3:6a
But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house: This clause implies that Christ was faithful in a different (and better) way than Moses was. Christ was faithful as God’s son to fulfill all the responsibilities of a son. As the son, he was in charge of God’s house. In contrast, Moses (3:5) was a servant to God, so he only had to fulfill the responsibilities of a servant.
Some ways to translate the contrast are:
But Christ is a faithful son in charge of God’s household. (God’s Word)
-or-
but Christ is faithful as a son, set over the household (Revised English Bible)
-or-
However, Christ was not only a servant of God, but rather his Child who was faithful in being in charge of his Father’s family.
Connect this part of the contrast to 3:5 in a natural way in your language.
Christ: Here the author used the word Christ for the first time in Hebrews. He used it as a title to refer to Jesus as the person whom God had appointed and promised to send as king and savior. The title Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “messiah,” and the two words have the same meaning. You should use the same word for Christ here as you use in the Gospels.
Some ways to translate Christ are:
• Use a title or a descriptive phrase in your language that has the same meaning as Christ. For example:
Messiah
-or-
Promised Deliverer
-or-
the Rescuer-King whom God appointed
• Transliterate Christ and include a phrase that explains the meaning. For example:
Christ, the appointed one
-or-
Cristo, the Savior whom God promised to send
-or-
the Christ who comes from God
• Transliterate Christ and indicate in some way that it is a title. For example:
the Christ
-or-
the Kirisita
If you do not indicate the meaning of Christ in your text of your translation, you may want to include a footnote to explain it. Or you may want to explain the meaning in a glossary. For example:
The word/title “Christ” refers to the king and savior whom God had promised to send.
See also Christ in Key Biblical Terms.
faithful: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as faithful here is the same Greek word used in 3:2a. See the note there.
as the Son over God’s house: The phrase as the Son over God’s house refers to Christ’s role in God’s household. It implies that Christ is in charge of the household and is responsible for it. God completely trusts Christ to take care of the household, as a human father trusts his oldest son. The term Son does not imply that God procreated Jesus as a human father procreates a son.
Some other ways to translate as the Son over God’s house are:
as God’s son he takes care of God’s family/people
-or-
He is the son of God whose being in charge of the house was carried out faithfully.
For more information, see the note on “his Son” in 1:2a.
God’s house: The phrase God’s house refers here to God’s household. For more information on the use of house in 3:1–6, see the notes on 3:2b and 3:5a. Translate house here in the same way as you did there.
General Comment on 3:5–6a
In 3:5–6a the author contrasted Moses (3:5) and Christ (3:6a). Notice how the contrast is emphasized in the example below:
5 It is true that Moses was faithful in serving all his companions in the family of God, but he was only a servant of God and what he did, it was an illustration of what God would make known in the future. 6 But as for Christ, he was not just a servant in the household of God but rather the boss, because he is the Son of the Householder.
Emphasize this contrast in a natural way in your language.
3:6b–c
And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast: The statement in 3:6b–c gives the condition for being part of God’s household. It indicates that we must firmly continue to have confidence and to proudly hope in Jesus Christ. Other ways to translate this statement are:
We are his household if we continue to have courage and to be proud of our hope.
-or-
and we belong to his family if we continue to be courageous and we are not ashamed of what we hope/anticipate
-or-
And we are God’s household, if we keep up our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. (New Living Translation (2004))
In some languages it is more natural to change the order of 3:6b and 3:6c.
3:6b
we: The pronoun we refers both to the author and the people to whom he was speaking.
His house: The phrase His house refers here to God’s household, as in 3:2b, 3:5a, and 3:6a.
3:6c
if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast: This clause is more literally “if the confidence and the boast of hope we hold-firm.” It implies that we must continue to have confidence in Christ and to be proud of our hope in him (3:6b).
Some other ways to translate the clause are:
if we continue to have courage and to be proud of the confidence we have (God’s Word)
-or-
if we keep trusting Christ and are not ashamed of what we hope/expect
we: The pronoun we refers to both the author and the people to whom he wrote.
hold firmly: Here the Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as hold firmly means to “firmly continue to believe.” In this context it refers to always continuing to trust Christ. A person who trusts him in that way continues to have faith in him through every problem or persecution.
Some other ways to translate this meaning are:
continue to be very sure
-or-
maintain our trust (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
our confidence: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as confidence means “boldness” or “fearlessness.” Some other ways to translate it here are:
we do not fear
-or-
we continue to be courageous
and the hope of which we boast:
The phrase the hope of which we boast indicates that we expect that Christ will save us, and that causes us to be confident and courageous. Some other ways to translate the phrase are:
the hope that gives us confidence/boldness
-or-
what we boldly expect ⌊from God/Christ⌋
hope: The word hope refers here to confidence that God will do everything that he promised to do. This is the first time that the word occurs in Hebrews.
of which we boast: The Greek verb which the Berean Standard Bible translates as boast refers to being joyfully confident. We (God’s people) are confident about our hope in Christ. The verb does not imply being arrogant or too confident in ourselves or our own achievements. (Notice that boast is used as a verb here.)
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