Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He exhorts the Hebrews to study and observe Christ and the law of Christ. First, on this ground: that, if they neglect so great a salvation, they may be gravely punished by God. Secondly, because the law of Christ has been confirmed by many miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thirdly, because He has subjected the future world not to angels but to Christ. Then, from verse 10 to the end, he teaches by many arguments that it was fitting for Christ to suffer and die, and so to be made like His brethren in all things and to suffer with them — and that for this end, namely to take away from the minds of the Hebrews the scandal of the cross of Christ.
Vulgate Text: Hebrews 2:1-18
1. Therefore we ought more abundantly to observe the things which we have heard, lest perhaps we should let them slip away. 2. For if the word, spoken by angels, became steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward: 3. how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? Which having begun to be declared by the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him, 4. God also bearing them witness by signs and wonders, and divers miracles, and distributions of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will. 5. For God hath not subjected unto angels the world to come, whereof we speak. 6. But one in a certain place hath testified, saying: What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? 7. Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels: Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast set him over the works of Thy hands. 8. Thou hast subjected all things under his feet. For in that He hath subjected all things to him, He left nothing not subject to him. But now we see not as yet all things subject to him. 9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor: that, through the grace of God, He might taste death for all. 10. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, who had brought many sons unto glory, to perfect the author of their salvation by His passion. 11. For both He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one. For which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying: 12. I will declare Thy name to My brethren; in the midst of the Church will I praise Thee. 13. And again: I will put My trust in Him. And again: Behold I and My children, whom God hath given Me. 14. Therefore because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner hath been partaker of the same: that, through death, He might destroy him who had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil: 15. and might deliver them, who through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to servitude. 16. For nowhere doth He take hold of the angels: but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold. 17. Wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, that He might be a propitiation for the sins of the people. 18. For in that wherein He Himself hath suffered and been tempted, He is able to succor them also that are tempted.
Verse 1: Therefore We Ought More Abundantly to Observe the Things We Have Heard, Lest Perhaps We Should Let Them Slip Away
1. Therefore we ought more abundantly (that is, more, more diligently, and more vehemently) to observe (in Greek προσέχειν, that is, to attend, and to apply the mind) the things we have heard, lest perhaps we should let them slip away.
Having shown the dignity and pre-eminence of Christ in chapter I, the Apostle here exhorts and urges the Hebrews to receive the doctrine and law of Christ with their whole mind, more attentively than before. As if to say: Until now, O Hebrews, you have indeed been Christians, but still attached to Moses more than was right; you did not esteem Christ as much as was fitting, and allowed yourselves only with difficulty to be led away from the law of Moses — and that because you did not sufficiently consider who Moses is (a servant, namely) and who Christ is (namely God and Lord of all men and angels). But now, after I have clearly proved and presented to you in chapter I the divinity and pre-eminence of Christ, come, take notice who and how great Christ is, and apply yourselves more and more zealously than before to the things which you have heard from Christ and from the Apostles of Christ, so that you may completely tear out from your soul the memory of and love for Moses and the old law, and apply yourselves wholly to knowing and bringing to perfection the law of Christ, and for its sake you may endure with cheerful and constant spirit the despoiling of your goods and every persecution.
Lest perhaps we let them slip. — That is, lest like leaky paper, which does not retain its characters, we fail to retain the doctrine we have heard, but allow it to flow away. Secondly and better, as if to say: Lest like vessels full of cracks, we should not contain in memory and mind the word of Christ that we have heard, as it were the most sweet balm of the divine word, but irrecoverably allow it to flow away. The metaphor is taken from vessels, which when they are cracked do not retain water or any other liquid, but allow it to flow out, so that it can no longer be gathered up, according to that saying in Ecclesiasticus 21:17: "The heart of a fool is as a broken vessel, and shall hold no wisdom." So that Parmeno of Terence says: "I am full of cracks, here and there I leak." Hence some think that we should read here not pereffluamus, but perfluamus. But all manuscripts have pereffluamus, and this is more significant than perfluamus. For it signifies two things: first, that water flows from a vessel, and a discourse slips from the mind; secondly, that the water having fallen from the vessel, the discourse fallen from the mind, drifts apart, flows away, and perishes, so that it can no longer be received back. Hence St. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius, and the Syriac thus explain: lest we flow away or be carried away, that is, they say, lest we fall away from the way of salvation and perish. Chrysostom notes that this phrase is taken from Proverbs 3:21, where the Septuagint has υἱέ, μή παραρρυῇς, that is, son, do not slip away, for which the Hebrew and our Interpreter read: "My son, let not these (counsels of wisdom) depart from thine eyes."
Thirdly, Barradius, tom. III, book I, chapter XXIII, thus explains: "lest perhaps we let them slip," that is, lest perhaps being negligent and not attentive in mind, we flow away and be drawn into other affairs or into desires, lest we perhaps pour out our attention negligently upon other things, and not upon the words of God. For just as a vessel leaks when it pours out the water it contains, so the hearer leaks when he pours out his attention from his mind and listens negligently. But the second sense, as it is simpler, so it is more genuine.
Verse 2: For If the Word Spoken by Angels Became Steadfast, and Every Transgression and Disobedience Received a Just Recompense
2. For if the word spoken by angels (that is, the law which was dictated through the angels, Exodus 19 and 20) became steadfast, etc.
Verse 3: How Shall We Escape If We Neglect So Great Salvation?
3. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? — As if to say: If the old law given through angels on Sinai was made firm, that is, was confirmed by God with lightnings, earthquake, smoke, thunder, etc., Exodus 19:16, and most especially with the terrible vengeance upon transgressors: if, I say, the transgressors of the law were punished so severely — for example, when they worshipped the calf, Exodus 32:28; when they fornicated with the daughters of Moab, Numbers 25:4 and 9; when they violated the sabbath, Numbers 15:35, and at other times often when they murmured against the Lord, Moses, and Aaron: how and how much more grievously shall we Christians be punished, if we neglect salvation, that is, the Gospel, which brings salvation to the soul, which not angels, but Christ Himself the Son of God declared and ratified, and which the Apostles confirmed with so many signs and miracles, as follows.
3. Which (namely salvation, that is, the Gospel and proclamation of salvation) having taken its beginning to be declared by the Lord (Christ), by those who heard Him (that is, by the Apostles) unto us (that is, down to these our times) was confirmed, 4. God also bearing witness with signs and wonders, and various miracles (that is, mighty miracles), and distributions of the Holy Spirit (that is, the gifts of tongues, prophecy, and others, which the Holy Spirit distributed to each one) according to His own will. — Hence Calvin, Beza, and even Cajetan attempt to prove that this epistle is not by St. Paul, because, they say, Paul in Galatians 1 declares that he learned the faith and Gospel from no man, but from God alone; whereas here he indicates that he was instructed in the faith, or at least confirmed in it, by the Apostles.
I reply: The Apostle here does not say that he was confirmed in the faith by the Apostles, but that the Gospel itself, that is, the law and doctrines of Christ, was confirmed by God with many miracles, and this repeatedly and continuously down to his own times. The Apostle therefore says nothing other here than what Mark in the last chapter, verse 20, says: "But they (the Apostles) going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs that followed." These signs Christ Himself had explained shortly before in the same place, saying: "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall recover."
Note: Signs, wonders, and miracles are in fact the same thing, but are distinguished only by connotation. For miracles are called signs because they are indications of truth and doctrine, and of the true Prophet and teacher; the same are called wonders, that is prodigies, because they exceed both the force, use, and course of nature, and the knowledge and opinion of men: hence men look upon them and marvel, as at things new, unusual, transcendent, and divine. The same are finally called miracles (virtues), because they are works of the power and omnipotence of God.
Verse 5: For God Hath Not Subjected Unto Angels the World to Come
5. For God has not subjected to the angels the world to come. — That is to say, we must hearken to and obey Christ, not the angels; because not the angels, but Christ is Lord and Judge of the world.
You will ask, what is here called "the world to come"? St. Chrysostom answers first, that it is this world, which was then future when the Son of God was in His eternity, and was destined and decreed by the Father to be Lord of the world.
