V. 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? How shall we escape.— This implies that there is no possibility of escaping the wrath of God revealed from heaven against sin. Men may deceive themselves by hopes founded on false views of the mercy of God; but the door of mercy is for ever shut against all transgressors who do not avail themselves of the only remedy provided by God through the death of His Son. If we neglect so great salvation.— The Apostle includes himself and his fellow-believers, because it was as true of them as of others. Had they neglected the great salvation there would not have been any way of escape for them. Believers are secured by having been chosen in, and given to Christ, and, consequently, they are secured from neglecting the great salvation; for He who has begun a good work in them, has engaged to perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6. It is a wonderful proof of the wisdom of God that, in the salvation of sinners, He has given a more awful manifestation of the exceeding sinfulness of sin than in the destruction of the rebel angels. So far from sin appearing less pernicious by an unlimited pardon being proclaimed to the chief of sinners by faith in Christ, its malignity is more fully displayed. It was God’ s eternal purpose to pluck a multitude of our fallen race, which no man should be able to number, as brands from the burning, and His purpose could only be effected by the incarnation, sufferings, and death of His only- begotten and well-beloved Son. If there was no other channel through which mercy could flow to sinners of mankind, how could any who neglected so great salvation possibly escape? The salvation here spoken of is deliverance from the love and power of sin, hence the Son of God was named Jesus. Matthew 1:21. It is great in every point of view, whether we consider the ruin and misery from which it delivers us, the means by which the deliverance was accomplished, or the glory into which those who receive it are introduced. On the other hand, he that believeth not the record that God gave of His Son, hath made Him a liar. 1 John 5:10. Some openly reject the Gospel, accounting it a cunningly-devised fable; others, although they do not openly reject it, are so much occupied with the things of time and sense as altogether to neglect it. All men neglect the great salvation who do not consider it as the one thing needful. All men neglect it who do not receive it. All men neglect it who are not influenced by it, for it effectually works in them that believe. Perhaps, in speaking of the great salvation, the Apostle refers to the deliverance of Israel from the iron furnace. In bringing them out of Egypt, God gave a glorious display of his power and goodness. This, however, was only a temporal salvation, but the salvation announced in the Gospel is eternal. It is deliverance from the bondage of Satan, and, consequently, from the wrath to come— from that lake of fire, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. It translates the lost and ruined sinner into the kingdom of God’ s dear Son. It restores him to the image of God in which he was created. So long as God’ s Word abode in the heart of Adam, he stood firm in that estate of holiness and happiness in which he was created; but Satan gained admission into his heart in the form of a lie, and thus was man changed into the image of him who was a liar from the beginning. But the believer is created anew in Christ; by receiving the love of the truth he is saved; Christ, who is the truth, takes possession of his heart, and he is thus delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God’ s dear Son; and, after having fellowship with Christ in His death and resurrection, shall sit with Him for ever on His throne. Such is the great salvation, and how shall the sinner who neglects it escape? Began to be spoken by the Lord.— The great salvation began to be spoken by the Lord. The title, " The Lord,” belongs to Jesus as fully as to the Father. He is Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of life and glory. The great salvation had been announced to our first parents, and intimated by all the prophets by types, and figures, and shadows; but the full and clear declaration of it was made by the Lord during his personal ministry. Confirmed unto us by them that heard him.— That is, by the Apostles, who were the Lord’ s chosen witnesses. John 15:27. They had attended Him during His public ministry, they went about with Him and heard all His discourses. When he spoke in parables, He explained them in private to the Apostles. But after all, their views were dark, they still expected a worldly kingdom,— that He would restore the kingdom to Israel, and raise it to additional splendour, and that He should sit on the throne of His Father David. Even after His resurrection they still fondly adhered to this notion. They were therefore, after all the advantages they had enjoyed, not qualified to preach the Gospel. He, therefore, commanded them to tarry at Jerusalem till they were endued with power from on high, and on the day of Pentecost they were baptized with the Holy Ghost, and not only qualified to preach the Gospel with unerring certainty, but to do so in all the various languages of the assembled multitudes. A new proof was also given of the truth of their doctrine by multitudes receiving the love of the truth. The Gospel came to them not in word only, but in power and in much assurance. Those who believed, according to the Lord’ s commandment, were baptized, thus putting on Christ, professing their faith in Him who died for their sins and was raised for their justification, and that by His resurrection they were begotten again to a lively hope of an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. The Apostle, as was customary with him, classes himself with his brethren whom he was addressing; he says, confirmed to us. It was, indeed, confirmed to believers in every age and country. This does not imply that the previous evidence from the discourses and miracles of the Lord was not satisfactory, but it proves that the believer’ s faith is capable of increase. It is like the path of the just, which shineth more and more to the perfect day. The same Apostle gives thanks for the Thessalonians, because their “ faith groweth exceedingly.”