Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He prefers Christ to Moses, as a master to a servant. Then, from v. 7 to the end, by the example of the fathers who because of unbelief were excluded from the promised land, he deters the Hebrews from apostasy from the faith of Christ, lest they too be excluded from heaven. "Today," He says, "if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts," etc., and emphasizes the word "today."
Vulgate Text: Hebrews 3:1-19
1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus: 2. who is faithful to Him that made Him, as also was Moses in all His house. 3. For this Man was counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, by as much as he who hath builded the house hath more honor than the house. 4. For every house is builded by some man; but He that built all things is God. 5. And Moses verily was faithful in all His house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken; 6. but Christ as a Son over His own house: whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the glory of the hope firm unto the end. 7. Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today if you shall hear His voice, 8. harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of the temptation in the wilderness, 9. where your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works 10. forty years. Wherefore I was offended with that generation, and said: They always err in heart. And they have not known My ways, 11. as I swore in My wrath: They shall not enter into My rest. 12. Take heed, brethren, lest perhaps there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God; 13. but exhort yourselves every day, while it is called Today, that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14. For we are made partakers of Christ: if so be that we hold fast the beginning of His substance unto the end firm. 15. While it is said: Today if you shall hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in that provocation. 16. For some who heard provoked: but not all who came out of Egypt by Moses. 17. And with whom was He offended forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose carcasses were overthrown in the desert? 18. And to whom did He swear that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that were incredulous? 19. And we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Verse 1: Wherefore, Holy Brethren, Partakers of the Heavenly Calling, Consider the Apostle and High Priest of Our Confession, Jesus
1. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus. — Christians were formerly called brethren on account of their mutual charity and communion in Christ. They were also called holy on account of the holiness received in baptism, and the innocence of their life and morals, as if to say: You, O Hebrew Christians, are called not to earthly goods, which were once promised to you in Judaism, but to possess heavenly goods. Therefore consider not Moses, nor Aaron once your high priest; but Jesus, who is the author and high priest of this calling. Note: Paul calls Christ Apostle, that is, the legate of God, whom indeed God sent to men, especially to the Hebrews, that He might teach them and reconcile them to God. Apostle therefore is the same as Prophet, teacher and legislator sent by God; while High Priest is the same as the chief priest, who placates God and prays for the people.
Note secondly: By "confession" the Apostle means the faith and religion which we confess and profess: for this confession is nothing other than the profession of the faith and of the Evangelical law, which Christ taught us as Apostle, that is Prophet, teacher and legislator, and as our High Priest. So Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius. Otherwise St. Thomas and Anselm: The Apostle, they say, and High Priest of our confession is Christ, whom indeed all Christians confess and acknowledge to be our Apostle, High Priest and Savior. But the former sense is more genuine: for the Apostle is accustomed to take "confession" thus for the faith and doctrine which we confessed in baptism, as I said on Rom. x, 10.
Note thirdly: The Apostle in chapters 1 and 2 shows Christ to be greater than the angels, as God and Lord of all; in this and the following chapter he descends to Moses and Aaron, and shows by the same argument that Christ is far more excellent than they: for the whole difficulty of the Hebrews, which they had concerning Christ and Christianity, was that they could not be torn away from Moses, their first legislator, apostle and prophet. Hence that voice of the Jews to the blind man enlightened by Christ, John IX, 28: "Be thou His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; but as for this Man, we know not whence He is."
Therefore Paul in this and the following chapter compares and prefers Christ to Moses, as Apostle to Apostle; but in chapter 5 and following, he compares and prefers Christ to Aaron, as high priest to high priest. For although Moses also was eminently a high priest, inasmuch as he consecrated Aaron as high priest, and frequently sacrificed to God, and reconciled him to the people, nevertheless after he had made Aaron high priest, he left to him the duties of the high priest, and he himself fulfilled the role of Apostle first delegated to him by God, namely that he should be legislator, prophet, teacher and leader of the people; until Christ should come, the new and supreme legislator, prophet, teacher and leader of the people, not only of the Hebrew, but also of the Gentile. Therefore the Apostle here urges the Hebrews to pass from Moses to Christ, who has now come, as it were from type to antitype, from shadow to truth: for in this whole epistle henceforth the Apostle proves to the Hebrews, from the allegory of Moses, Aaron and the old law, the truth and excellence of Christ and of Christianity foreshadowed by them.