Secondly, Franciscus Ribera understands the Church of Christ, which was to come when the Son was acting with the Father, and was being decreed parent and head of the Church through His incarnation, future and to be born. For he thinks that this is called the world to come, because in it there were to be new men, a new commonwealth, a new law, a new king, new Sacraments, a new kingdom of Christ, not temporal but spiritual through faith and grace, by which we begin the heavenly, blessed, and eternal kingdom; as if the Apostle were saying: You, O Hebrews, are the beginning of this world to come, and of this new Christian age, which is subjected not to angels, but to Christ: wherefore you ought to obey not Moses, not the old law, but Christ and His new law, and constantly retain it, since God has subjected you and all men, not to Moses, nor even to angels, but to Christ. But the Church is very improperly and obscurely called the world to come, nor is it ever so named in Scripture.
Therefore thirdly, most plainly and most fittingly, Theodoret, St. Thomas, and Lyranus take the world to come as that after the resurrection and the general judgment, which God the Father in His decree and predestination has subjected, and will actually in fact subject to Christ at the end of the world: for then Christ, having clearly conquered all His enemies, with the fullest triumph, command, and dominion, will reign with His Saints in this world. This is clear from verse 8, where, when Paul had cited that of the psalm: "Thou hast subjected all things under His feet," he adds: "But now we see not yet all things subject to Him," as if to say: But we shall see all things subjected to Christ in the world to come, after the resurrection: for Paul here continually rouses the Hebrews to constancy in the faith and to endurance of persecutions, by the hope of beatitude and heavenly glory, and of the future resurrection and renewal of the world and all things. Hence in Isaiah 9:6, Christ is called the Father of the world to come, that is, Lord of the Blessed and of the whole world to be renewed in the resurrection. Hence also in Isaiah 65:17, in this world and age to come, a new world, new heavens, and a new earth are said to be created.
You will say: How does the Apostle add concerning this world, saying: "Of which we speak"? For thus far he has not treated of the resurrection and the world to come after it.
I reply, that the Apostle has treated of the resurrection and the new world to come, in chapter 1, verse 12, when He says: "And as a vesture Thou shalt change them," namely the heavens in the resurrection; and in verse 6, where he says: "And again, when (or, at the resurrection) He brings the firstbegotten into the world, He says: And let all the angels of God adore Him": behold, the Apostle here alludes to these words, and this is the world to come. Happy is he who always turns this world to come over in his mind, and conforms himself to it!
Verse 6: But One in a Certain Place Hath Testified, Saying: What Is Man, That Thou Art Mindful of Him?
6. But one in a certain place hath testified, saying. — From the testimony of David, Psalm 8, he proves what he had said, namely, that the world to come is subject to Christ.
Note: He says of David, "one," that is, a certain one, not out of contempt, but because he is speaking to the Hebrews, says Chrysostom, who were most versed and most skilled in the Scriptures and the Psalms, as if to say: That one whom you know, and whom you daily read and use, namely David, says:
What is man that Thou art mindful of him. — Note that Psalm 8 celebrates the greatness and beneficence of God the Creator, from so many and so wondrous of His creatures, and especially from man, whom He has constituted as it were king and lord of all. That this is so is taught by Nazianzen, Theodoret, Eusebius, and Apollinaris in the Catena of the Greeks, on Psalm 8, and it is clear from the very words of the psalm: "For," he says, "I shall behold the heavens, the works of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast founded; what is man that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, and hast set him over the works of Thy hands: Thou hast subjected all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, moreover the beasts also of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea." Who does not see described here man's dominion over cattle and other animals, given to man by God at his first creation? Who does not see that the Psalmist alludes to these words, indeed cites the words of God in Genesis 1:26, where He says: "Let us make man to Our image and likeness; and let him have dominion over the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the air, and the beasts, and the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth"?
You will say: If this psalm sings the excellence of creatures, and especially of any man, then Paul wrongly appropriates it to Christ as man.
I reply, I deny the consequence. For which note, Scripture admits of several literal senses, especially when one is subordinated to another, and when one is contained and stands forth in another as a species in its genus, or an individual in its species. For then there is not so much a double sense as one sense formed and perfected from two. The Psalmist therefore in Psalm 8 celebrates the magnificence of God, from so many and such great creatures of God, especially men; but because among these creatures and men Christ is the most noble and stands forth, hence this psalm is appropriated to Christ above the rest, not only allegorically but also literally, as is clear from this passage of Paul, and from Matthew 21:16, and from 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 26. The like occurs in Deuteronomy 18:15, where it is said: "The Lord your God will raise up to you a Prophet from your nation: Him you shall hear, as you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb." For first, by this Prophet he understands any true Prophets whatever, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and others. Second, by "the Prophet" properly he understands Christ, as is clear from Acts chapter 3, verse 22, and chapter 7, verse 37. See what is said on Deuteronomy 18:15.
So also in this Psalm 8 the Psalmist sings the magnificence of God in general from the creation of all things and of men, but especially of Christ, who is the head and summit of all creatures and men, and the knot, summary, and mirror of all marvels and created things; whence in Hebrew this psalm is inscribed למנצח lamnatsehach, that is, as Aquila, Theodotion, and the Fifth Edition translate, to the conqueror, namely Christ, conqueror of death and the devil. The Septuagint translate, unto the end, that is, unto Christ, who is the end of sin and death, and ended and abolished the kingdom of Satan. Again, full dominion over fishes, birds, and beasts, of which the Psalmist treats in verses 8 and 9, now belongs to Christ alone: for man, having rebelled against God and fallen into sin, lost this perfect dominion over the beasts. The Psalmist therefore in this Psalm 8 celebrates the exaltation of man and of our humanity made in Christ, and through Christ, as the leader, prince, and restorer of our nature. So St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Jerome, Theophylact, and others, either here or on Psalm 8. For in Christ above all the glory and magnificence of God shines forth, both because Christ alone among all men retained the innocence and integrity of the first creation of humanity, and consequently full dominion over all animals; and because in Christ and through Christ, says Chrysostom, "Death is conquered, the demons are bound, the heavens are opened, the Holy Spirit has been sent, slaves have been made free, enemies have become sons, and men have been made angels, indeed God has been made man, and man has been made God."
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? — This verse depends upon the preceding one in Psalm 8, which reads thus: "Because I shall see Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast founded." Then there immediately follows: "What is man that Thou art mindful of him?" as if to say: Since, O Lord, when I contemplate the vastness, motion, beauty, and the multitude and order of Thy heavens and stars, and consider and meditate that all these things serve man, and that a place is prepared for his beatitude, in wonder I exclaim: What is, how small a thing is man, that Thou so visit him? How great, O Lord, is Thy condescension, by which Thou art so mindful of this little man, so care for him and prevent him with Thy benevolence and so many benefits? especially that in Christ, and through Christ Himself Thou hast so exalted, and daily exalt him even to heaven.
Note: For "man," in Hebrew it is אנוש enos, that is, wretched, fragile, weak, troubled: for as man is called adam by reason of his matter, because from adama, that is, the earth, Adam was formed, as it were homo from humus; and as the same man by reason of his soul is called איש isch, that is as it were אש, that is, fire; for, as the Poet says, "fiery is their (souls') vigor and heavenly origin": so man after the fall into sin and troubles is called "enos," as it were אנוש anus, that is, of desperate salvation, and destined to certain death. Second, enos here alludes to the root נשה nasa, that is, to forget, so that the letter א in enos is not radical but semantic: and so enos is the same as forgetful, or to be given over to forgetfulness; as if to say: Who is that "enos," that is, the forgetful and stupid man, who forgets Thee, O Lord, as much as his own salvation, that Thou shouldst remember him? Who is the "enos," that is, that troubled, desperate one, unworthy of memory, indeed to be soon given over to death and oblivion, that Thou, O Lord, shouldst deign to remember him, and so to remember him as to raise him up when fallen, and to think and design to unite him with Christ God, and through Christ to save and glorify him? So Origen and Hesychius on Psalm 8.
Enos therefore is called weak and incurable man, as if man alone among all creatures were incurable: who can be cured by none save by God alone, and who must look for salvation and all his goods from God alone, and therefore who, if he is wise, ought in God to sustain himself with good hope, and in Him wholly to rest secure without care for himself or for his affairs, as Philo says in his book On Abraham.
