by Rev. J. C. Ryle
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.” — Hebrews 4: 14.
“Let us hold fast!” We should mark well this expression. A careful reader of the Epistle to the Hebrews can hardly fail to observe that the words “let us” are found no less than four times in the fourth chapter. In the first verse you will read, “let us fear”, — in the eleventh verse, “let us labour”, — in the fourteenth verse, “let us hold fast”, — and in the sixteenth verse, “let us come boldly to the throne of grace”. We should take note of this.
Now why did the Apostle St Paul write in this way? He did it because the Hebrew Christians, to whom he wrote, were a peculiar people, and occupied a peculiar position. They were not like Gentile converts who had been brought up to worship idols, and had never received any revelation from God. The Jews were a people who had enjoyed the special favour of God for fifteen hundred years. All through that long period they had possessed the law of Moses, and an immense amount of light, which had not been given to any other nation on earth. These privileges had made them very sensitive and jealous at the idea of any change. They needed to be approached very gently and delicately, and to be addressed in a peculiar style. All this St Paul, himself born a Jew, remembered well. He puts himself on a level with them, and says, “Let us, — I speak to myself as well as to you, lest I should offend you.”
But this is not all. I might add that the Jewish Christians had very peculiar trials to undergo. I suspect they were far more persecuted and ill-used after their conversion than the Gentile Christians were. No doubt it was a hard thing for a Gentile to turn from idols. But it was a much harder thing for a Jew to profess that he was not content with the ceremonial law of Moses, and that he had found a better priest, and a better sacrifice, even Jesus of Nazareth, and the blood of the Cross. This also St. Paul remembered well, and he cheers and encourages them by placing himself by their side, and saying, “Let us fear,” — “let us labour,” — “let us hold fast,” — “let us come boldly,” — “I am as you are, we are all in the same boat.”
I shall confine myself in this paper to the text which heads it, and I shall try to answer three questions.
I. What is the profession of which St. Paul speaks?
II. Why does St. Paul say, “Let us hold fast?”
III. What is the grand encouragement which St. Paul gives us to “hold fast”?
Before I go any further, I ask my readers to remember that the things we are about to consider were written by inspiration of the Holy Ghost for the benefit of the whole Church of Christ in every age down to the end of the world. They were meant to be used by all true Christians in England, and by all classes, whether high or low, rich or poor, in London, or Liverpool, or in any part of the earth. The Epistle to the Hebrews is not an old worn-out letter which only suits the Jews of eighteen centuries ago. It is meant for you and me. We all need to be exhorted to “hold fast our profession”.
I. Let us begin by considering what is meant by “our profession”.
When St. Paul uses this expression there can be little doubt about his meaning. He meant that public “profession” of faith in Christ and obedience to Him, which every person made when he became a member of the Christian Church. In the days of the apostle, when a man or woman left Judaism or heathenism, and received Christ as a Saviour, he declared himself a Christian by certain acts. He did it by being publicly baptised, by joining the company of those who had been baptised already, by publicly promising to give up idolatry and wickedness of all kinds, and by habitually taking part with the followers of Jesus of Nazareth in all their religious assemblies, their ways, and their practices. This is what St. Paul had in view when he wrote the words, “Let us hold fast our profession.”
Profession in those days was a very serious matter, and entailed very serious consequences. It often brought on a man persecution, loss of property, imprisonment, and even death. The consequence was that few persons ever made a Christian profession in the early Church unless they were thoroughly in earnest, truly converted, and really believers. No doubt there were some exceptions. People like Ananias and Sapphira, and Simon Magus, and Demas, crept in and joined themselves to the disciples. But these were exceptional cases. As a general rule it was not worth while for a man to profess Christianity if his heart was not entirely in his profession. It cost much. It brought on a man the risk of a vast amount of trouble, and brought in very little gain. The whole result was, that the proportion of sincere, right-hearted, and converted persons in the Church of the apostle’s days was far greater than it ever has been at any other period in the last eighteen centuries. There was a very deep meaning in St. Paul’s words when he said, “Let us hold fast our profession”.
