitler and Stalin and Mao that go to hell?
· Do you go to hell if you break all ten commandments? Just one? What does it take?
The passage before us has a rather unsettling answer to this question of what will send you to hell, and that answer is Nothing! That’s right. Do nothing about this passage; ignore it; forget about it; decide not to care about it, and you will ensure a future with no escape from the coming wrath of God. That’s why Hebrews chapter two opens with a mandate to do the opposite of nothing.
· What are the things we have heard? This ties back to the opening verses of chapter 1: “God spoke to our forefathers through prophets… He has spoken to us in His son.” God has spoken, God has spoken, have you grabbed on to His messages?
· Ex. 23:20-21 "Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Pay attention to (πρόσεχε) Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.”
· In the Gospels, this verb is often used to state the converse that in order to hold on to one thing, you have to let go of everything else. Jesus repeatedly said things like:
o Matthew 7:15 “Stay away from (προσέχετε) the false prophets, which come to y'all in sheep's clothing, but inside they are [sheep-]snatching wolves.” (NAW) and
o Matt. 16:12 "…keep away from the… teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (NAW)
o And the apostles wrote about choosing carefully what you give heed to: 1 Timothy 4:1-3 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed (προσέχοντες) to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies… forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving...” (NKJV)
· The writer of Hebrews gives us four reasons in this passage arguing a fortiori (from the lesser to the greater) why we should heed and hold fast the Gospel we have heard. The first reason is last week’s sermon and is merely alluded to by the first few words of v.1:
· “Therefore/On account of this/For this reason, we must/ought” –
· Why the “necessity”? What’s the “therefore” there for?
· Because the Son is “better” than any other “messenger/angel” from God and because God “has spoken by means of” Him.
· The Greek verb pararu- has to do with “flowing” off to one “side” or the other, getting sidetracked, going off the road into a ditch, as it were, although this particular Greek word seems to have more to do with a river, so maybe it’s more like one boat following another and then going off to one side and getting trapped in an eddy.
· In the only other Bible verse that uses this verb to speak of getting sidelined, the verb is applied to the commands instead of to the person who has lost track of them: Proverbs 3:1 “My son, forget not my laws; but let thine heart keep my words… 21 My son, let them not pass (παραρρυῇς) from thee, but keep my counsel and understanding: 22 that thy soul may live, and that there may be grace round thy neck; and it shall be health to thy flesh, and safety to thy bones…” (Brenton)
· How easy it is to get separated from God’s messages and live as though He never spoke. This is why we must give greater heed to the Gospel.
· “Drifting is a mark of death: giving heed, of life. The log drifts with the tide: the ship breasts the adverse waves, because some one is giving earnest heed.” ~Marvin Vincent, Word Studies, 1886
· The “word spoken by angels/messengers[1]” (ὁ δι᾿ ἀγγέλων λαληθεὶς λόγος) is the Old Testament, and specifically God’s laws revealed through Moses in the presence of angels:
o Acts 7:53 “you received the law as ordained by angels..." (NAS)
o Deut. 33:2 “…The LORD came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones…” (NAS)
o Gal. 3:19 “…the Law then… having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator...” (NAS)
· These words got confirmed/proved steadfast/unalterable/binding/reliable (ἐγένετο βέβαιος)
o The conditional “if,” which is in most English translations, is not an expression of uncertainty like it is in English. This Greek grammar construction of the word “ei” combined with a protasis and an apodosis verb in the indicative mood is actually a statement of certainty, which is why the ESV and I used the word “since” instead of the word “if.”
o Romans 4:16 “For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all” (NAS)
o Hebrews 6:13-19 “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’ And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…” (NKJV)
o 2 Peter 1:16-21 “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts… for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (NKJV) New Testament fulfillments give the ultimate confirmation of the truths spoken by God through the Old Testament prophets!
