Section 6:13–20

We can trust God’s promises because he does not lie

This section is the final part of the long appeal that the author began to make to his readers in 5:11. He urged them to keep on believing. He warned them not to give up what they believed. In this final section, he reminded them of God’s promise to Abraham, and he encouraged them that God always keeps his promises. We can come into God’s presence because Jesus, our high priest, is already there (6:20). He is a high priest like Melchizedek.

The last verse of this section is similar to 5:10, and connects this section to chapter 7. The author finished his long appeal to his readers in 6:20, and in 7:1 he continued his teaching about Jesus, our high priest.

Some other possible section headings are:

God always does what he promises to do
-or-
We can believe God because he always does what he said he would

Paragraph 6:13–15

6:13a

In Greek the author connects this verse to the preceding section with a conjunction that is often translated as “for.” It indicates that the author will give support for what he said in the preceding verses. Here is another way to translate this conjunction:

For example (New Living Translation (2004))

The author also linked 6:13 with 6:12 by referring to the meaning “promise” in both. Use a natural way in your language to introduce such supporting comments. See the next note for more examples. In some languages a connector is not necessary.

When God made His promise to Abraham: In this clause the author wrote about God’s promises at the end of 6:12. Here he continued to say more about them. He used Abraham as an example. God promised to bless Abraham and give him many descendants, as in Genesis 12:1–4 and 15:1–5. Then after Abraham was willing to offer Isaac as a sacrifice to him (Genesis 22:1–14), God added an oath to his promise. See also Genesis 22:15–18.

Some other ways to translate this clause are:

Let’s consider Abraham, because there is also that which God promised him
-or-
Remember God’s promise to Abraham.

Abraham: In some languages it is more natural to identify Abraham more explicitly. For example:

our(incl.) ancestor Abraham
-or-
Abraham, who is the ancestor for our(incl.) tribe

6:13b–c

since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself: In 6:13b–c the author tells why God swore by himself. God swore by himself because there is no one greater than he is. He himself was the only one who was able to fulfill the promise. There was also no one else to whom people could appeal to cause God to fulfill what he promised. Some other ways to translate this reason are:

Since there was no one greater than himself, he used his own name when he made his vow. (Good News Translation)
-or-
There is nothing greater than God, so he swore naming himself.

one greater to swear by: The phrase to swear by refers to anyone to whom God could appeal to enforce or strengthen his oath. The text implies that a person who could enforce the promise must be more powerful than the person who makes the promise. That is the only way that such a person could punish him if he did not fulfill what he swore to do. Since no one is as powerful as God, no one could punish him if he did not do what he promised to do. Another way to translate this meaning is:

to guarantee his oath
-or-
who could make him fulfill his oath

swear: To swear is to take an oath or to make a promise to do something. When someone adds an oath to what he is saying, it means “What I am saying is true.” It does not imply that the person is using bad or inappropriate words. For more information, see also the note on 6:16a.

He swore by Himself: The clause He swore by Himself means “he promised that he would enforce the promise on himself.” Men have to swear by someone or something greater than themselves to guarantee that the promise is kept. But God swore by himself that he would keep his promise, because there is no one greater than himself to guarantee it. Other ways to translate this meaning are:

he used himself when he swore (New Century Version)
-or-
God took an oath in his own name (New Living Translation (2004))

God’s word can be trusted without the help of an oath, but God made it twice as dependable by adding an oath. See also 7:20 and the following verses. It is similar to the words “As I live…” which God often said in the Old Testament when he was speaking.

General Comment on 6:13b–c

In some languages it may be more natural to reorder 6:13b–c. For example:

13a When God made his promise to Abraham, 13c he swore by his own name. 13b He did this because there was no one who was greater than himself.

The New Jerusalem Bible translates 6:13 clearly as one sentence:

When God made the promise to Abraham, he swore by his own self, since there was no one greater he could swear by. (New Jerusalem Bible)

In some languages it is more natural to use two sentences to translate this verse. For example:

God made a promise to Abraham. Since he had no one greater on whom to base his oath, he based it on himself. (God’s Word)

© 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.