Worthy of More Glory than Moses

Hebrews 3:1–6 – Jesus Is Better
Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time – November 9th, 2025 (am)     

The A/author of Hebrews is moving into the part of his argument this morning that quite possibly presses me to identify cc.3-4 as one of my favorite passages in Scripture. He begins to lay the foundation toward understanding how important the church is to each of us personally in our spiritual lives, and also why the A/author eventually gets all the way to the place of saying 10:24 … let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. That instruction from c.10 sounds a lot like what we’re going to hear in next week’s passage right here in c.3, the sort of help we need to give to one another in order for each of us to hold fast in our faith through the trials of this life. But today we start to sense that need by hearing what true saving faith looks like—what sorts of qualities identify our faith as genuine.

In today’s text, the A/author is moving on from his focus on the salvation brought by Jesus being better than that announced by angels (cc.1-2) to a comparison of the covenants themselves (cc.3-10), first in their recognized leaders, Moses (3:1-4:7) and Joshua (4:8-13) in the old and Jesus in the new, then moving on to their priesthoods (4:14-7:28) and other key covenantal elements, their respective tabernacles and sacrifices (8:1-10:18).

But first let’s hear his transitional statement here (3:1-6), which builds (Therefore [1]) on what came just before, meaning, the propitiation made to God for [our] sins by our merciful and faithful high priest, freeing us from lifelong slavery due to fear of death (2:14-18). Today’s text unfolds under three headings.

How Moses and Jesus Are Alike – 1-2

1 Therefore, holy brothers [and sisters], you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. There we have it; there’s how Moses and Jesus are alike. They are two men, each of whom was notably faithful to the calling h/He received from God. But the point here, I believe, is much like what we saw when Jesus was compared with the angels back in c.1. There we read: 1:3 … After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. The point wasn’t to say how great or poor angels are. It was more to say how great angels are in order to say Jesus is greater still, in fact infinitely greater!

It’s much the same here. And that’ll become explicit in the very next verse: how Moses and Jesus are different. But the point isn’t to exalt or diminish Moses—this isn’t about Moses. The point is to grant the greatness of Moses among men, but then to show how Jesus is far greater still, in fact infinitely greater! So, even though both were faithful to God’s calling, Jesus’ faithfulness is on a wholly different level. So, 1 … consider Jesus, contemplate Him, ponder Him carefully (L-N), He’s the apostle and high priest of our confession, of whom our confession speaks (BAGD). This is the only time [He] is described as “our apostle” in the NT (France 59). And we’ll see much more about His being our high priest. But what the A/author is telling us here is that Jesus is [uniquely] both God’s representative [to us] (apostle) and [our] representative [back to] God (high priest) (Bruce 91). These are His roles. And here—the first time the A/author has addressed his readers directly (France 59)—we’re being told that, through these roles of Jesus, we’re made into holy brothers [and sisters]… who share in a heavenly calling (1), who are headed to heaven! Faithful though Moses was, his ministry didn’t accomplish anything on this level among God’s people!

So, Moses and Jesus are alike in that that each was faithful to h/His assignment from God. But their assignments weren’t equal, either in nature or in outcome. There was a notable difference between Moses and Jesus even in their alikeness.

How Moses and Jesus Are Different – 3-6a

But I’d have to say there was also a notable alikeness in their difference. The A/author introduced it in v.2, saying Moses… was faithful in all God’s house, and came back to it in v.5: 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant…. He’s quoting Num.12120, the passage in which Moses’ sister and brother, 1 Miriam and Aaron, spoke against Moses because… he had married a Cushite woman. Listen to the context. This will give us God’s view of Moses. 2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. … 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. 10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. … 11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. 12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” 13 And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” 15 So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again.

Bottom line, don’t diminish Moses as a faithful servant in all God’s house (Hughes 134 [honorable and dignified]). By God’s own testimony here, Moses isn’t like just any other man, even any other faithful prophet. In addition to leading Israel out of Egypt, He was called to testify to the things that were to be spoken later (5b); he exercised a prophetic role (cf. Deu.18:15-19) in addition to ways that could seem both apostolic and high priestly. There’s a notable alikeness between Moses and Jesus even in their difference.

Even so, Moses was faithful in all God’s house (2, 5a) as a servant (5a) but Jesus is faithful over God’s house as a son (6). Moses administered the household as one who was himself part of [it]; Christ rules over the household as the Son whom his Father, the owner…, has appointed to exercise this rule (Bruce 93). There’s the essence of the (massive) difference between them.

Why This Matters to Us – 6b

It matters because, like old covenant Israel was God’s house in which Moses was faithful as a servant (2, 5), we, new covenant believers, are his house over which Christ rules as a Son (6b), as our brother (2:11; cf. 3:1). We are the house! We don’t often use house in this way (to describe people), but sometimes we still do. We speak, for instance, of The House of Windsor and understand it to be people, the ruling family of the UK. This is suitable language for a monarchy, which is precisely the reference here. In Christ, the Son, when our faith is in Him, we become part of the ruling family, we become God’s house, His people to whom He binds Himself in steadfast, covenant love.

