"2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened."
Hebrews 4:2
We pause another day at this verse to consider the implication of the words 'not being mixed with faith'. There are two ways of taking this, dependent on which translation is followed. If we take it as it stands in the AV the idea is that faith is the allimportant ingredient without which the mixture is incomplete and is unsuccessful. In baking it is said that the skill lies in the mixing. It may also, however, refer to the deeper 'mixing' which takes place when food is assimilated by the body and absorbed into the system and converted into energy and body tissue. This is very telling in relation to what we sometimes call 'head-knowledge' in things spiritual. It is possible to acquire a very considerable amount of knowledge of the faith in this way, but unless it is assimilated, to become 'part of us', it is not only valueless but also positively dangerous to the spiritual life. The truth of the gospel must not only be grasped by the mind, but responded to with heart and will. Another translation, however, puts it thus: 'They were not united in faith with those who heard'. This seems to mean that when the Word was preached there was a division among those who heard it, and some did not hear it in the fellowship of faith. This is only too true in experience, and bears witness to the dividing power of the Word in the lives of men - to some a savour of life unto life, to others a savour of death unto death. No one is ever the same after hearing the Word of God; either we are drawn by it, as our hearts respond in faith, or we are hardened, as we resist its claims. There is no middle course. Solemn thought!