Love the suspense. I'll try to control myself and ask just one question at this point: Comparing 3:6 to 3:1, it certainly seems possible for those who are holy ("sanctified") to fail to fulfill the condition of holding fast and thus suffer fate parallel to those who complained in the wilderness. In such a case, the text seems to assert that they would NOT then qualify as the "house" they were called to be under Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of that very confession. When we factor in the inheritance promised to "sons" in 2:5-11, could we then say that those who fail to hold fast to their confession do not achieve the status of "sons" like THE Son in the household ("the family business"), and thus lose their share as metochoi (1:9b; 3:1) in promised inheritance of "the world to come" (2:5), even though they are still "children" in the household (2:13-14)?
Within the first-century world, a child and a son are two different things, yes. The child’s parentage can’t be changed, but growth into inheriting son is a process, and the warning is offered precisely because those inheritance rights are at stake.
Love the suspense. I'll try to control myself and ask just one question at this point:
Comparing 3:6 to 3:1, it certainly seems possible for those who are holy ("sanctified") to fail to fulfill the condition of holding fast and thus suffer fate parallel to those who complained in the wilderness. In such a case, the text seems to assert that they would NOT then qualify as the "house" they were called to be under Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of that very confession. When we factor in the inheritance promised to "sons" in 2:5-11, could we then say that those who fail to hold fast to their confession do not achieve the status of "sons" like THE Son in the household ("the family business"), and thus lose their share as metochoi (1:9b; 3:1) in promised inheritance of "the world to come" (2:5), even though they are still "children" in the household (2:13-14)?
Within the first-century world, a child and a son are two different things, yes. The child’s parentage can’t be changed, but growth into inheriting son is a process, and the warning is offered precisely because those inheritance rights are at stake.