Verse 7: Thou Hast Made Him a Little Lower Than the Angels; Thou Hast Crowned Him with Glory and Honor, and Hast Set Him Over the Works of Thy Hands
7. Thou hast made him a little less than the angels. — The Hebrew החסיר hechesir, and the Greek ἠλάττωσας signify that someone is so diminished as to descend from a greater degree, honor, or wealth and station to a lesser. So Christ, when He was supreme God and most rich, for our sakes became a little child and most poor; and so from the height of deity He descended to the depth of our humanity, and was as it were diminished in head.
Second, for "a little less," in Greek it is βραχύ τι, which corresponds to the Hebrew מעט meat, that is, little, and denotes smallness both of time and of quantity. Whence some with the Syriac translate, for a little while or a short time; others, and more aptly, translate, by a little quantity, distance, and interval, or by a little in the matter. Both senses fit this passage: for man is distant from an angel by a small interval, namely a mortal and passible body; take the body away from man, and man will be an angel. Again for a little while, namely for the time of this brief and mortal life, man is less than the angels: for in the resurrection all the Blessed will be in glory equal and like to the angels of God, Luke 20:36. These things are more truly so in the man Christ. For human nature in Christ was less than the angels in a little matter and for a little time, because in this life, and especially in death and on the cross, as the Apostle notes in verse 9, He had a mortal and passible body, while the angels are immortal and glorious. Hence in His passion He was greatly humbled, afflicted, and tormented, so that He said: "I am a worm and no man"; but in such a way that in every passion He retained both constancy of soul and dignity of person, and showed it through the earthquake, the eclipse of the sun, the darkness, and other miracles. Again, Christ indeed died and was buried, but in such a way that His flesh, as it were holy and inviolable, did not see corruption; and in the other life, namely immediately after the resurrection, Christ received an immortal and glorious body, and consequently equal to the angels, indeed He was made superior to them in place and honor: for He was set at the right hand of the Father.
Second, the soul of Christ as to its nature is less than the angels, but as to wisdom, grace, and glory, and as to its union with the Word, He is far greater than the angels and always was.
Note: For "from the angels," in Hebrew it is meelohim, which St. Jerome, Theodotion, and the Fifth Edition translate, "from God," and this is true in its own way: for man is the image of God, and a certain earthly god, and lord of all; whence before the other creatures man approaches most closely to God, and is a little less than God, if compared with other created things, which are farther distant from God. But this is far more truly the case in Christ as man. For human nature in Christ, although it is created, nevertheless subsists in the same subsistence and person in which God, and the Son of God, subsists: whence also He sits at the right hand of the Father, as it were next to the Father in place and honor; therefore He is a little less than God. But better the Septuagint, and from them St. Paul, and the Chaldean and the Syriac, translate, "Thou hast made him a little less than the angels." For the Hebrew אלוהים elohim signifies not only God, but also angels, and even princes and judges, who participate in the empire, dominion, and governance of God, as in Psalm 81:1: "God stood in the synagogue of the gods (in Hebrew elohim, that is, judges); and in their midst He judges the gods (that is, the judges)." Psalm 137:1: "In the sight of the angels (in Hebrew elohim) I will sing to Thee." Psalm 96:7: "Adore Him, all His angels (in Hebrew elohim)." For all men, even Christ, properly speaking, are distant and disjoined from the angels by a little, but from God by much, indeed infinitely. Whence in Philippians 2:5 it is said that Christ, "when He was in the form of God, emptied Himself, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit found as a man."
Thou hast crowned him (man, especially Christ) with glory and honor, and hast set him over the works of Thy hands. — "Glory," namely threefold: first, because Thou hast created and formed man to Thy image, and given him a mind capable of reason, of liberty, of beatitude, and of God. Second, because Thou hast "set man over Thy works." In Hebrew תמשילהו tamschilehu, that is, Thou hast made him to rule, or Thou hast appointed him lord of Thy works, that is, of the whole world, and especially of all animals, not only tame ones, but also of the beasts of the field, that is, of wild beasts: for over these Adam fully ruled in paradise; but now after the fall man rules over them imperfectly and only half-fully, says Chrysostom, namely because man can capture, subdue, and tame any animals whatever: but Christ, equally as Adam, fully rules over them; whence to Christ alone this verse fits.
Third and chiefly, with the glory of resurrection, of ascension, of the celebrity of fame and name, of judicial power, and of perfect dominion over all things, Thou hast crowned man and human nature in Christ, when Thou didst endow and crown Christ the man with all this glory, as is clear from verse 9.
Note: "Thou hast crowned" can be taken in two ways: First, "Thou hast crowned," that is, Thou hast abundantly and as it were on every side girded and surrounded him with glory, like a crown. For crown to the Hebrews signifies abundance and affluence, as in Psalm 64:12: "Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of Thy goodness." Where by "crown of the year" he calls the abundance of flowers, herbs, crops, fruits, with which as with crowns the year of goodness is crowned, that is, the year which God by His goodness makes fruitful. Whence the Hebrews, now distinguishing differently, and for עטרת ateret, that is, crown, pointing עטרת atarta, that is, Thou hast crowned, translate, Thou hast crowned the year with Thy goodness or beneficence, that is, Thou hast heaped up the year with abundant produce which Thy goodness bestows. Hence the Psalmist explaining this crown adds: "And Thy fields shall be filled with plenty." So also Psalm 5:13: "O Lord, Thou hast crowned us with Thy good will as with a shield," that is, O Lord, with Thy benevolence, as with a shield, Thou dost surround, protect, and gird us about on every side. Psalm 102:4: "Who crowns thee with mercy and compassion," as if to say: God toward thee, O soul, is so merciful that with His compassions He surrounds thee as with a crown.
Second, "Thou hast crowned," that is, Thou hast given the crown of glory for merits, as if to say: Christ wrestling with death and the devil conquered, merited, obtained the crown of glory, both of His body, and of His fame and name, and of full dominion over all things, with which Thou, O Lord, hast crowned Him as a triumphant conqueror. It is clear from verse 9.
Verse 8: But Now We See Not Yet All Things Subject to Him
8. But now we see not yet all things subject to Him. — As if to say: Be not troubled, O Hebrews, if I say that Christ reigns, and that all things are subject to Him, because you see Christ's enemies lording it over you, and punishing you with the loss of goods and other punishments: for our emperor Christ has not yet obtained all things, His enemies still rebel against Him, the world to come (of which I spoke) for which we sigh has not yet appeared; but wait a little, until the impious fill up the measure of their sins, until this generation, this age, is ended — for at the end of the world Christ will obtain all things, and all will be subjected to Him, and then you will triumph with Him, and you will rule over your enemies, indeed over all things. So St. Chrysostom.
Verse 9: But We See Jesus, Who Was Made a Little Lower Than the Angels, for the Suffering of Death, Crowned with Glory and Honor, That Through the Grace of God He Might Taste Death for All
9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for all. — There is here a hyperbaton, or disturbed order of words, which is to be clearly arranged thus: "But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, who was made a little, that is, somewhat less than the angels, on account of (that is, for, namely to undergo) the suffering of death, that by the grace of God He might taste death for all." For thus all things cohere clearly and aptly. For there is here an antithesis to the preceding verse, as if to say: Although at this time we do not yet see all things subjected to Christ, nevertheless we see Christ Himself already crowned with glory and honor, as the Psalmist had foretold of Him; namely because the name, faith, fame, and glory of Christ are propagated everywhere: for all the nations, leaving their idols, acknowledge and worship Christ crucified, as their Savior. Whence we do not doubt, but most certainly hope and believe, that just as we see one little verse of the Psalmist fulfilled in Christ, so also shortly we shall see the other to be fulfilled, namely that in the resurrection all things shall be plainly subjected to Christ. Now therefore Christ, crowned with glory and honor, looks down from on high upon your contests for the faith, O Hebrews, that He may, after a little labor and time, crown you with the crown of glory when you bravely contend and conquer, indeed make you sharers of His own crown for all eternity. Excellently Tertullian to the Martyrs, chapter 3: "You, blessed ones," he says, "are about to undertake a good contest, in which the agonothete (judge) is the living God, the xystarches (master of the gymnasium) is the Holy Spirit, the prize is the crown of eternity, the politia (civic life) of angelic substance in heaven, glory unto ages of ages. And so your epistates (overseer) Jesus Christ, who has anointed you with the Spirit and brought you out to this arena, has willed to set you apart before the day of the contest from a freer condition for harsher treatment, that your strength may be strengthened in you. For athletes too are segregated for stricter discipline, they are constrained, tormented, wearied; the more they have labored in exercises, the more they hope of victory. And they, that they may obtain a corruptible crown, while we are to obtain an eternal one: because virtue is built up by hardship, but is destroyed by softness."