· There was strict accountability in the OT for disobeying God’s word: “every transgression and disobedience received a just payback” (πᾶσα παράβασις καὶ παρακοὴ ἔλαβεν ἔνδικον μισθαποδοσίαν)
o “Παράβασις is a stepping over the line; the violation of a positive divine enactment. Romans 2:23 [You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking [transgressing] the law? (NKJ)] Παρακοὴ … is a disobedience which results from neglecting to hear; from letting things drift by. It is noticeable how often in O.T. obedience is described as hearing, and disobedience as refusing to hear.” ~Vincent
o Heb. 10:28 “Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” (NAS) That’s accountability!
o Deut. 17:2 "If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the LORD your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, by transgressing His covenant… 5 then you shall bring out that man or that woman who has done this evil deed, to your gates… and stone them to death.” (NAS)
o Deut. 27:26 “‘Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” (NAS)
o Isaiah 59:17-20 “He put on righteousness as the breastplate and a helmet of salvation on His head, and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and He wrapped Himself in zeal like the cloak. As it is with paybacks, so He will bring closure: wrath to His adversaries – payback (ἀνταπόδοσιν) to His enemies… And a Redeemer will come for Zion and to those who turn from rebellion in Jacob declares Yahweh.” (NAW)
o Hebrews 9:15 “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” (NKJ)
· The moral:
o Since God is the ultimate epistemological and ethical authority, submission to His Word is our only reasonable response, for every violation of His word will result in a legal sentence[2] of punishment.
o Heb. 12:25 “See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.” (NAS)
· You are still accountable; you can’t escape God’s wrath on your own
o Matthew 23:29-33 “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because y'all are building edifices for the tombs of the prophets… Thus y'all are testifying… that you are sons of the ones who murdered the prophets… Snakes! Offspring of vipers! However can you escape (πῶς φύγητε) the sentence of hell?” (NAW)
o 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 “…the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night… and they will by no means escape (οὐ μὴ ἐκφύγωσιν)…”
o Romans 2:3-8 “And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape (ἐκφεύξῃ) the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath…” (NKJV)
o We all deserve that punishment. We have all “gone off to the side” (parabainw) of what God has said He wants – we’ve all transgressed and disobeyed Him in various ways.
o There is no way we can escape the recompense/penalty/punishment/retribution/payback that God decrees is just for breaking His law. (“The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23) There is no getting around it. Our only hope to escape God’s wrath against our transgressions and disobediences is His great salvation – which was spoken to us by His Son. That’s why we need to double down on that good news and pay close attention to it!
o This is the only way of escape from God’s just punishment and payback in response to “every” one of our “transgressions.” Not even one act of “disobedience” will be overlooked.
· This great salvation has been triple-confirmed:
o First, this salvation literally “received a beginning by being uttered by the Lord.”
§ Like the rest of creation, salvation is the result of a divine plan spoken into existence[3]. It comes from the Lord Jesus and from Him alone, upon His own initiative.
§ Jewish zealots had probably told these Christians, “Our forefathers received the law through angels, but you received the Gospel only through men.” (Hughes) Here’s the rebuttal: Not so! Those men we heard it from first heard it from the Lord who is God!
§ This is equivalent to the phrase in chapter 1 v.2 that “in the last of these days God has spoken to us by His Son,” and it stands in stark contrast and superiority to “the message spoken through [mere] angels.”
o Secondly, that salvation was confirmed to us by men who heard Jesus explain His plan of salvation, and it seems that the Apostles are primarily the “hearers” referred to, men such as Phillip and Paul:
§ Acts 8:5-13 “…Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded (προσεῖχον) the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” (NKJV)
§ Acts 16:14-15 “Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed (προσέχειν) the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay…’” (NKJV)
§ Every Christian today who has ever shared the good news of salvation from sin through the righteousness of Jesus, has heard that message from someone who heard it from Jesus – if you trace it back to who you heard the Gospel from and who they heard the gospel from, it would go back in an unbroken succession to one of those people in first-century Palestine who heard it from the lips of Jesus!
§ The verb in Greek used to describe the passing along of that message is the same root word that was translated “steadfast/binding/unalterable/reliable” back in v.2. Every time that “great salvation” is shared, it confirms its value and truth.
· “God wishes His gifts to be valued by us at their proper worth… The more precious they are, the baser is our ingratitude if they do not have their proper value for us. In accordance with the greatness of Christ, so will be the severity of God’s vengeance on all despisers of the gospel.” ~John Calvin
§ This “great salvation” is also equivalent to the message that “we heard” back in v.1 that we need to “hold onto.”
