HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE: pôs hêmeis ekpheuxometha: FMI: (Heb 4:1-note; 4:11-note Hebrews 10:28; 29 - note; Hebrews 12:25-note; Isaiah 20:6; Ezekiel 17:15,18; Matthew 23:33; Romans 2:3 - note; 1 Thessalonians 5:3 - note; 1 Peter 4:17-note; 4:18 -note; Revelation 6:16-note; 6:17-note)

See comments by F B Meyer on this verse from The Way into the Holiest - click

The Amplified version accurately phrases this rhetorical question (a question asked merely for effect with no answer expected) as:

"How shall we escape [appropriate retribution] if we neglect and refuse to pay attention to such a great salvation [as is now offered to us, letting it drift past us forever]?"

Spurgeon comments...

You see, dear friends, that we need not be great open sinners in order to perish; it is merely a matter of neglect. See how it is put here: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" You need not go to the trouble of despising it, or resisting it, or opposing it; you can be lost readily enough simply by neglecting it. In fact, the great mass of those who perish are those who neglect the great salvation

Let that question ring in our ears, How shall we escape? There will be no escape, there can be none if we refuse the Lord Jesus. Do we mean to be lost? Dare we continue to neglect the great salvation?

Hark: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” Not if we resist it, reject it, despise it, oppose it; but if we neglect it. If a man is in business, it is not necessary that he should commit forgery in order to fail; he can fail by simply neglecting his business. If a man is sick, he need not commit suicide by taking poison; he can do it just as surely by neglecting to take proper medicines. So is it in the things of God, neglect is as ruinous as distinct and open opposition: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation: “

You see, dear friends, that we need not be great open sinners in order to perish; it is merely a matter of neglect. See how it is put here: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” You need not go to the trouble of despising it, or resisting it, or opposing it; you can be lost readily enough simply by neglecting it. In fact, the great mass of those who perish are those who neglect the great salvation, —

If we neglect that salvation, is there any other way by which we can be rescued from destruction? Is there any other door of escape if we pass that one by? No, there is none.

Kenneth Wuest notes that...

 “How” is from pos which means “how is it possible?” The rhetorical question expresses a denial. There would be no escape. The word “we” in the Greek text is emphatic. The pronoun refers here to the first-century readers of this letter, its Jewish recipients. It is “we” to whom God spoke in One who in character is His Son, and who therefore have much more reason for giving heed." (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans or Logos

Adam Clarke comments that...

"If they who had fewer privileges than we have, to whom God spoke in divers manners by angels and prophets, fell under the displeasure of their Maker, and were often punished with a sore destruction; how shall we escape wrath to the uttermost if we neglect the salvation provided for us, and proclaimed to us by the Son of God? Their offense was high; ours, indescribably higher."

Albert Barnes says...

"How shall we escape the just recompense due to transgressors? What way is there of being saved from punishment, if we suffer the great salvation to be neglected, and do not embrace its offers? The sense is, that there is no other way of salvation, and the neglect of this will be followed by certain destruction."

Spurgeon exhorts us to...

Let that question ring in our ears, "How shall we escape?" There will be no escape, there can be none if we refuse the Lord Jesus. Do we mean to be lost? Dare we continue to neglect the great salvation?

Escape (1628) (ekpheugo from ek = out, from + pheugo = move quickly from a point; flee; run) means literally to flee out and so to flee out of a place and to escape. To seek safety in flight (Acts 16:27). To become free from danger by avoiding some peril (1 Thess 5:3)

The writer says there is no escape from the terrible consequences. In fact, if we think the consequences were stern for disregarding the Law, how much more catastrophic will the punishment be for ignoring the gospel?

Below are the 8 NT uses of ekpheugo:

Luke 21:36 (from the preceding context Jesus is referring to His sudden, unexpected second coming) "But keep on the alert at all times, praying in order that you may have strength to escape (ekpheugo) all these things that are about to take place (see Revelation 4-22 for "all these things"), and to stand before the Son of Man."

Acts 16:27 "And when the jailer had been roused out of sleep and had seen the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped."

Acts 19:16 "And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."

Romans 2:3 (note) And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?"

2 Corinthians 11:33 "and I (Paul describing his escape in Damascus) was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands."

1Thessalonians 5:3 (note) "While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."

Hebrews 2:3 (note) how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

Hebrews 12:25 (note) See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.

Ekpheugo is used 6 times in the LXX, the use in Proverbs paralleling the truth of Hebrews 2:3...

Proverbs 12:13 An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, But the righteous will escape from (LXX = ekpheugo) trouble.

We (hemeis) is an emphatic pronoun in this verse. Hemeis is used only 5x in Hebrews.

Vincent commenting on "we" writes that he refers to...

"We, to whom God has spoken by his Son, and who, therefore, have so much the more reason for giving heed."

Therefore its occurrence here is significant. It probably means "we, in contrast to those who had only the law," though it may be taken to mean "we, with our privileged position." Notice that the disaster that threatens is brought on by nothing more than neglect. It is not necessary to disobey any specific injunction. For had we done nothing when we were offered salvation, we would not have received it. This is the first of a number of warnings to the readers not to surrender their Christian profession, but to make Him their possession (so great a salvation).