Note: The propter passionem does not signify that Christ was diminished through the passion, or in the passion. For so it would have had to be said in Greek, διὰ τοῦ παθήματος: but now it is said διὰ τὸ πάθημα, that is, on account of the passion, so that, namely, He might be able to suffer and die, therefore Christ was diminished in His incarnation and human nativity. Διά therefore, that is, on account of, here signifies not the matter or subject, but the final cause; for he clearly explains this when he adds:
That by the grace of God He might taste death for all. — "By the grace of God," that is, by the free mercy of God, as if to say: Christ was diminished in His nativity, in which He was born a passible man, destined for death and the cross, not from necessity, not from the merit of men or of angels, much less from any fault of His own: but from the pure mercy and grace of God, by which God the Father willed Him to be born such, that He might die for all, and might redeem all by His death.
Note: For χάριτι, that is, by the grace of God, Theodoret, Theophylact, and Oecumenius read χωρὶς Θεοῦ, that is, without God, or except God, and they add that this passage has been so corrupted by the Nestorians; for from this they prove that there were two persons in Christ, and that God was separated from the man. But before Nestorius, Ambrose, in the book On the Faith, chapter 4, also read sine Deo, and so explains it: Christ for all without God, that is, except God, tasted death; as if to say: Christ died for absolutely all, even for the angels, but not for God Himself (for I except God), not as though Christ had redeemed the angels, but because He reconciled the angels to men, and increased their joy and glory, while through men He restored and refilled the seats from which the demons had fallen. So St. Ambrose, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius.
But it must be read with our Interpreter, the Syriac, Chrysostom, and others, χάριτι, that is, by the grace, gift, and benefit of God; for by this word he takes away from the Hebrews the scandal of the cross. For the Jews were saying: If Christ is so great and so glorious, why was He crucified and put to death? The Apostle replies, that this was of the immense grace and clemency of God, that we might be redeemed by His death. For although God could have redeemed us in another way, yet He did not will to, because this manner — namely that we should be redeemed through the death of Christ — most became the infinite goodness and mercy of God.
Second, what Our (translator) renders, "for all," in Greek is ὑπὲρ παντός, that is, for every one, for whomsoever: which is put for ὑπὲρ πάντων (and thus perhaps in the Greek here it is to be read), that is, for all.
Third, for "might taste," Ribera wishes it should be read, "has tasted"; for he without hyperbaton thus explains: On account of the suffering of death, he says, Christ was crowned with glory and honor: from which it follows that Christ tasted death not because of His own fault, or any sin which Christ committed, by which He had also merited death; but that this was of the pure grace and mercy of God. For the little word ut (that), says Ribera, here as also elsewhere, often signifies not the end, but the consequence, or that which followed. But all the Latin and Greek copies have γεύσηται, that is, might taste: and this exposition of his, although ingenious, seems sufficiently complicated and meager; therefore the hyperbaton must be admitted which I have just stated, and St. Augustine admits it in book 3 against Maximinus, chapter 25; St. Thomas, Adam, and others: for then all things are plain, and the Apostle, as one swelling with the Spirit, has familiar hyperbata, as I said in Canon 38.
This sentence therefore depends upon and coheres with "was diminished," as if to say: Christ was diminished, when He was made a passible man, for this cause, namely that from the great mercy of God, suffering and dying for men, He might free them from death and hell, as I have said.
Fourth, the Apostle says that Christ did not eat, but tasted death, because Christ did not remain, indeed scarcely lingered, in death: for He rose again at once, so that He seems not to have drained or drunk down death, but only to have tasted it, as below in chapter 6, verse 4, some are said to taste the gift of God which they soon vomit forth. So St. Chrysostom. But by a simpler and more common Hebraism, to taste death is the same as to die, whether you rise again at once, or persist in death, as is clear from John 8:52, Matthew 16:28, and elsewhere. "Just as a physician," says Theophylact, "when he sees the sick man loathe food and medicines, first takes them himself, that he may lead the sick man to take the same: so Christ first tasted death, that the Christian may not shudder to taste it."
Verse 10: For It Became Him, for Whom Are All Things and by Whom Are All Things, to Perfect the Author of Their Salvation by Passion
10. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, who had brought many sons unto glory, to perfect the author of their salvation by His passion. — That is, it became God the Father to deliver Christ over to the passion. For God the Father is He for whom and through whom are all things. Note here that the preposition διά, that is, through, is also attributed to the Father: wrongly therefore from the fact that elsewhere it is wont to be attributed to the Son do the Arians infer that the Son is less than the Father. Again, wrongly Nestorius said that He for whom are all things is the Father, but He through whom are all things is the Son; as if these two had perfected by His passion a Jesus distinct in person from themselves: for both are here attributed to the Father alone, and that with this purpose, as if to say: Because God the Father does all things most perfectly for His own sake and for His own glory, hence it became Him also to perfect Christ by the passion; namely that in Christ He might display justice, goodness, wisdom, and all glory.
Second, "had brought," that is, had decreed and predestined; or had brought, not in act and reality, but in His eternal decree and predestination. See Canon 36. Now by sons He understands the just and the saints. The Apostle is speaking especially of the saints who lived before Christ, and were now deceased in a state of salvation, and with sure hope of glory; for they were only awaiting Christ, who by His death would open heaven and the entrance to glory: these were now as it were brought to glory, and seemed to have one foot in heaven. Again, for "author," in Greek it is ἀρχηγόν, that is, prince and leader, as if to say: It became God the Father, who had decreed to bring many men to His heavenly glory through Christ, to perfect Christ Himself, as the author and leader of all, by passion and death; why this became Him, He indicates by the word "to perfect," and more clearly explains the same in the following verse, namely because it became Christ to be assimilated to His brethren, and to go before them; for the brethren of Christ, that is, all the saints, are through many passions advanced and led by God to glory, and daily are led on.
Third, some here read consummari passively, but it should be read consummare actively. So the Roman and Greek (texts). Note here, the Greek τελειῶσαι, which our translator renders consummare, signifies many things, and can be variously translated: namely first, to immolate; second, to make glorious; third, to consummate, or, as the Syriac, to make perfect; so that this perfection is opposed and as it were repaid as the reward of Christ's diminution, of which he said: "Thou hast made Him a little less than the angels." To consummate therefore is the same as to crown with glory and honor, or to make Christ rising glorious in heaven, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and on earth worshiped and adored by men, as the Savior and Lord of the world. So Theophylact, Oecumenius, and others. Fourth, τελειῶσαι is the same as to consecrate. Whence St. Dionysius, in the book On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, throughout calls the Sacraments τελειώσεις, as if to say, Consecrations, because they are confected by sacred words as by forms, and are as it were consecrated. Hence also Martyrs were called τελειούμενοι, namely because through martyrdom the Martyr is not only perfected but also immolated and consecrated to God. Whence Christ also, John 17:19, says: "I," He says, "sanctify Myself for them," that is, I offer, consecrate, and immolate Myself to the Father as a holy victim, and as the price of the redemption and sanctification of men. By this word τελειῶσαι, therefore, Paul signifies that Christ's passions and sorrows were not signs of weakness and vileness in Christ, but were certain august sacrifices, by which Christ was as it were consecrated and sanctified into pontiff and redeemer; and therefore that it became Christ to undergo these passions, and by them to be perfected and consecrated.
Morally, see here what passions and afflictions are, and how useful and noble they are, and therefore not to be fled from, but with Christ and all the saints to be sought after; for through sufferings we are made perfect, glorious, holy, indeed victims and sacrifices of the most high God, and for this cause God permitted man to fall into sin and so many afflictions, that in so many sufferings He might display the greatness of His grace, virtue, and patience; and that by these He might polish us, perfect us, and lead us to great holiness and glory. Hence comes that pious custom of the faithful, that when one of them dies, they say, "He is consummated," because indeed, he who has died piously has attained the perfection, end, and term of all his labors and sorrows, of all patience and virtue, and of all merit, and consequently of reward and glory.