Verse 2: Who Is Faithful to Him That Made Him, as Also Was Moses in All His House
2. Who (Jesus Christ) is faithful to Him that made Him. — "Made Him," namely Apostle and High Priest: for this must be repeated from the preceding verse. Whence Vatablus translates, who appointed Him. Christ therefore was faithful to God as Apostle, who faithfully announced to men the will and laws of God; He was also a faithful High Priest, because He faithfully accomplished the redemption and expiation of our sins, even at the cost of His own life.
As also Moses in all His house, — that is, in the Jewish people, which is the house, that is, the Church, in which God the Creator dwells and is worshipped, as is clear from v. 6. In this old Church therefore Moses was the faithful apostle and legate of God: faithful, I say, in legislating, in announcing to the people the commands and oracles of God, in the care and government of the people according to the mind and will of God. The Apostle cites Numbers XII, 7. Theophylact beautifully says: "What a faithful steward or manager is in a house, this Moses was in the Hebrew people."
Verse 3: For This Man Was Counted Worthy of Greater Glory Than Moses, by as Much as He Who Hath Builded the House Hath More Honor Than the House
3. For this Man was counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, by as much as he who hath builded the house hath greater honor than the house. — For this word gives the reason why he said in v. 4: "Consider" not Moses, but Jesus; for although Moses was a faithful apostle of God, as Christ also was; nevertheless Christ obtained from God so much greater glory than Moses, by as much as he who built the house is greater than the house, that is, by as much as the architect is more excellent and honorable than the house, inasmuch as he is the builder of the house. For Christ is the builder of the house, that is, of the Church of God; but Moses was in it only a servant and minister of God, and so Moses was a part of this house, that is, of the Church, and was one of the people of God: which is clear from what follows. Note the Graecism, "greater of the house," that is, greater than the house, or greater than the house itself. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact; for this is what the Greek πλείονα τοῦ οἴκου signifies. Wrongly therefore do some explain the "house" as "in the house" or "from the house."
Verse 4: But He That Created All Things Is God
4. But He that created all things is God. — As if to say: Christ, who, as I said in the preceding verse and in ch. 1, v. 10, built and created this house of God, that is, the Church, and indeed all things that are in the nature of things, is God; and accordingly Christ as Creator and God is far nobler than Moses, who together with others is a creature of Christ. So Theophylact.
Verse 5: And Moses Indeed Was Faithful in All His House as a Servant, for a Testimony of Those Things Which Were to Be Spoken
5. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken, — namely that he should testify and expound to the Jews, who were then the people, house and Church of God, the will of God Himself. Therefore, just as it is said of St. John in Apocal. 1, 2, that he bore witness to the Word, that is, that he truly expounded, as a true witness, the things which he had heard concerning Christ: so also Moses bore witness to the words of God, or those things which on God's part were to be spoken to the people, which God wished Moses to say and announce to the people. So Theophylact.
Verse 6: But Christ as a Son in His Own House
6. But Christ as a Son in His own house. — In Greek ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ. Which signifies rather over the house, than in His house; whence it can be more clearly translated: Christ as Son presides over the house of Him, namely of God the Father, and administers it as Lord, whereas Moses was in it only as a servant.
Whose house we are. — The Greek and the Greeks, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius read οὗ, that is, of whom, namely of Christ, whose house we are. But more elegantly and correctly, as Beza too admits, our Interpreter reads ἥ οἶκος, that is, which house, namely the Church of God, we are.
If we hold fast the confidence and the glory of the hope firm unto the end. — Note first: For "confidence" the Greek is παρρησίαν, that is liberty, by which he understands the free and intrepid profession of the faith, so that neither by threats nor by punishments may we be torn away from the faith of Christ; but that we may profess it freely, boldly and with open face, as the Syriac translates, before tyrants and persecutors, even if for that cause we must undergo chains, plundering of goods, exiles, beatings, and indeed death.
