3:14

Verse 14 is similar to verse 6, both in meaning and in actual words. It is good to consider how you translated verse 6 as you translate verse 14. Below are some of the parallels between the two verses:

Verse 6
Verse 14

We are His house
We have come to share in Christ

Christ
Christ

if
if

confidence
assurance

hold firmly
hold firmly

3:14a

The Greek begins this verse with a word that many versions translate as “For.” It introduces the basis for the warning in 3:13. Believers must encourage one another so that we will resist sin, because we have become partners of Christ. Some English versions, including the Berean Standard Bible, leave the connection implied. Show the relationship between these verses in a way that is natural in your language.

We have come to share in Christ: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as share was also used in 3:1. The clause We have come to share in Christ means “we all share in the life of Christ himself.” This sharing includes all those who have become believers in him.

Some ways to translate this are:

we share in Christ (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
Because as for us, Christ is our constant companion

We: The pronoun We includes both the author and his readers.

3:14b

if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first: This clause tells the condition for 3:14a. We continue to share in Christ’s life if we firmly continue to have confidence in him. Some other ways to translate this clause are:

if we are faithful to the end, trusting…just as firmly as when we first believed (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
if we keep till the end the sure faith we had in the beginning (New Century Version)

The word hold occurred in 3:6c with the same sense as it has here. The author wrote about perseverance at other places in the letter of Hebrews. See, for example, 4:14 and 10:23.

we: The pronoun we is inclusive and refers to the author and his readers and hearers.

to the end: The phrase to the end means “to the end of our lives” or “always.”

the assurance we had at first: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as assurance was also used in 1:3, where it referred to God’s “nature” (what he is really like). Here it refers to the reality of the things which the readers strongly believed when they first committed their lives to Jesus. They trusted Jesus himself and they also had confidence in what they were taught about him.

Another way to translate the assurance we had at first is:

trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
our initial conviction ⌊that Jesus is the Messiah⌋
-or-
the sure faith we had in the beginning (New Century Version)

General Comment on 3:14a–b

In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of 3:14a and 3:14b. For example:

14b For only if we maintain firmly to the very end the original assurance, 14a then are we sharers of Christ

© 2016, 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.