IF WE NEGLECT: amelêsantes (AAPMPN):

If we neglect - as someone has said "The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it." Here is a poem that originally was written by Gloria Pitzer (neglect has been substituted for procrastination)...

Neglect is my sin
It brings me naught but sorrow.
I know that I should stop it
In fact, I will...tomorrow!

Neglect (272) (ameleo from "a" = without + melo = to care for, to show concern, forethought or interest) means literally without care and thus showing no concern. To be careless. To be unconcerned about or to care nothing for something or someone.

The writer warns his readers against being careless, neglectful or unconcerned about the truths he is explaining

Ameleo describes the opposite attitude or response to the parallel verb prosecho (used in Hebrews 2:1) which calls for one to be in a continuous state of readiness to learn of a danger, need, error, etc, and to respond appropriately.

One of the two uses of ameleo in the OT Septuagint depicts Jehovah speaking of His promise of the New Covenant, declaring that it is...

"not according to the covenant (Mosaic) which I made with their fathers in the day when I took hold of their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; for they abode not in my covenant, and I disregarded (ameleo) them, saith the Lord." (Jeremiah 31:32) (This is the English translation of the Septuagint and is the translated almost verbatim in Hebrews 8:9 (see below).

Below are the 4 uses of ameleo in NT:

Matthew 22:5 "But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business,

1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect  (present imperative - stop doing this) the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed upon you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.

Hebrews 2:3 (note) how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

Hebrews 8:9 (note) Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says the Lord.

John MacArthur exhorts every reader...

Let it not be said of you that you neglected Jesus Christ. History tells us that failure to shoot a rocket at the precise time of night caused the fall of Antwerp, and Holland’s deliverance was delayed for twenty years. Only three hours neglect cost Napoleon the battle of Waterloo. Neglect of Christ’s salvation will cost you eternal blessing, eternal joy, and will bring you damning judgment and eternal punishment. Do not drift past God’s grace. (MacArthur, John: Hebrews. Moody Press or Logos)

><> ><> ><>

Spurgeon writes...

Not if we resist it, reject it, despise it, oppose it; but if we neglect it. If a man is in business, it is not necessary that he should commit forgery in order to fail; he can fail by simply neglecting his business. If a man is sick, he need not commit suicide by taking poison; he can do it just as surely by neglecting to take proper medicines. So is it in the things of God, neglect is as ruinous as distinct and open opposition: How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation (Exposition on Hebrews 2-3) (Bolding added)

><> ><> ><>

What is the problem if we neglect? Here are a few illustrative (and some very tragic) examples...

The devil and his cohorts were devising plans to get people to reject the Gospel. “Let’s go to them and say there is no God,” proposed one. Silence prevailed. Every devil knew that most people believe in a supreme being. “Let’s tell them there is no hell, no future punishment for the wicked.” offered another. That was turned down, because men obviously have consciences which tell them that sin must be punished. The concave was going to end in failure when there came a voice from the rear: “Tell them there is a God, there is a hell and that the Bible is the Word of God. But tell them there is plenty of time to decide the question. Let them ‘neglect’ the Gospel, until it is too late.” All hell erupted with ghoulish glee, for they knew that if a person procrastinated on Christ, they usually never accept Him.  (10000 Sermon Illustrations. Dallas: Biblical Studies Press)

><> ><> ><>

An incident from the American Revolution illustrates what tragedy can result from neglect. Colonel Rahl, commander of the British troops in Trenton, New Jersey, was playing cards when a courier brought an urgent message stating that General George Washington was crossing the Delaware River. Rahl put the letter in his pocket and didn't bother to read it until the game was finished. Then, realizing the seriousness of the situation, he hurriedly tried to rally his men to meet the coming attack, but his neglect was his undoing. He and many of his men were killed and the rest of the regiment were capture. Nolbert Quayle said, "Only a few minutes' delay cost him his life, his honor, and the liberty of his soldiers." Earth's history is strewn with the wrecks of half-finished plans and unexecuted resolutions. 'Tomorrow' is the excuse of the lazy and refuge of the incompetent. (Adapted from Our Daily Bread)

><> ><> ><>

The Cost of Not Putting a Finger in the Dike - For most of the last decade, Chicagoans who worked in the Loop, the booming downtown business district, could easily ignore the city's budget crisis; Washington's cutback of aid to cities didn't seem to hurt business. Last week, they learned one price of neglecting the underpinnings of all that economic growth. A quarter billion gallons of murky Chicago River water gushed into a 60-mile network of turn-of-the-century freight tunnels under the Loop and brought nearly all businesses to a soggy halt. It turned out that a top city official had known about the leak, but, acting for a cash-strapped government, had delayed repairs costing only about $50,000. The final cost of the damage caused by this neglect was estimated to be more than $1 billion. (From U.S. News & World Report, April 27, 1992.)