Note secondly: For "glory" the Greek is καύχημα, that is, glorying; "the glorying of hope" by hypallage he calls the hope of glorying, that is, the hope in which we glory. Whence Vatablus translates, glorious hope. Or properly he calls "the glorying" of hope the glorying by which, firm and courageous in our hope, we glory in it, says Chrysostom, as if it had already been obtained by us, so that we openly proclaim our faith and hope concerning future blessedness and glory both by life and word, and glory in it even in the tribunals of persecutors and tyrants. Thus in Rom. v, 2, the Apostle says: "We glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God." For the hope of future reward makes us constant in faith and Christian life, and so makes us glory in the midst of afflictions and torments: for by this hope many Martyrs have exulted and gloried in the most bitter punishments.
All these things are said by the Apostle for this end, that by them he may confirm and strengthen the Hebrews in the faith and Christian life, lest because of temptations and the persecutions of the Jews they be broken in spirit, languish and fall from the faith: for nothing so strengthens a man in persecution and affliction as a firm and certain hope, and the constant persuasion and expectation that he will shortly be freed from that affliction, and will receive an immense reward in heaven.
Where note, the Apostle does not require any sort of hope from Christians, but a vigorous, strong, exulting and glorying one: for this brings it about that the Christian, in any temptation and tribulation however great, does not waver, does not yield, but stands firm, and bravely and generously overcomes and conquers all adversities, and indeed rejoices and glories in them. Whence Chrysostom here in his moral homily 5: "With as great alacrity of mind," he says, "ought we to pour out our own blood for Christ, as anyone pours out water: for indeed blood is the water that irrigates the body."
Verse 7: Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit Says: Today If You Shall Hear His Voice, Harden Not Your Hearts
7. Wherefore as the Holy Spirit says: Today if you hear His voice, 8. harden not your hearts. — "His," namely Christ's: for He preceded here. The Apostle cites Psalm XCIV, in which David in general invites all to the worship of God the Creator and Governor, that is to praise, obedience, that they may recognize Him as their shepherd, and themselves as His sheep, fed, nourished and ruled by Him, and worship Him, and turn to Him with their whole heart, says Jerome on the same place. Now this psalm seems to have been composed for some solemn feast, at which a great gathering of the people would convene, that they might be stirred up to the praise of God by this psalm. Indeed Theodoret holds this psalm to be prophetic, namely that it was composed by David in the person of Josiah, who would be born after three hundred years, so that Josiah might use it when, with the idols removed, he was about to reconcile the people to God, IV Reg. XXII and XXIII. Whence he says: "Come, let us exult and rejoice," as if victors and triumphant over impiety and idols abolished. But whatever is the case in this matter, it seems that David composed it for this purpose, that at any feast and gathering of the people, especially the more solemn, it might be sung beforehand to stir up the devotion both of the Levites and of the people in psalmody, prayers and sacrifices. Whence even now it is sung beforehand by clerics in the divine office as an invitatory to chant and pray. For the psalms were composed by David for all, both Christians and Jews. For David wished that with these as it were sacred songs all might sing, and praise and invoke God; whence David often speaks generally and indefinitely, as is clear in this Psalm XCIV.
You will ask: How then does Paul here appropriate it to Christ, and how does he understand by "His voice" the voice of Christ, when David understands the voice of God speaking to His Jews?
I respond: Paul, from what was said in chapter 1, presupposes Christ to be God, and so to have been the artificer and legislator of the old Synagogue, so that He gave the law to the Jews through Moses as through His servant, as he premised a little earlier here, as if to say: Christ is, O Hebrews, God, and the Son of God, who spoke through Moses, and who through David said: "Today if you hear His voice," whether you who now live as Jews, or you who at the time of the incarnate Christ are to be Christians, "harden not your hearts," but with a soft heart receive His sayings, obey Him, and in no way fall away from Him. For that this psalm pertains also to Christ and to Christians, and not only to the Jews, is clear from the fact that he says: "Let us rejoice in God our savior," that is, in our Savior, that is, Jesus. "Let us come before His face," that is, let us hasten to come early before light to God, who has brought us so great a salvation; "in confession," in Hebrew betoda, that is, in praise, and as Jerome translates, in thanksgiving. For although in the Old Testament God may be called the savior of the Jews, because He often delivered them from the Philistines and other enemies; yet much more perfectly is Christ called the Savior, who in the New Testament saves the Christians from sin, death and hell, and confers on them eternal salvation and blessedness.
