Heb. 10:37. For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not delay. (Hab. 2:3)
He brings forward the prophet Habakkuk, who says that the Judge is near, with the purpose of rendering recompense. And if even Habakkuk said at that time, "yet a little while, a very little while, and the Coming One shall come," then it is clear that now He is even nearer. The expression "a very little while" denotes an exceedingly brief interval of time.
Heb. 10:38. The righteous shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him. (Hab. 2:4)
So, it is necessary to believe, even if we are righteous. But if the righteous one "shrinks back," that is, is subjected to some doubt and perplexity, or "shrinks back" — meaning: falls into despondency under the influence of temptations, then "My soul" does "not take pleasure" in him, that is, does not rejoice over him. Whose soul? God's, according to a particular manner of expression in Scripture, as in the following passage: "Your feasts My soul hates" (Isa. 1:14), or: the soul of Christ.
Heb. 10:39. We are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who stand firm in faith to the saving of the soul.
Since we have the faith of those who are saved, not of those who draw back to perdition, he says that we are not of those who perish through "wavering" and falling into faintheartedness or doubt, but of those who are steadfast in faith, so as to preserve our own souls, that is, to acquire, safeguard, and save them. For possession, acquisition is itself "salvation."