1Therefore let’s also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. 4You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin. 5You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children,
“My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when you are reproved by him;
6for whom the Lord loves, he disciplines,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? 8But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children. 9Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they indeed for a few days disciplined us as seemed good to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
14Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, 15looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and many be defiled by it, 16lest there be any sexually immoral person or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. 17For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.
18For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, 19the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, 20for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”. 21So fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, 23to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, 26whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more” signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. 28Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let’s have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.
We typically tend to see the word “bitterness” in this verse and think immediately and only of being unwilling to forgive. But is that really the only issue the author of Hebrews had in mind?
Hebrews 12:15 is an allusion to Deuteronomy 29:18-19 (referring back to an Old Testament passage without directly quoting it). In these verses there is a reference to a “root bearing bitter fruit” in a way that fits much better with the context of Hebrews 12 than the idea of anger or unwilling to forgive alone.
Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. Deuteronomy 29:18b-19 (ESV)
In Deuteronomy 29:18, the “root of bitterness” speaks of a person who hears the Word of God but then makes a conscious choice to disobey. Not only does he choose to disobey, but he also wrongly believes he will be immune from the consequences of his sin and the discipline of God. “I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.” The fruit produced by this bitter root is poison to the community of God’s people.
The primary focus of Hebrews 12 is the fatherly love with which God consistently disciplines those who are his children. His discipline is shown to be proof of his love and a painful part of building holiness in His people. This is pictured in the next verses by Esau’s choice to trade his future birthright for a measly bowl of soup. The momentary decision he made had irreversible long-term consequences, just as sexual immorality also does.
No child of God can expect to willfully disobey the Word of God without seeing firsthand the discipline of our loving Father. To suggest otherwise is a “root of bitterness” that must be dug up and cast aside. For some, that may be an unforgiving attitude, but it would not do justice to this verse to see only that attitude at stake. We must view obedience to God’s Word in every area of life as absolutely necessary.