V. 14.— For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end. The Christian life is compared to a race, a warfare, in which we are exhorted to strenuous exertion, while we habitually recollect that in the Lord alone we have righteousness and strength, and that, while we are called to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, it is God who worketh in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. We are apt to err, either by trusting in our own heart, which is a sure proof of folly, or to think that we are something, and that, by our resolutions and exertions, we are able to overcome. But, in either case, we are hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, not holding the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. Faith worketh by love; it overcometh the world and its snares. Hence this verse is connected with the preceding by the particle "for,” reminding us how prone we are to let slip the truth. This verse is exactly similar to Hebrews 2:6; in the former the Apostle says,— " Whose house are we;” in the verse before us,—“ We are made partakers of Christ”— of those benefits which He bestows on His people, by their dwelling in Him and He in them, communicating to them of His fulness, leading them by His counsel, and afterwards receiving them to His glory. If we are Christ’ s house He dwells in us, and thus we are made partakers of Christ; so that the two verses express the same idea, while, by the variation of the expression, our views of the mutual relationship of Christ and His people are more fully exhibited. The pronoun our is not in the original; it is simply the beginning of the confidence exactly corresponding with holding fast the confidence. We may notice that the word rendered "confidence,” both in vers. 6 and 14, are not the same in ver. 14; it is the same word rendered “ confidence in.” "The confidence of things hoped for.” The word, in ver. 6, signifies boldness; openness, 2 Corinthians 7:4. It is connected with the rejoicing of hope. A bold avowal of the truth exposed the disciples to persecution; but this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4. When the Apostles were commanded by the Jewish rulers not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus, they replied, “ for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard;” and when they had been beaten for not complying with the commandment to hold their peace, " they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” Acts 5:41. Here we have an illustration of the boldness, or confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope enjoined by the Apostle. Believers are begotten to a lively hope, but there are stony-ground hearers, who for a time appear to believe, and the Scriptures frequently speak of things according to their appearance; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. In due season we shall reap if we faint not.