Confidence
Not long ago I was reading the letter to the Hebrews, and came to this verse:
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. (Heb 10:35)
Who knows how many times I’ve read this, but this time I was startled. I can see that confidence may wane, we might let it slip away, over time it might erode. But throw it away? Would anyone ever do that? Consciously and intentionally discard their confidence?
Context is always vitally important. So we keep reading, and the next verse tells us we have need of endurance. Then the writer quotes from the Septuagint version of the prophet Habakkuk 2:3-4, where God says, “My righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” Shrinking back and losing confidence sound very similar.
The quote is followed by the writer’s commentary, which carries across the artificial chapter break into chapter 11.
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Heb 10:39-11:1)
Two more words stand out: assurance and conviction. These seem very much like the confidence in the verse we started with.
You’ll want to read the full passage. Add it all up: Confidence, endurance, faith, assurance, conviction result in receiving what is promised, living, preserving our souls. Throwing away confidence and shrinking back result in being destroyed.
Sorry if it seems like I’m belaboring the obvious. We know this. But we’re still left with the question of why anyone would intentionally throw away confidence. To throw it away means it was in their possession, right? They have it. Then they throw it away.
Maybe we should check a concordance or a Bible program to explore the Greek word translated “confidence”. We find it appears 31 times in the New Testament. It’s sometimes used to mean “openly” or “plainly”, but the most common English translation is “boldness”. Often it’s about boldness in proclaiming the gospel, but it’s also about the confidence we have (or are encouraged to have) in Christ.
I think this sheds some light on our question. Within the Hebrews letter itself, we find these verses using the same word:
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb 4:16 KJV; some versions say confidently.)
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus… (Heb 10:19 KJV; some versions say confidence.)
Is it easier to comprehend someone choosing to throw away boldness? It is for me. In the face of persecution, or contempt, or just fear that people will think less of us, we might “shrink back”. We’re still confident of the truth of the gospel, but we abandon the boldness to proclaim it, or let it be seen as the driving force in our lives.
But where does this go, if we throw away our boldness? Lacking boldness, how long before we lack the confidence to come before the throne of grace? There’s no distinction in the word used in these scriptures. There’s no provision for confidence without boldness. Just two options are presented: Bold confidence, endurance, faith, assurance, conviction—and great reward. Or throwing away confidence, shrinking back—and destruction.
Do not give up and throw away your confidence! Come boldly to the throne of grace, confident of finding mercy there.
Love, Paul