But there’s another side to this or, better, a fuller picture which we can’t afford to miss, and to which v.6b introduces us for the first time in Hebrews. But it will return. 6 … And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. If. The bottom line of what it’s teaching us is easily stated: true saving faith is a faith, a hope, that holds fast to the end. The confession of which Jesus is the apostle and high priest is a confession that endures. And the clear implication is that if we do not hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope, we are not his house. This is precisely the fuller picture we can’t afford to miss.

This is what Jesus taught, as we saw in the Gospel of John. Joh.8:31 [He] said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” 

We also see it illustrated in the parable of the soils (Mar.4:2-20]. The seed sown on rocky ground made a fair showing at first, but [couldn’t] withstand the heat of the sun “because it had no root” (6); and in the interpretation of the parable this is said to refer to people “who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away” (17) (Mark 4:5f., 16f.). This is precisely what [the] author fears may happen with his readers; [thus] his constant emphasis on the necessity of their maintaining fearless confession and joyful hope (Bruce 94). Apparently genuine faith proves to be false if it doesn’t endure.

Conclusion

Therefore, these words: confidence and boasting in our hope are very helpful to us, offsetting the if just as much as completing it. I hear them as vivid synonyms with faith, describing what it means to be in Christ, what it looks like when we genuinely trust in Him as Savior.

Confidence [held] fast is unshakable confidence that we are indeed [God’s] house, under Christ’s rule due entirely to His effective work of propitiation on our behalf (2:17). We’re confident (6) of our holy standing, of our heavenly calling in Him (1), of our future hope, to the point where we boast in [that] hope (6), not with any sense of personal bravado or privileged entitlement, but with an unshakable assurance that He will deliver on His promises!

Thus, holding fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope (6) clarify what is characteristic of those who truly share in a heavenly calling (1) and they set up the poignant charge that follows (in the exposition of Psa.95 [3:7-4:13])—it calls us to help one another hold our original confidence firm to the end (13-14).

So, how do we do it? How do we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in hope? (6) It’s surely not by just trying harder—closing our eyes, holding our breath, crossing our fingers, and trying to feel confident. We do it by hearing the lone command that appears in this paragraph: consider Jesus (1); give Him very careful consideration; think very carefully about Him (L-N); observe Him carefully (BAGD); ponder Him, as we said before; fix your thoughts on [Him] (NIV); think carefully about this Jesus (NLT). Does that help? We’re called to rivet our attention to Jesus. Later the A/author will say [fix your] eyes on [Him] (12:2 NASV).

This is our calling throughout Hebrews: holding fast our confidence in Jesus means, in essence, we trust Jesus completely; boasting in our hope means we celebrate it, unshakably sure of its reliability. This our calling today: consider Jesus (1), then live in the joy of what that produces in your heart.

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Resources

Anders, Max, gen. ed. 1999. Holman New Testament Commentary. Hebrews & James, by Thomas D. Lea. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Arndt, William F., & F. Wilbur Gingrich [bagd]. 1958. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, second edition revised and augmented by Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker from Walter Bauer’s fifth edition, 1958. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Arnold, Clinton E., gen. ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Vol. 4, Hebrews to Revelation. Hebrews, by George H. Guthrie, 2-82. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Barclay, William. 1976. The Daily Study Bible Series. The Letter to the Hebrews, Revised Edition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox.

Beale, G. K., & D. A. Carson, eds. 2007. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Hebrews, by George H. Guthrie, 919-995. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Bruce, F. F. 1990. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Calvin, John. 1553. Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, trans. by, John Owen. Logos.

Carson, D. A., R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham, eds. 1994. New Bible Commentary 21st Century Edition. Hebrews, by David Peterson, 1321-1353. Leicester, Eng.: InterVarsity.

Clendenen, Ray E., gen. ed., David S. Dockery, NT ed. 2010. The New American Commentary. Vol. 35, Hebrews, by David L. Allen. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Dever, Mark. 2005. The Message of the New Testament. Ch. 19, The Message of Hebrews: Sticking with the Best, 413-425. Wheaton: Crossway.

Fee, Gordon D., gen. ed. 1990. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. The Epistle to the Hebrews, Revised Edition, by F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Grudem, Wayne, ed. 2008. ESV Study Bible. Study notes on Hebrews, by David W. Chapman. Wheaton: Crossway.

Guthrie, George. 1998. The NIV Application Commentary. Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Hubbard, David A., & Glenn W. Barker, gen. eds. Ralph P. Martin, NT ed. 1991. Word Biblical Commentary. Vols. 47a, Hebrews 1-8; Vol.47b, Hebrews 9-13, by William L. Lane. Dallas: Word.

Hughes, Philip Edgcumbe. 1979. A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Longman III, Tremper, & David E. Garland, eds. 2006. Revised Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Vol. 13, Hebrews-Revelation. Hebrews, by R. T. France, 17-195. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

Louw, Johannes P., & Eugene A. Nida [l-n]. 1989. Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains, second edition. New York: United Bible Societies.

Morris, Leon, gen. ed. 1983. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Vol. 15, Hebrews, by Donald Guthrie. Downers Grove: InterVarsity.

NEXT SUNDAY: Exhort One Another Every Day, Hebrews 3:7–19