Verse 11: For He Who Sanctifies and Those Who Are Sanctified Are All of One
11. For He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one. — Supply "are," and are wont to be; as if to say: Christ who sanctifies men fallen into sin and death, and the men who are sanctified by Christ, are all sprung and descended from one, namely Adam. Or, "of one" in the neuter gender, that is, they are and consist of one stock, of one and the same nature, namely the human. The Apostle is not speaking of God, who as Lord sanctifies us, nor of the Angels, who sanctify us by their admonitions and prayers, but of Christ, who sanctifies us as our High Priest, mediator, and redeemer: for it befits Him to be of the same nature as those whom He redeems and sanctifies, and this is what he says in chapter 5, verse 1: "For every high priest taken from among men is appointed for men."
Here the Apostle proves what came before, namely that it was fitting that Christ, who as the author of salvation has led many into glory and daily leads them, should suffer and be consummated through suffering. He proves this by this argument: It is fitting that the High Priest who sanctifies, such as Christ is, and those who are sanctified by Him, be all of one, that is, be all of the same nature; but the men who are sanctified are of a nature subject to suffering, miserable and full of afflictions, and they suffer many things, and at last die, as is most well known by experience: therefore it also befitted Christ to be of a nature subject to suffering, to suffer many things, and to die. Wherefore the Apostle, explaining this thereafter to the end of the chapter, says among other things in verse 17: "Wherefore He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become merciful and a faithful high priest before God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people; for in that He Himself has suffered and been tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted," as if to say: Be not scandalized, O Hebrews, by Christ's passion, cross, and death: for these were not unbecoming and unworthy, but most fitting and worthy, and becoming for Christ. For it befitted Christ to suffer and die for this reason, namely that He might be made like His brethren, men, and this firstly, that He might lead the way for them by the example of patience and charity, giving His life for them as a ransom. Secondly, that He might uphold justice and satisfy it, lest the disgrace of sin should remain without the beauty of justice and of just vengeance and punishment. For this cause Christ as man took upon Himself all the punishment and vengeance owed to men, and thus by suffering He expiated sin, when by His own passion and death He made satisfaction to the injured party, namely God who had been offended.
Thirdly, because it was fitting that not an angel, but a man should make satisfaction for man, not by doing, but by suffering: for this is the satisfaction which guilt and fault demand.
Note: The Apostle is speaking of Christ, who sanctifies as High Priest and redeemer, and of those who are sanctified from sin, in such wise that they need expiation and a victim, such as men fallen into sin. For these it befits to be of the same nature: but such are not the angels who never sinned. For these were able to be sanctified by Christ as man, even though He was of another nature, and, as many hold, they were in fact sanctified in the first instant of their creation: when, as St. Augustine says, God was at once founding the nature in them and bestowing grace. Hence this passage does not stand against the opinion of those who hold that Christ sanctified not only men but also angels, that is, that on account of Christ's merits grace was conferred by God not only on men but also on angels, as I have said on Ephesians 1:22.
Secondly, others explain "of one" thus: From one, namely God the Creator, both Christ the sanctifier was made, and all men who are sanctified. Thus Ambrose, Anselm, Chrysostom, Theodoret, St. Thomas, Theophylact, as if the Apostle were saying: We are all brothers begotten of God the Father; therefore it was fitting that we all, as sons, be reconciled to God our Father, and that through Christ, as the most noble brother, who is the Holy of Holies, and who sanctifies all; not, however, through others, who are themselves sanctified and need sanctification. Therefore it was fitting that Christ reconcile us, redeem us, and make satisfaction for us: therefore it was fitting that Christ suffer. But this sense is more general and more difficult, and does not bind and press as the former does, which is therefore the genuine one, and is confirmed by all that follows, and especially by what is said in verse 16: "For He nowhere takes hold of angels, but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham: wherefore He had to be made like His brethren in all things." By which words the Apostle sufficiently signifies that Christ is our brother, not because He was made of God as we are, but because He was born of Adam and of Abraham and received the same human nature with us.
Thirdly, St. Dionysius, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, part 4 near the end, and Cyril in his book On the Faith to the Queens, in the chapter "That the Son of God and Lord Jesus Christ is one," read thus: "He who sanctifies and is sanctified," and they understand this of Christ. For Christ sanctifies in such a way that He is at the same time sanctified by God, as if the Apostle were saying: Christ who is sanctified and at the same time sanctifies, and all of us are begotten of one, namely God, the Father. But this seems somewhat strained; for the Apostle does not say: "He who sanctifies and is sanctified, and all of one," but he says: "He who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified, are all of one." Add that all the Greek, Latin, and Syriac copies have "who are sanctified" (plural), not "who is sanctified" (singular).
Verse 12: I Will Declare Thy Name Unto My Brethren; in the Midst of the Church Will I Praise Thee
For which cause He is not ashamed (Christ does not blush) to call them brethren (men born of the one father Adam together with Himself), saying: I will declare Thy name (O Father), 12. unto My brethren (the Apostles, and others whom by preaching I shall make believers and Christians); in the midst of the Church (the Christian Church to be gathered by Me) will I praise Thee. — He cites verse 23 of Psalm 21, which is most clearly written of Christ's passion, preaching, death, and resurrection. The Apostle therefore proves that Christ and all of us were begotten of one, namely a father, from the fact that Christ and we are all brothers, namely according to the common nature as well as spirit, and that Christ in Psalm 21 calls us His brethren: for if we are Christ's brethren, therefore we are begotten of one and the same father, both Christ and we all. At the same time the Apostle hints at the manner in which Christ sanctifies us and leads us to glory, namely by announcing and preaching the name and worship of the true and living God, who freed Him from passion, cross, and death, and raised Him to immortal life: for it is clear from the preceding verse and the following verses of Psalm 21 that "I will declare" pertains to Christ's resurrection, as if Christ were saying: After My liberation and resurrection from death and the cross, I will declare and celebrate before My Apostles and disciples the name and glory of God My liberator and reviver. It ought to be a great honor and consolation to us, that Christ even after His resurrection, now immortal and glorious, deigns to call us His brethren, and, as it were, prepares for us as for brethren His inheritance in heaven.
Verse 13: And Again: I Will Put My Trust in Him. And Again: Behold I and My Children, Whom God Hath Given Me
13. And again: I will put My trust in Him. — He cites Psalm 17, verse 3, in which psalm (as the title of 2 Kings, last chapter, has it) David literally gives thanks to God for delivering him so often from Saul, the Philistines, and other enemies and dangers. Allegorically it fits Christ, who gives thanks to God for delivering Him from the Jews, the demons, His passion, cross, death, and every evil; whence in verse 3 He says: "I will put My trust in Him," as if to say: I, Christ, like other men, subject to death and miseries, placed in persecution, passion, and tribulation, just as David was, will hope in our common God the Father, and I will call upon Him with confidence, that He may free Me. The Apostle proves by another testimony that Christ and all of us are descended from one Adam, or that Christ is of the same nature with us, subject to suffering, miseries, and death, from the fact that Christ, hoping in and calling upon the Father, by that very thing testifies that He is set in affliction and passion.
But it seems truer that the Apostle is not citing here Psalm 17, verse 3. For there in the Greek is ἐλπίσω, but rather Isaiah 8:17, where Isaiah speaks in the person of Christ: "And I will wait for the Lord, who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for Him"; where for "I will look for Him," the Septuagint translates πεποιθὼς ἔσομαι ἐπ' αὐτῷ, that is, "I will be trusting in Him," as Paul cites here word for word. Note: Isaiah had said in that chapter that a son would be born, whose name would be: Hasten to take away the spoils, make haste to plunder, that is, Christ, because He was about to spoil hell and the devil; whence in verse 8 he calls Him Emmanuel; soon in verse 14 he says that Christ will be to the Jews "a stone of offense and a rock of scandal," so that many of them shall stumble against Him, fall, and be broken. And because this was sad, and seemed to oppose Christ the Savior's strength and spoiling, hence immediately Isaiah, consoling himself in the person of Christ, adds, saying: "And I will wait for the Lord, and I will look for Him," as if to say: God seems to have forgotten His people and to have cast them off, because the Jews refuse to believe in Me: yet I will not lose heart, I will not cast off hope, but I will wait for Him, trusting that I shall convert at least some of the Jews, namely the Apostles, who afterward shall convert all the Gentiles, and so plunder and spoil the whole kingdom of the devil.