§ But that’s not all the confirmation we have for this message of salvation; there’s a third level of confirmation beyond the Lord’s decree and the confirmation of eyewitnesses, and that is
o συν-επι-μαρτυροῦντος τοῦ Θεοῦ[4] literally “God bearing witness together upon” the apostle’s testimony with four supernatural things: signs, wonders, miracles, and apportionments of the Holy Spirit.
§ Signs[5] were out-of-the-ordinary circumstances which indicated that something special was happening.
· Jesus said in Mark 16:17-18 "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." And the Book of Acts documents historically how all these signs actually happened as the Apostles shared the Gospel around the world.
· When Peter and John healed the lame man in the temple, the priests called that a “sign” (Acts 4:16),
· and when Peter and Phillip brought healing to many sick people and delivered many from evil spirits, those were called “signs” too (Acts 5:12, 8:6).
· 1 Cor 14:22 even called the spiritual gift of languages (also known as “tongues”) a “sign” for unbelievers, such as happened the day the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and 3,000 people from all over the world put their faith in Jesus because they heard the 12 Apostles preaching the Gospel supernaturally using the native languages of their homelands.
§ “Wonders/terasin” – seem to be interchangeable with the Greek word for “signs.” The two words often appear together and do not seem to be all that different in meaning[6]. Entomologically, a semeian/sign has to do with “marking” something obviously, whereas a “terata/wonder” perhaps focuses more on the “wow” effect when people see a miracle.
§ “Various Miracles” (ποικίλαις δυνάμεσι) is the third way God added His testimony to the truth of the Gospel preached by the Apostles,
· it is also frequently combined with the word for “signs” and doesn’t seem to necessarily refer to anything different.
· Its literal meaning focuses on the supernatural power it took to do the miracle.
· There is only one place in the book of Acts where a miracle is recorded which is called by this word alone (without the word for “sign” or “wonder”) and that is in Acts 19:11, where some people found the Apostle Paul teaching in Ephesus and touched him with their handkerchiefs and then travelled out to their villages and touched sick people with their handkerchiefs and saw those people suddenly get well.
· Finally, the fourth testimony added by God is…
§ Apportionments/gifts of the Holy Spirit
· The word here in Greek describing the Holy Spirit is merismois, which I translated according to its literal meaning as “apportionments,” but most English versions translated it “gifts[7],” since it seems to be speaking of the varieties of “gifts of the Spirit” distributed to believers.
· The only other place in the Bible where the word “various” shows up in relation to miracles and the Holy Spirit is 1 Peter 4:10-11, where believers are instructed to “serve up grace among yourselves just as each has received it, like good administrators of the diverse grace of God. [Peter goes on to list two varieties of the grace of God, namely teaching and service] When someone speaks, let it be like God’s words; when someone serves, let it be like it’s out of the strength which God stages…” (NAW)
· The Apostle Paul gives a longer list of “various (Διαιρέσεις) gifts (χαρίσματα) of the Spirit” in 1 Corinthians 12 (and in Romans 12). The point here in Hebrews is that if you have a spiritual gift, such as being good at making wise decisions, or you consistently have supernatural insight into getting information, or if you are able to trust God for things when you can’t see how on earth He could come through, or if you are able to heal people, if you are able to pray and see miracles happen, if you are good at teaching God’s word to people, or if you are good at communicating in foreign languages[8], those are ways that God is confirming the Gospel message through giving us different apportionments of the Holy Spirit.
· Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness (συμμαρτυρεῖ) with our spirit that we are children of God” (NKJ)
· In light of the way that God confirmed His word in the Old Testament and held people accountable to it throughout history, and in light of the way that God has triple-confirmed the message of the New Testament through the word of the Lord Jesus, through the eyewitness accounts of the Apostles, and through the many supernatural signs, wonders, miracles and spiritual gifts distributed throughout church history, we have every reason to expect equally-strict accountability from God concerning what we do with the good news of Jesus, the Son of God.
