What Does Hebrews 6:18 Mean?
So that through two unshifting deeds, in which it is without power for God to lie, we might have a strong comfort, we who have fled for refuge to grip the hope lying before us.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:THE KEY
Hope is within reach because it rests on God’s promise and oath, and God cannot lie.
THE MEANING
God’s promise and oath give you fixed ground: God’s word does not turn into falsehood. You are pictured fleeing toward refuge and taking hold of a hope already set before you. The comfort is strong because its source and its promise are steady.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that hope depends on your circumstances staying stable; here, its ground is God’s unchangeable word.
THE ROOT
ἀμεταθέτοις
ametathetois
GROWS FROM
τίθημι
tithēmi
to put, set, or place
“unshifting” in this verse is ametathetois. The word carries the sense of what cannot be shifted or changed. God’s promise and oath are fixed ground beneath the hope you can grasp.
ALSO GROWS
tithēmi: to put, set, or place
τίθημι
The word family begins with setting something in place.
metatithēmi: to transfer or change
μετατίθημι
This branch shows the movement or alteration that “immutable” rules out.
καταφυγόντες
kataphugontes
GROWS FROM
φεύγω
pheugō
to flee or escape
“fled for refuge” in this verse is kataphugontes. The phrase pictures movement toward safety, followed by taking hold of the hope already laid before you. Refuge here is not merely a place to rest; it is the destination of a flight from danger.
ALSO GROWS
phygē: flight or escape
φυγή
The same root makes refuge a movement away from danger.
phygas: a fugitive
φυγάς
This branch names the one who flees toward shelter.
παράκλησιν
paraklēsin
GROWS FROM
παρακαλέω
parakaleō
to comfort, encourage, or urge
The comfort in this verse carries encouragement as well as consolation. It is rooted in the promise and oath that give hope something solid to hold.
ALSO GROWS
parakaleō: to comfort, encourage, or urge
παρακαλέω
The verb shows that consolation can steady and urge a person forward.
paraklētos: comforter or advocate
παράκλητος
This related word carries the same family’s association with support and comfort.
THE PATTERN
Hope holds steady when it rests on a promise whose source cannot lie and whose word does not shift.
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should relent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Has he spoken, and will he not make it stand?For the ages, LORD, your word is set in the heavens.For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the comfort of the writings we might hold hope.THE THREAD
For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the comfort of the writings we might hold hope.The Greek word παράκλησις (paraklēsis, comfort or encouragement) appears in both this verse and Hebrews 6:18. Hebrews locates that comfort in God’s promise and oath; Romans shows scripture’s comfort giving hope.
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