From which it is clear that the Apostle by this citation and testimony does not so much prove that Christ is of the same nature with us, subject to suffering (as he had proved by the preceding testimony), as that all nations are sanctified through Christ, and are thus adopted as sons and brethren and brought to glory.
And again: Behold I and My children, whom God hath given Me. — The Apostle goes on to cite the following words of Isaiah, of which this is the full sentence: "Behold I and the children whom the Lord has given Me, for a sign and a wonder in Israel." Isaiah speaks in the person of Christ, or as a type of Christ, as I have said, as if to say: Just as I, Isaiah, and my disciples, namely the other Prophets following me, like Ezekiel in chapter 24, verse 24, Zechariah in chapter 3, verse 9, and others, by the very fact that we despise riches and honors, and preach and prophesy such marvelous things, are mocked by the Scribes and the Jews as fools, and are accounted as portents and wonders of Israel: so also Christ, whose forerunner and type I, Isaiah, am, with His Apostles and disciples, on account of the novelty of life, doctrine, poverty, humility, and passion, will be as it were a portent, spectacle, and laughingstock to the proud Jews and Philosophers. So Origen, Basil, Cyril and others on Isaiah chapter 8; and this is what the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 1:23: "But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, but to the Gentiles foolishness." By this testimony of Isaiah, then, the Apostle proves both: first, that Christ is of the same nature subject to suffering with men, and that He suffered many things — for this is signified when he says: "Behold I and the children," that is, sons, whom as partakers of My nature subject to suffering and mortal, I, as it were, spiritually beget as High Priest, and make Christians, with whom I have been made a laughingstock and a portent of Israel, as is clear from the following verse.
Secondly, by this same testimony the Apostle proves that Christ sanctifies all: for by the very fact that Christ begets sons, He sanctifies them. Note: For "pueris" (children) the Hebrew has ילדים jeladim, that is, the born, or sons and children. See Clement of Alexandria, book 1 of the Paedagogus, throughout chapter 5, where he beautifully teaches that all Christians ought to be called and be children, through innocence of conduct and mind, simplicity, easiness, and tenderness, and this that they may conform themselves to their exemplar, namely Christ the child, of whom Isaiah said in chapter 9, verse 6: "Unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given."
Verse 14: Since Therefore the Children Have Partaken of Flesh and Blood, He Himself in Like Manner Partook of the Same, That Through Death He Might Destroy Him Who Had the Empire of Death
14. Since therefore the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself in like manner partook of the same. — "To partake of flesh and blood" is to be a partaker of flesh and blood, that is, of human nature, which consists of flesh and blood; as if to say: Because men, whom Christ deigns to call His own children and sons, consist of flesh and blood, that is, of fragile and passible human nature, hence Christ also put on the same and was made a fragile and passible man. Beautifully St. Augustine, in his Sentences, number 262: "Just as," he says, "milk does not pass except through the flesh, that it may feed the little one who cannot eat bread, so unless the Wisdom of God, which is the bread of angels, had deigned to come to men through the flesh, no one could approach to contemplate the divinity of the Word. Therefore because the light could not be comprehended by the darkness, the Light itself underwent the mortality of the darkness, and through the likeness of sinful flesh gave a share of the true Light."
From this passage, as St. Cyril rightly teaches in epistle 8 to Nestorius, it is clear that Christ assumed human blood as well as flesh, and that He united it to the Word, not through the medium of flesh and veins, but immediately, as the truer opinion of the Theologians holds: the reason for which is that blood, even though it is not animated as flesh is animated, properly belongs to the truth of human nature, and was in Christ the price of our redemption; whence also in the consecration of the chalice of the Eucharist, with the blood of Christ the entire suppositum of Christ is concomitantly placed. The Apostle sufficiently hints at this here, when he signifies that Christ communicated equally and immediately with both blood and flesh, that is with each. Finally, weighty authors hand down that Clement VI condemned as erroneous in faith the opinion of one who said that the blood of Christ during the three days of His death was not united to the Word, as being separated from the flesh, and therefore was not to be adored with latria.
The Theologians hold the same of the remaining humors and spirits, both vital and animal, in Christ, namely that all these were assumed and terminated immediately by Christ's person. It is otherwise with the accidents of the body and soul: for these Christ took on, not immediately, but through the medium of the body in which they inhere. On this matter whoever wishes may see more in the Schoolmen, and among others in Francisco Suárez, part 3, disputation 13, section 6.
That through death He might destroy him who had the empire of death. — As if to say: Christ communicated with our flesh and blood, that is, He was made man, that He might be able to die (for inasmuch as He is God, He could not die), and this with this end, namely that through His death He might destroy the devil, who through sin was dragging us into the death of body and soul, both present and eternal. Hence "death" in the second place is taken more broadly than in the first: for in the first it signifies only the present and temporal death of the body — for this alone Christ underwent; but in the second it signifies the death both of body and of soul, and that both present and eternal: for to this the devil drags people, and over this he presides.
Note, the devil had the empire of death not in that manner in which a king and prince is said to have empire over his subjects, but in that manner in which a tyrant has it, or rather in that manner in which an executioner has empire over those who have been condemned to death and handed over to his power and hands: for the devil never had any right or legitimate dominion and empire over men, but he only torments and punishes with death, as an executioner, the men who while sinning have been handed over to his power by God the just judge. The devil is therefore said to have the empire of death because he impels men into sin, and consequently into death. Which thing he alone desires, wishes for, and rejoices in, and those who are dead and damned he keeps in perpetual death and damnation, and over them he presides and rules.
Hence secondly, Christ is said to have destroyed the devil, not because He destroyed and annihilated the person or substance of the devil, but because He destroyed his kingdom and empire, when by His death He freed men from present and eternal death, and consequently from the power of the demon, and brought it about that men should rise from death to immortal and eternal life: for so a king or tyrant is said to be destroyed when his kingdom or tyranny is destroyed, namely when he himself is deprived and despoiled of his kingdom and tyrannical power.
Verse 15: And Might Deliver Those Who Through Fear of Death Were Throughout Their Whole Life Subject to Bondage
15. And might deliver those who through fear of death were throughout their whole life subject to bondage. — He calls bondage the fear and horror of death, daily presenting itself to the eyes and the mind: for this fear and horror oppressed all men as it were slaves, and held them bound under itself as it were captives, and tormented them with wondrous anguish, and that partly from the fact that death is in itself horrible, and, as Aristotle says, "the most terrible of all the terrible things of this life"; partly and more so from the fact that men did not know whither they were going to come after death, what was to become of their soul separated from the body: whether it was to be banished to heaven, to hell, or to some other place; whether it was to be blessed or wretched. Indeed, since before Christ most people were impious, and they thought, or at least suspected, that the soul was immortal, they could expect nothing else after this life than eternal death and the torments of hell; just as a man guilty of murder, when he is led into prison, enters it in such a way that he does not hope to come out from there except to death.
Thus the Emperor Hadrian when about to die, as Spartianus says in his Life, sang to his soul this verse: "Little soul, wandering, charming, guest and companion of the body, into what places will you now go, pale, stiff, naked? Nor will you, as you used to, make jokes." Thus Aristotle, when about to die, is said to have anxiously declared: "I came naked into this world, I lived wretched, I die in doubt, I do not know whither I am going; nevertheless do Thou, Being of beings, Cause of causes, have mercy on me," as if the Apostle were saying: Christ has freed men from the horror and anguish of death, and brought it about that men, who before dreaded death as the beginning of eternal death, and under the fear of death — joined with the wrath and vengeance of God — anxious because of their sins, were as it were slaves, and were held as captive slaves in the fear and horror of death, now through Christ freed from sin and death, with confidence and eagerness approach death as the end of afflictions and the beginning of a better life, so that they say: Life is a weariness to me, death is a desire: I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ; for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. So Theophylact, Oecumenius, and others.
