3:1 Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus;

3:2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house.
3:3 For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses,
inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house.

3:4 For every house is built by someone;
but he who built all things is God.

3:5 Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant,
for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,
3:6 but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house;

whose house we are,
if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.

3:7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says,  "Today if you will hear his voice,
3:8 Don't harden your hearts, as in the provocation, Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 3:9 Where your fathers tested me by proving me, And saw my works for forty years. 3:10 Therefore I was displeased with that generation, And said, 'They always err in their heart, But they didn't know my ways;' 3:11 As I swore in my wrath, 'They will not enter into my rest.'" (Ps 95:7-11)

3:12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief,
in falling away from the living God;

3:13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called "today;"
lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

3:14 For we have become partakers of Christ,
if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end:
 

3:15 while it is said, "Today if you will hear his voice,
Don't harden your hearts, as in the rebellion." (Ps 95:7,8)

3:16 For who, when they heard, rebelled?
No, didn't all those who came out of Egypt by Moses?
3:17 With whom was he displeased forty years?
Wasn't it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
3:18 To whom did he swear that they wouldn't enter into his rest,
but to those who were disobedient?
 

3:19 We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.

4:1 Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps a promise being left of entering into his rest,
anyone of you should seem to have come short of it.
4:2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did,
but the word they heard didn't profit them,
because it wasn't mixed with faith by those who heard.
 

4:3 For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said,

"As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;" (Ps 95:11)

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4:4 For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day,

"God rested on the seventh day from all his works;" (Gen 2:2)

4:5 and in this place again,

"They will not enter into my rest." (Ps 95:11)

4:6 Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter therein,
and they to whom the good news was before preached
failed to enter in because of disobedience,

4:7 he again defines a certain day, today,
saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said),

"Today if you will hear his voice, Don't harden your hearts." (Ps 95:7,8)

4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest,
he would not have spoken afterward of another day.

4:9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
4:10 For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from his.

4:11 Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest,
lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
 

4:12 For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow,
and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

4:13 There is no creature that is hidden from his sight,
but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

vs 3:2 The emphasis on Jesus' faithfulness is set as an example to follow as the Christians are encourage to "hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. " vs 6

vs 3:3,4 Implies the Deity of Christ

vs 3:12;4:1 These verses warn of falling away. But what they imply is that whether you endure or fall away is up to you. Which is also implied in 4:11 which commands "be diligent to enter that rest". Therefore entering the rest is partly a function of your effort. And you need to make that effort.

What if people had no choice in their personal election by God? What good would fear do? It wouldn't do any good. For if you think you're not elect then there is nothing you can do about it. But you see that such an idea doesn't fit into these verses. So also what doesn't fit into these verses is the absolute presumption that you are saved. Yes, once saved always saved, but whether you are saved is disputable if in fact there is little correlation between your faith and your behavior. He who endures to the end will be saved. What these verses imply is that fear can play a positive role in developing an enduring faith.

But as I mention below, let us not confuse this concept with salvation by works. For the object of faith is not one's works. Faith itself is not a work (as Romans 4:5 indicates). Rather it is more in the category of an attitude rather than a work. Yes such an attitude will lead to applications which even become measures of our faith. But the object of our faith is Christ and his atoning work.

vs 3:13 Developing an enduring faith is not just a function of fear and personal choice. For we are influenced by others around us. Proverbs 13:20  "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." Therefore if we are serious about the faith let us be committed to meeting with our fellow Christians on a regular basis. For the mutual influence of the fellowship will help strengthen and mature our faith.

"we are his house,
if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast." 3:6
"We have come to share in Christ
if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." 3:14

A verse that clearly answers this is 1John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."
So once saved, always saved. Therefore these verse should be interpreted as revealing a person's salvation status, rather than proposing that obtaining or maintaining one's salvation is dependent upon one's performance.

vs 3:19 also affirms this, "we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." Those that fell in the desert represent mere nominal Christians, not true believers. Jude also affirms this:

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." Jude 1:3-5

The greek word "disobedience" = "apeitheo"<544> used in these sections is so closely tied to faith that it is sometimes even translated "unbelief", such as in John 3:36

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe <544> the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (NKJV)

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects <544> the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him." (NIV)

This word "apeitheo" generally means "not to allow one’s self to be persuaded" or "not to comply with"

While most of the people who crossed the Red Sea with Moses may be likened to Christians who, though they were baptized and decided to follow Jesus, turned away from Him later on at various points. Some turned away at Mount Sinai when confronted with the concept of His Lordship over their lives. Some turned away in the desert who loved the things of this world more than the things of God. And finally others when they came to the Jordan River and realized the truth of the gospel, that entering the promise land requires faith, just as one can only obtain salvation through faith in Christ alone. This is unacceptable to many who call themselves "Christians". Yet it is written that:

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Rom 4:4,5