· What is that good news? It is that “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” and that those who “believe on Him” will experience “everlasting life” [and escape God’s judgment]. (1 Tim. 1:15-16)
· If we are apathetic about this good news, if we neglect it, ignore it, disregard it, remain unconcerned[9] with it, we will be in the very same boat with all the transgressors throughout history who perished under God’s wrath and received His just punishment.
· That is why Hebrews 2:1 exhorts us that it is “so abundantly necessary” for us to pay attention/give heed/and hold onto this good news which we have heard. (And the Greek Present tense of this verb indicates it must be a continual holding on and paying attention.)
· So what does it look like to pay careful attention, give earnest heed, and keep holding on to the Gospel?
o The first thing I would suggest is that you spend time with something that you are being careful and earnest and tenacious about. You spend time reading it, researching it, thinking about it, and talking with other people about it.
§ How do we do that with the Gospel? How about read the Bible and think and pray about it every morning or evening for personal devotional times? How about gathering your household to read from the Bible and discuss it every morning or evening as well? How about gathering with the larger body of the church to do the same a couple times a week? You’re going to forget it and drift away if you don’t regularly review the Gospel from the Bible.
§ “Our minds and memories are like a leaky vessel, they do not without much care retain what is poured into them; this proceeds from the corruption of our natures, the enmity and subtlety of Satan (he steals away the word), from the entanglements and snares of the world, the thorns that choke the good seed. Those meet with an inconceivable loss who let gospel truths, which they had received, slip out of their minds; they have lost a treasure far better than thousands of gold and silver; the seed is lost, their time and pains in hearing lost, and their hopes of a good harvest lost; all is lost, if the gospel be lost.” ~Matthew Henry
o A second aspect of heeding and holding on to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that of obeying the message. It is one thing to hear the message, but quite another to heed it.
§ How do we obey the good news? By believing it! The Bible calls this “the obedience of faith.[10]”
§ We heedfully obey the gospel when we apply faith in Jesus during every temptation to disobey God
§ and, if and when we fall under that temptation, we heedfully obey the gospel by trusting Jesus to forgive our sin by virtue of His righteousness, death, & resurrection.
§ We apply the Gospel, thoughout the day and throughout the week, every time we recognize evil and call upon Jesus to make it right.
§ So, there’s time spent listening and reading, there’s obedience of faith, and…
o A third aspect of heeding and attending to the Gospel is revealed all the way back in Deut. 4:9-10 “Only take heed (πρόσεχε) to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ …23 Take heed to yourselves (προσέχετε), lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord our God, which he made with you, and ye transgress, and make to yourselves a graven image of any of the things concerning which the Lord thy God commanded thee.” (Brenton)
§ “Take heed… lest they depart… and [WHAT?] TEACH them to you children and grandchildren…!” Part of taking heed and paying attention to God’s word is to share it with others – those you are discipling – especially those in you own household.
§ Doing household worship times is a great way to do that, although you can slip the Gospel in lots of other times too, as another passage in Deuteronomy puts it… “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up…” (Deut. 6:4, NKJV) – write them on your hand or on your doorposts too!
§ Share the gospel with the next generation so that Christianity doesn’t die with you!
o And whatever you do, don’t just do nothing and let such a great salvation slip by!
