Unbelief

I’ve been studying in the New Testament book of Hebrews lately. I often start off reading in my old New American Standard Bible. My wife gave me this Bible before we married; almost 41 years ago. I like this version the best, maybe because my wife gave it to me.☺ Anyway, I have found at times where I have to question why they interpreted certain scriptures the way they did. I have the Ultimate Bible Study Suite on my Kindle and this is where I go to try and get my questions answered and for deeper study.

At the end of chapter 3 of Hebrews is where I found something that I had to question. Here is the way it reads in the NASB version:

Hebrews 3:18-19New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁸ And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? ¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

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Why did they use the word disobedient in verse 18 but used unbelief in 19 when this is talking about the same thing? The UBSS (Ultimate Bible Study Suite) uses the King James Version and here is the way it reads:

Hebrews 3:18-19King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
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I looked up the Greek words in both verses (so easy to do in the UBSS). In verse 18, the word translated disobedient in the NASB, is “apeitheo {ap-i-theh’-o}” – Definitions: to disbelieve (willfully and perversely): - not believe, disobedient, obey not, unbelieving.

In verse 19 the word is “apistia {ap-is-tee’-ah}” Definitions: faithlessness, i.e. (negative) disbelief (want of Christian faith), or (positive) unfaithfulness (disobedience): - unbelief.

What struck me about all this is that sin, disobedience, and unbelief are the same. I knew this but didn’t really know it until going deeper.

Thinking about my previous post where faith or believing is life and here, unbelief is death which God says that these will not enter His rest.

I will stop at this and leave you with some other verses from Hebrews.

Hebrews 3:6-14New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁶ but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
⁷ Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you hear His voice,
⁸ Do not harden your hearts as ^[a]when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
⁹ Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years.
¹⁰ “Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
¹¹ As I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”

The Peril of Unbelief

¹² Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart ^[b]that falls away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

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I thought of one more thing before I close. It has to do with God and His work. One day I was trying to describe what He does and came across the word orchestrate. One of the definitions is to arrange or combine so as to achieve a desired or maximum effect. I like thinking of it that way. Father God doesn’t like to punish us. He prefers to help us.