There is here a moral lesson, that Christians ought not to dread and fear death. See Chrysostom in moral homily 4, where he teaches that Christians in his time were accustomed to pray for the deceased, to sing psalms, and to perform funeral rites in the same way as we now do; moreover, that from a Gentile rite they were accustomed to employ wailing women, who would stir up weeping and lamentation in all: but Chrysostom forbids this very thing, namely that they should no longer employ such women, under pain of excommunication; for Christians ought not to mourn their dead as if they were dead, but to believe and to hope that they pass through death to a better life. "Tell me," he says, "what do these so splendid lamps at a funeral mean? Do we not accompany the dead as athletes? What too of hymns? Is it not that we may glorify God, and give Him thanks, because He has now crowned the one departing, because He has freed him from labors, because He has him freed from fear with Himself? Is it not for this reason hymns? Is it not for this reason psalmody? All these things belong to those who rejoice." And below: "If anyone therefore hires these wailing women, I will keep him for a long time away from the Church as an idolater." And in moral homily 5: "If," he says, "the trumpet of piety should call, immediately go forth and despise the soul, enter with much alacrity into the contest, break the face of the adversaries, cut down the face of the devil, set up a trophy. The life of Christ ought to be full of blood: with as great alacrity then let us pour out our own blood for Christ, as one pours out water; and with as great ease ought we to put off the flesh, as we put off a garment."
St. Cyprian also wrote (whom St. Ambrose followed in the book On the Good of Death) a treatise On Mortality, in which he teaches that for Christians death is not to be feared but to be desired. Take a few from many: "What," he says, "is in the world and in this life but a battle with anger, gluttony, lust? Hence the Wise Man congratulates the just man taken away, lest malice alter his understanding; so also Simeon: Now Thou dismissest Thy servant, Lord, he says, according to Thy word, in peace. He does not have faith in the resurrection who does not hasten to better things. Hence an angel addressing and reproaching one who feared to die said: You fear to suffer, you do not wish to depart, what shall I do with you? If a house threatened ruin, would you not move out of it? If a ship were in danger in a storm, would you not flee to a port? This world grows old and threatens ruin: why do you not migrate to the Father? where the crowd of dear ones awaits you, secure of their salvation, anxious about yours." Which thing he pursues at length toward the end of the book. Wherefore the same Cyprian in the book On the Praise of Martyrdom: "What," he says, "is martyrdom? The end of offenses, the term of danger, the leader of salvation, the road of patience, the master of the house of life, by which indeed even those things die which in a future trial might have been counted as torments." See what is said on Philippians chapter 1, verse 23.
Thus Conrad the Teuton, a disciple of St. Dominic, a man of wondrous humility, charity, and patience, in his sharp illnesses always had this saying of the bride in the Song of Songs on his lips: "My beloved is mine, and I am his, until the day breathes and the shadows lengthen"; and he predicted that he would die on the day of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in the year of Christ 1239, to whom he was greatly devoted. When about to die, then, he said to the brethren standing around: "Know, brethren, that I die faithfully, lovingly, confidently, and joyfully. Faithfully, because I die in the faith of Jesus Christ my Lord and of the mother Church. Lovingly, because from the day on which I put on this holy habit, I have striven to keep myself always in God's grace, and to please Him in all things as far as I could. Confidently, because I know that after death I shall go to the house of my Lord. Joyfully, because this point of death in which you see me is only a passage from weeping to laughter, from labor to rest." Another of the same name and in the same year, gazing fixedly upon Christ crucified, with hands crossed in the form of a cross, with a glad and smiling face, saying: "Bring my soul out of prison, that it may confess to Thy name, O Lord"; and repeating this little verse three times, he closed his eyes with his life and flew up to heaven, as Ferdinand Castiglius reports in the history of the Order of St. Dominic, part 1, book 2, chapter 19. The same in chapter 15 narrates that Brother Romaeus of the same Order, a great despiser of himself and of the world, perpetually had on his lips that verse of Psalm 126: "When He shall give sleep to His beloved, behold the inheritance of the Lord," and by it he was wont to be cheered in every labor and trouble. And when he was about to die in the year of Christ 1261, a certain Brother absent and not knowing that he was in the agony of death, heard angels singing the same little verse: whence running to Romaeus, he found him in agony and dying holily. In the same place he narrates that Brother Bernard Canzius of Toulouse, a distinguished preacher, when he was dying, appeared to a certain companion staying at Lyons in white and shining vesture, and sang: "The poor shall eat and be filled, and they shall praise the Lord who seek Him; their hearts shall live forever and ever." In the same place, book 3, chapter 50, he narrates that Brother Munius, who was made Bishop of Palencia, a man of great patience, said in death: "In peace in the selfsame I will sleep and I will rest," and so fell asleep holily in the Lord. St. Gregory in book 4 of the Dialogues, chapter 47, narrates that Merulus, fervent in spirit, saw a white crown descending from heaven upon his head. Nor was there delay, he says, having been seized by an illness he went joyfully to the Lord; and from his sepulcher after fourteen years, when it was being dug around, so great a fragrance of odor flowed out, as if all the abundance of flowers and aromatics had been gathered there.
Verse 16: For He Nowhere Takes Hold of Angels, but He Takes Hold of the Seed of Abraham
16. For He nowhere takes hold of angels, but He takes hold of the seed of Abraham, — that is, Christ did not assume the angelic nature, in order to repair it, but the human nature from the descendants of Abraham. So everywhere the Fathers and Interpreters. And St. Bernard, in his treatise On the Steps of Humility: "It is said," he says, "of the Word of God, that He takes hold not of angels, that is, did not assume them into one person with Himself, but the seed of Abraham. For we do not read: The Word was made an angel, but, The Word was made flesh, and flesh from the flesh of Abraham, according to the promise which was first made to him." But, because the Greek ἐπιλαμβάνεται is in the present tense, not the past, as if to say: He takes hold, not He took hold; but it is false to say in the present that Christ takes on human nature. Again, because it is less congruous and apt to say that Christ takes on angels or the seed of Abraham, instead of saying that Christ takes on the angelic or the human nature from the descendants of Abraham, hence our Interpreter better translates, not "takes on," but "takes hold of." Explaining the force of which, Chrysostom says: The word ἐπιλαμβάνεται, that is "takes hold," has a metaphor taken from one who follows another with great zeal, and does everything to overtake and seize the one fleeing: we were fleeing from God, He pursued us, and as it were laying His hand upon us seized us, and did not allow us to perish. "Takes hold" therefore is the same as "pursues," and by pursuing seizes, as if to say: What I have hitherto said, that Christ was made man in order to free men, is clear from the fact that Christ did not pursue the fallen angels, nor does He pursue them in order to call and lead them back to God's grace and salvation; but that He pursued men, when He assumed human nature, and called and drew men to Himself, and daily pursues fallen men, and lays hand upon them, as He did to Saul, and seizes them, in order to bring them to salvation. Hence aptly does He say that Christ took hold of the seed not of Adam, but of Abraham, both because he writes to the Hebrews, who were expecting the Messiah promised to their father Abraham; and because Christ takes hold of and saves only those who are the seed of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, that is, those who are faithful, and who imitate the faith and obedience of Abraham.
Thus Paul often elsewhere takes the Greek ἐπιλαμβάνεσθαι for to pursue, attain, lay hand on, and apprehend. As in 1 Timothy 6:12, ἐπιλαβοῦ τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, that is, pursue and lay hold of eternal life. Hebrews 8:9, ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπιλαβομένου μου τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν, that is, on the day when I took hold of their hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt.