In the days in which we live “profession” is a very different thing. Millions of people profess and call themselves Christians, whom the apostle would not have called Christians at all. Millions are annually baptized, and added to the rolls and registers of churches, who have little or no religion. Many of them live and die without ever attending a place of worship, and live very ungodly lives. Many more only go to a church or chapel occasionally, or once on Sunday at the most. Many others pass through life without ever becoming communicants, and live and die in the habitual neglect of that Holy Sacrament which the Lord commanded to be received. Most of these people are reckoned Christians while they live, and are buried with Christian burial when they die. But what would St. Paul have said of them? I fear there can be no doubt about the answer. He would have said they did not deserve to be reckoned members of any Church at all! He would not have addressed them as “saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus.” He would not have called upon them to “hold fast their profession”. He would have told them they had no profession to hold fast, and that they were “yet dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2: 1). All this is sorrowful and painful, but it is only too true. Let those deny it who dare.
Let us, however, thank God that there are not a few to be found in every part of Christendom who really are what they profess to be, true, sincere, earnest-minded, hearty, converted, believing Christians. Some of them, no doubt, belong to churches in which their souls get little help. Some of them have very imperfect knowledge, and hold the truth in solution, with a mixture of many defective views. But they have all certain common marks about them. They see the value of their souls, and really want to be saved. They feel the sinfulness of sin, and hate it, and fight with it, and long to be free from it. They see that Jesus Christ alone can save them, and that they ought to trust only in Him. They see that they ought to live holy and godly lives, and in their poor way they try to do it. They love their Bibles, and they pray, though both their reading and their praying are very defective. Some of them, in short, are in the highest standard of Christ’s school, and are strong in knowledge, faith, and love. Others are only in the infants’ room, and in everything are weak and poor. But in one point they are all one. Their hearts are right in the sight of God; they love Christ; their faces are set towards heaven, and they want to go there. These are especially those in the present day to whom I wish in this paper to apply St. Paul’s exhortation, “Let us hold fast our profession.” Let us cling to it and not let it go.
Now I cannot forget that we meet thousands of persons in daily life who are always saying, “I make no profession of religion.” They not only say it, but rather glory in saying it, as if it was a right, wise, and proper thing to say. They seem even to despise those who make a profession, and to regard them as hypocrites and impostors, or, at any rate, as weak and foolish people. Now if this paper happens to fall into the hands of any person of this kind, I have somewhat to say to him, and I invite his best attention.
I do not deny that there are many hypocrites in religion. There always were, and there always will be, as long as the world stands. As long as there is good gold and silver coin in the realm, so long there will be forging, coining and counterfeit money. The very existence of bad coins is in indirect proof that there is something which it is worth while to imitate, and that there is such a thing as good current money in circulation. It is just the same with Christianity! The very fact that there are many false professors in the Churches is an indirect proof that there are such persons as true-hearted and sound believers. It is one of Satan’s favourite devices, in order to bring discredit on Christianity, to persuade some unhappy people to profess what they do not really believe. He tries to damage the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ in the world by sending out wolves in sheep’s clothing, and by raising up men and women who talk the language of Canaan, and wear the coat of God’s children, while they are inwardly rotten at heart. But these things do not justify a man in condemning all religious profession.
I tell those who boast that they make no profession that they are only exhibiting their own sorrowful ignorance of Holy Scripture. The hypocrisy of some unhappy people must never prevent us doing our own duty, without caring what men may say or think of us. We must never be ashamed of showing ourselves boldly on Christ’s side, by honouring His word, His day, and His ordinances, by speaking up for Christ’s cause on all proper occasions, and by firmly refusing to conform to the sins and the follies of the children of this world. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ ought never to be forgotten: “Whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when He shall come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels” (Luke 9: 26). If we will not confess Christ upon earth, and openly profess that we are His servants, we must not expect that Christ will confess us in heaven at the last day.
In short, the very last thing that a man should be ashamed of is the “profession” of religion. There are many things, unhappily, of which most people seem not ashamed at all. Ill-temper, selfishness, want of charity, laziness, malice, backbiting, lying, slandering, intemperance, impurity, gambling, Sabbath-breaking, — all these are terribly common things among men, and of most of them people do not seem a bit ashamed, though they ought to be! They that habitually “do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. v 21). But of Bible-reading, praying, holy living and working for the good of bodies and souls, no one ever need be ashamed. These may be things which many laugh at, dislike, and despise, and have no taste for, but they are the very things with which God is well pleased. Once more, I repeat, whatever men may say, the very last thing of which we ought to be ashamed is our “profession” of faith in Christ, and obedience to Christ.