><> ><> ><>

We often fail to consider the gradual, cumulative effect of sin in our lives. In Saint Louis in 1984, an unemployed cleaning woman noticed a few bees buzzing around the attic of her home. Since there were only a few, she made no effort to deal with them. Over the summer the bees continued to fly in and out the attic vent while the woman remained unconcerned, unaware of the growing city of bees. The whole attic became a hive, and the ceiling of the second- floor bedroom finally caved in under the weight of hundreds of pounds of honey and thousands of angry bees. While the woman escaped serious injury, she was unable to repair the damage of her accumulated neglect. (Robert T Wenz)

><> ><> ><>

A 64-year-old woman, whose decomposed body was found in her dilapidated Houston home recently, was discovered frozen to death for five months. She was forgotten (neglected) all winter and spring by neighbors and family members. Neighbors described her as someone who "didn't have anything to do with anybody, and nobody had anything to do with her." This occurred after her children had grown up and moved away, and then her husband's death. She had two children, one of whom lived about 10 miles from his mother's house.

><> ><> ><>

SO GREAT A SALVATION: têlikautês sôtêrias: (5:9; 7:25,26; Isaiah 12:2; 51:5,8; 62:11; Luke 1:69; John 3:16-18; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 1:15; Titus 2:11; Revelation 7:10)

So great (5082) (telikoutos = a strengthened form of telíkos = so great) is a word that makes  reference to the size or degree of something and can be translated as "so large" (referring more to size) or as in the current verse "so great" (referring to degree, grade or "rank").

Telikoutos is used only four times in the NT and not in the Septuagint (non-apocryphal):

2 Corinthians 1:10 who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

Hebrews 2:3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great (referring to degree - there is none higher!) a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

James 3:4 Behold, the ships also, though they are so great (referring to size) and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.

Revelation 16:18 (see note) (Context = the event described in this verse occurs at the sounding of the Seventh Trumpet, the midpoint of Daniel's Seventieth Week and beginning of the last 3.5 years Jesus called the "Great Tribulation") And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.

The tragic truth is that Hell is full of people who never actively opposed "the Way, the Truth and the Life", but who simply neglected the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. The truth is that one may know the truth and even "believe" the truth, in the sense of intellectually acknowledging its truthfulness. They are aware of the good news of salvation provided in Jesus Christ, but are not willing to genuinely place their faith in Christ. Beloved, although some might argue this point, there is a merely intellectual belief that does not lead to salvation (e.g., read about those Jews who believed in Jesus in John 8:30ff but who were ready to stone Him by the end of this chapter, John 8:59! Was their belief unto salvation? Even Charles Ryrie says their belief was "likely only a profession". Their actions hardly demonstrate it and Jesus Himself said their "father" was the devil - John 8:44!). So they drift past the call of God into eternal damnation. This tragedy makes these verses extremely important and urgent.

Albert Barnes remarks that...

"It is not merely if we commit great sins. Not, if we are murderers, adulterers, thieves, infidels, atheists, scoffers. It is, if we merely “neglect” this salvation - if we do not embrace it - if we suffer it to pass unimproved. “Neglect” is enough to ruin a man. A man who is in business need not commit forgery or robbery to ruin himself; he has only to “neglect” his business, and his ruin is certain. A man who is lying on a bed of sickness, need not cut his throat to destroy himself; he has only to “neglect” the means of restoration, and he will be ruined. A man floating in a skiff above Niagara, need not move an oar or make an effort to destroy himself; he has only to “neglect” using the oar at the proper time, and he will certainly be carried over the cataract. Most of the calamities of life are caused by simple “neglect.” By neglect of education children grow up in ignorance; by neglect a farm grows up to weeds and briars; by neglect a house goes to decay; by neglect of sowing, a man will have no harvest; by neglect of reaping, the harvest would rot in the fields. No worldly interest can prosper where there is neglect; and why may it not be so in religion? There is nothing in earthly affairs that is valuable that will not be ruined if it is not attended to - and why may it not be so with the concerns of the soul? Let no one infer, therefore, that because he is not a drunkard, or an adulterer, or a murderer, that, therefore, he will be saved. Such an inference would be as irrational as it would be for a man to infer that because he is not a murderer his farm will produce a harvest, or that because he is not an adulterer therefore his merchandise will take care of itself. Salvation would be worth nothing if it cost no effort - and there will be no salvation where no effort is put forth." (Barnes, A: Notes on the New Testament)

Salvation (4991) (soteria from soter = Savior in turn from sozo = save, rescue, deliver) (Click here or here for in depth discussion of the related terms soter and sozo) describes the rescue or deliverance from danger, destruction and peril.

Salvation is a broader term in Greek than we often think of in English. Other concepts that are inherent in soteria include restoration to a state of safety, soundness, health and well being as well as preservation from danger of destruction.

Soteria is found 45 times in the NT (Luke 4x; John; Acts 6x; Romans 5x; 2 Corinthians 3x; Ephesians; Philippians 3x; 1 Thessalonians 2x; 2 Thessalonians; 2 Timothy 2x; Hebrews 7x; 1 Peter 4x; 2 Peter; Jude; Revelation 3x) and is translated in the NAS as: deliverance, 2; preservation, 1; salvation, 42. Note that soteria “salvation” is found seven times in Hebrews, more than in any other New Testament book.