Verse 17: Wherefore He Had to Be Made Like His Brethren in All Things, That He Might Become a Merciful and Faithful High Priest Before God, to Expiate the Sins of the People
17. Wherefore He had to be made like His brethren in all things, that He might become merciful and a faithful High Priest, — as if to say: Because Christ took hold of men and willed to become man, that He might be the High Priest, redeemer, and Savior of men, hence it befitted Him to be made similar in all things to other men, as to His brethren: for it is incongruous and unbecoming if a brother wishes to surpass his brother and to be unlike him. Note, the "in all things" is to be taken with adjustment; for Christ did not assume sin and concupiscences, nor have them as other men have them: "all things" therefore, namely, not those things which belong to fault, but those which are common to human nature, such as all the common endowments and passions of human nature, Christ took on. "For He partook also of nourishment," says Theodoret, "as we do, and bore labor, and was anxious in mind, and wept, and underwent death as we do." For these alone it befitted our High Priest and redeemer to take on. When therefore he says "all things," except sin and concupiscence, which inclines and draws to sin: for the Apostle excepts these in chapter 4, verse 15. Again, except natural defects, such as blindness, deafness, fevers, and other illnesses, which are defects and faults not so much of the whole nature as of particular and certain men, which therefore it did not befit Christ to take on. For diseases arise either from imperfect formation of the body and a defect of the seed, or from intemperance, or from ignorance and imprudence, by which we do not know or do not notice things harmful to health. None of these, however, was in Christ: for Christ's body was most perfect, having been formed by the Holy Spirit. Again, Christ was most temperate, and most expert in all things even in medical matters, and far more expert than Adam, who in the state of innocence was subject to no disease. Christ therefore preserved His own body, most well tempered by His own temperance, wisdom, and providence, from harmful things, which could injure health, in perpetual temperateness and health. Add, where there was no concupiscence, no disease ought to have been there, especially since disease would have been an impediment to the labors, journeyings, and preaching of Christ. So from Damascene St. Thomas, part 3, question 14, article 4, and on the same passage Suárez and others. The sense of the Apostle therefore is, as if to say: Christ did not have a heavenly and impassible body, as the Valentinians wished; but an earthly, mortal, passible one, similar to ours, that He might be subject to hunger, cold, chill, blows and lashings as much as ours, and this with this end, namely "that He might be made merciful and a faithful High Priest before God," that is, that Christ might learn to have mercy on us through experience of our misery, and be touched by the feeling of it. For although He knew that and all other things most perfectly through infused knowledge, yet He did not know it through experimental knowledge: for we know afflictions and miseries far otherwise when we ourselves experience them, than when we speculate about them, or look upon them in others. Again, Christ took on our passions with this end, that "He might become a faithful High Priest," that is, that He might truly and faithfully discharge the office of a High Priest, which is to appease God and to reconcile men with God; but Christ could not do this except by suffering and dying: for in no other way could satisfaction be made to divine justice and will.
Secondly, "faithful" could be taken passively, as if to say: "faithful," that is, such on account of the experience and compassion of our misery, in whom we might rightly trust and entrust ourselves and all that is ours. Whence St. Bernard, in his treatise On the Steps of Humility, explains it thus: "Christ," he says, "wished to share in human miseries (which is to be made like His brethren in all things), that He might learn by experience itself to have mercy on and to suffer with those who suffered and were tempted in the same way. By which experience I do not say He was made wiser, but seemed nearer, in that the weak sons of Adam (whom He did not disdain to be made and to be called brethren) might not hesitate to commit their weaknesses to Him, who could heal them as God, and would as a neighbor, and would know them as having suffered the same."
Before God. — In Greek τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν; κατά is understood, as if to say κατὰ τὰ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν, that is, according to those things which pertain to God, and which were to be done before God, namely that He might be a faithful High Priest in those things which pertain to God's reconciliation with men: whence in explanation he adds: "That He might make propitiation for the sins of the people," that is, as Vatablus and Erasmus translate, "to expiate the sins of the people."
Verse 18: For in That Which He Himself Suffered and Was Tempted, He Is Able to Help Those Who Are Tempted
18. For in that which He Himself suffered and was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted. — Note the Greek idiom: "In that in which He suffered," that is, on this account that He suffered, or because He suffered. Secondly, "tempted" is the same as harassed and afflicted. Hence in the Greek the copula "and" is missing, so that "tempted" coheres with "suffered," and explains and inculcates it: for the Greek runs thus, ἐν ᾧ γὰρ πέπονθεν αὐτὸς πειρασθείς, that is, "for in that He Himself suffered when being tempted," that is, when He was being afflicted and harassed: by this very fact then in which He suffered, Christ was tempted. So we say that we are tempted by hunger, cold, fever, that is, that we are afflicted and tortured by them. Temptation here, then, is called any affliction and pain, because by these the virtue and patience of each is tempted, that is, tried and tested. In this sense, then, St. James says in chapter 1, verse 2: "Count it all joy, brethren, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith works patience." Others not improbably distinguish temptation from passion, on the ground that our interpreter seems to distinguish them when saying: "Suffered and tempted." And so they interpret this temptation as the solicitation to evil by which the devil tempts Christ and Christians and impels to sin: for Christ by His own temptation merited for us help and aid in every temptation. Where note, Christ could be tempted outwardly only, by the devil proposing temptation; but not inwardly by concupiscence or by any disordered movement of the imagination: for this could not be in Christ. Again Oecumenius, Vatablus, and Erasmus translate this verse thus: "For from this, that it happened to Him to be tempted, He is able also to help those who are tempted." For thus the Greek πέπονθεν, like the Latin "has suffered," is occasionally taken for "happened," as when we say: "What did you suffer that you should so laugh and exult?" that is, "What happy and prosperous thing has befallen you, that you should so exult?" But our version, and consequently the first sense already given, is fuller, more certain, and more solid.
He is able also to help those who are tempted. — "Able" is the same as "fit and suitable"; for so the Apostle explains this power of Christ in chapter 5, verse 2, when he says: "Who can compassionate (that is, who is fit, apt, and ready to compassionate) those who are ignorant and err." This sense is required by the word "for," which gives the cause why in the preceding verse he had said that Christ is a merciful High Priest, namely because He is "able," that is, fit and easy and prone, to have mercy on those who are tempted, and to help them. Whence Theophylact says, "able," that is, He is prone, prompt, and ready to help: for those who are prone and inclined to mercy, these are most fit and suitable, and most able and effective at helping. Secondly, however, St. Chrysostom takes "able" properly, and gives this sense which is well congruous and apt. The Apostle had said that Christ is a merciful and faithful High Priest: a third condition of a High Priest was required, that he be able to help, lest someone should think that this was lacking in Christ, and therefore had been omitted by him; hence the Apostle, as if anticipating this objection, adds that there can be no doubt about this condition, as if to say: I have said that Christ has all the conditions of a true High Priest, namely mercy and fidelity; for as to the third, namely power, it is certain that it does not fail Christ, because Christ by His own temptation and unjust suffering inflicted on Him as one innocent merited to have dominion over all temptations and sufferings, as well as over the demons and men inflicting them, and consequently He merited to be able to assist those who are tempted and suffer, and to make them victors and triumphant.
Hence again the Saints, blessed in heaven, who suffered many things in this life, are invoked by us so that, by reason of what they suffered, they may help us suffering the same things, before God. Thus from the holy virgins, who contended unto death for chastity, we ask aid in the temptation of lust. Thus from the holy Martyrs we ask that they may obtain for us strength in temptations of faith and in persecutions by heretics and infidels. Thus from St. Job, Eustachius and the like, we ask patience in misfortunes and adversities. Indeed, in particular, in toothache we invoke St. Apollonia, whose teeth were knocked out for Christ. In plague we invoke St. Roch, whose remarkable charity in caring for those afflicted with the plague is celebrated throughout all Italy. In storms at sea we invoke St. Nicholas, who while living miraculously calmed one. In chains we invoke St. Leonard, who while living freed many from chains. In epilepsy we invoke St. Valentine; in defamation and ignominy St. Susanna: for she herself underwent this for chastity, and dispelled it by her prayers. In other diseases and afflictions we invoke other Saints who suffered the same. For this is a fitting reward for their suffering and patience granted by God, so that at their prayers God may be willing to help and succor those laboring under similar suffering, and thus glorify His Saints and have so destined.
Note here morally, that those who conquer temptations within themselves are justly given this reward by God, that they should help others assailed by the same temptation, and they are apt to overcome it in them. Thus those who have subdued in themselves the spirit of pride, gluttony, anger, will easily make others tame the same. Thus those who have overcome scruples in themselves will easily heal the scrupulous. Indeed, this was the meaning and judgment of the holy anchorites, that whatever demon each one overcame as tempting himself, they would say he would expel from the minds and even from the bodies of others obsessed and possessed by it. To pass over others, abbot Pityrion, disciple of St. Antony and heir of his spirit, mighty and effective in expelling demons, taught his own this very thing when in Palladius's Lausiac History, ch. LXXIV, he speaks thus: "Whoever, O sons, wishes to drive out demons, must first reduce the affections of his soul to servitude: for whatever affection one has overcome, his demon also he expels; but you must little by little conquer the affections, that you may expel their demons. If therefore anyone overcomes gluttony, he expels its demon."