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Greek NT |
NAW |
KJV |
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1 Διὰ τοῦτο δεῖ περισσοτέρως[A] ἡμὰς προσέχειν τοῖς ἀκουσθεῖσι, μή ποτε παραρυῶμεν. |
1 On account of this, it is more abundantly necessary for us to keep holding on to the things we have heard in order that we might not drift aside. |
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. |
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2 εἰ γὰρ ὁ δι᾿ ἀγγέλων λαληθεὶς λόγος ἐγένετο βέβαιος, καὶ πᾶσα παράβασις καὶ παρακοὴ ἔλαβεν ἔνδικον μισθαποδοσίαν, |
2 For, since the word spoken through messengers got confirmed, and every transgression and disobedience received a just payback, |
2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence [of reward]; |
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3 πῶς ἡμεῖς ἐκφευξόμεθα τηλικαύτης ἀμελήσαντες σωτηρίας; ἥτις ἀρχὴν λαβοῦσα λαλεῖσθαι διὰ τοῦ Κυρίου, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀκουσάντων εἰς ἡμᾶς ἐβεβαιώθη, |
3 how would we ourselves escape after showing apathy for such a great salvation? Which, after it received its beginning by being uttered by the Lord; it was confirmed to us by those who heard, |
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; |
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4 συνεπιμαρτυροῦντος[B] τοῦ Θεοῦ σημείοις τε καὶ τέρασι καὶ ποικίλαις δυνάμεσι καὶ Πνεύματος ῾Αγίου μερισμοῖς κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ θέλησιν. |
4 while God added testimony together with signs and also with wonders and various miracles and apportionments of the Holy Spirit according to His will. |
4 God
also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with
divers miracles, and |
[1] Chrysostom: “Some indeed say that Moses is signified; but without reason. For here he says Angels in the plural: and the Angels too which he here speaks of, are those in Heaven. What then is it? Either he means the Decalogue only (for there Moses spake, and God answered him— Exod 19:19),—or that angels were present, God disposing them in order,—or that he speaks thus in regard of all things said and done in the old Covenant, as if Angels had part in them… What is “was steadfast”? True, as one may say; and faithful in its proper season; and all the things which had been spoken came to pass. Either this is his meaning, or that they prevailed, and the threatenings were coming to be accomplished. Or by “the word” he means injunctions. For apart from the Law, Angels sent from God enjoined many things: for instance at Bochim, in the Judges, in [the history of] Samson. (Judg 2:1, 13:3) For this is the cause why he said not “the Law” but “the word.” And he seems to me haply rather to mean this, viz., those things which are committed to the management of angels. What shall we say then? The angels who were entrusted with the charge of the nation were then present, and they themselves made the trumpets, and the other things, the fire, the thick darkness. (Ex. 19:16)”
[2] The only other place in the Greek Bible I see lambanw used in this legal sense is Hos. 14:3.
[3] Phillip E. Hughes called these instances of laletheis and laleisthai “divine passives” i.e. spoken by God
[4] The grammar is a genitive absolute to distinguish actors in a complex sentence.
[5] The Apostle John wrote in his gospel that Jesus’ turning the water into wine (Jn. 2:11) was Jesus’ first “sign,” and Jesus’ healing of the official’s son long-distance was his second “sign” (4:54), and that the feeding of the 5,000 (6:14) and His raising Lazarus from the dead (12:18) were other key σημείοις-signs.
[6] Although the word is sometimes used to describe special astrological events, as in Acts 2:19 “wonders in the heavens and signs on the earth”
[7] although they don’t translate this word “gifts” anywhere else in the Bible; everywhere else merism- occurs, they translate it with a word related to “division” (although the KJV translates it “courses” in Ezra 6:18, and the ESV translates it “allotments” in Joshua 11:23)
[8] 1 Cor. 12: 4 “Now, there are various portions of giftings yet the same Spirit… to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit toward the [goal of] bearing together, for: to one a word of wisdom is given through the Spirit, but to another, a word of knowledge - according to the same Spirit, to yet another, faith - in the same Spirit, but to another, gifts of healings - in the same Spirit, and to another, energizings for miracles, but to another, prophecy, and to another, the distinguishing of spirits, to yet another, kinds of languages, and to another, interpretation of languages. But one and the same Spirit is energizing all these, variously apportioning to each individual just as He wills.”
[9] The Greek word amelein is an alpha-privitive of a word meaning to care. “‘[N]eglect’ here, means precisely to be unconcerned.”~ P.E. Hughes
[10]
Romans 1:5 “…we have received grace
and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the
Gentiles”
Romans 16:26 “[my gospel]…has been
made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith…” (NASB)
[A] “In first-century Greek, the superlative form is becoming less common and accordingly the comparative form is often found doing double duty… the probability is that the emphasis intended at this point is superlative…‘We must play the closest attention.’” ~Phillip Edgcombe Hughes, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 1977
[B] This double-compound form of marturew is a hapex legomenon, but the simpler compound of epi-marturew can be found in Amos 3:13 and 1 Pet. 5:12, and the simpler compount of sum-marturew can be found in Rom. 2:15, 8:16, and 9:1.