(b) It contains a note of encouragement in v. 7; and (c) it is at once followed up by an eager hope that the readers will disappoint their friend and teacher’s fear (v. 9). In the later church this feature of Πρὸς Ἑβραίους entered into the ecclesiastical question of penance (cp. ERE ix:716, and Journal of Theological Studies, iv: 321 f.), and seriously affected the vogue of the epistle (cp. Introd. p. xx). The fourfold description of believers (4, 5a) begins with ἅπαξ φωτισθέντας, where φωτισθέντας