Verse 8: As in the Provocation, in the Day of Temptation in the Wilderness
8. As in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, — as if to say: Harden not your hearts, and so provoke Me, as your fathers hardening their hearts provoked Me. "In the day," that is on the day, "of temptation in the wilderness," for forty years murmuring and rebelling both against Moses and against Me; but especially at Rephidim, when on account of the lack of water they nearly stoned Moses, whence Moses had to obtain water for them from the rock. For the Apostle alludes to Exodus XVII, 7, where after this history is narrated it is added: And he called the name of that place massa, that is temptation, umeriba, that is, and quarrel, or contention, by which the Jews quarrelling against Moses provoked God.
Verses 9 and 10: Where Your Fathers Tempted Me, Proved Me and Saw My Works for Forty Years
9 and 10. Where your fathers tempted Me, proved Me and saw My works for forty years. — Note — "forty years" can be referred both to the preceding, namely to "they proved and saw My works," as Paul reports here, and to what follows, in this way: For forty years I was nigh, or offended with this generation, as Aquila, Symmachus and our Interpreter read, Psalm XCIV, 10, and Paul also below in v. 17. For the one follows from the other: because the Jews for 40 years, in which they wandered through the desert, tempted God, hence God was for the same 40 years offended with them, and so consumed them all in the desert with death, and led only their sons with Joshua and Caleb into the promised land.
Note: To "they proved" the Greeks add μέ, that is "Me"; but the sense is the same: for "Me" is the same as "My works."
Secondly, Adam expounds thus: "They proved," that is, when they had proved; but this does not fit with "forty years": nor indeed after the Hebrews had proved and experienced God's wonderful works for forty years in the desert, did they tempt Him at Rephidim; for that temptation took place in the first or second year after their departure from Egypt.
Therefore the plain sense is, as if to say: In the desert your fathers tempted Me; they proved, that is examined, My works, and saw them to be irreproachable, powerful, faithful and divine, so that from them they could easily recognize Me to be their faithful and almighty Lord, leader and protector, whom they ought to obey, in whom to believe, in whom to hope: but they did not do this very thing, whence I was always offended with them and remained so.
Because of which I was offended with this generation. — So it must be read, namely "offended," not "nigh": for so Paul reads here, and our Interpreter at Psalm XCIV, and the Hebrew acut requires this, that is, I was disgusted, no longer enduring to bear them, stomached, offended with them; hence St. Jerome translates, this generation displeases Me; Aquila and Symmachus, it displeases Me in this generation; the Syriac, this generation has been a weariness to Me.
You will say: How then in the divine office do we sing: "For forty years I was near to this generation," with a sense, as it seems, contrary; for he who is offended with someone, is not usually "near" to him. I respond: This variant reading happens because the Greek προσώχθισα is ambiguous: for it signifies to be angry and offended, and also to approach, or to put in to shore: for ὄχθη signifies either bank or shore. That here it should be translated "I was offended," not "near," is clear from the Hebrew, Aquila, Symmachus, Jerome, as I already said. "Near" therefore must be expounded thus, as if to say: I was near, namely as an enemy to avenge and punish the hard and rebellious Jews; for this is the same as "I was offended." So generally more recent commentators.
And I said: They always err in heart, — πλανῶνται τῇ καρδίᾳ, that is, they are senseless and demented, and rave, so that they do not know My ways, that is, My commandments, by which as by ways they should press on and strive toward Me and toward their salvation.
Verse 11: To Whom I Swore in My Wrath: They Shall Not Enter into My Rest
11. To whom I swore in My wrath. — For "to whom," the Interpreter reads in Greek οἷς, while now they read ὡς, that is "as." But our reading is more fitting, and properly corresponds to the Hebrew ascer, that is "to whom."
They shall not enter into My rest. — "If" among the Hebrews is a particle of one swearing, and was among the ancient Jews a mark of an execratory oath, in which is to be understood: If this should happen, may I not be God, may I not be truthful, or something similar. For this the Hebrews suppress by euphemism. From there "if" was transferred to any kind of oath, and is equivalent to "not." As in I Sam. XIV, 45: "As the Lord lives, if a hair shall fall from his head": for here nothing is to be understood, but the sense is, We swear by the life of God, that not a hair shall fall from his head, that is, that we will not allow Jonathan to be killed or touched.
Note: By "rest" He means the promised land, namely Canaan, in which the Hebrews rested from the labor of wandering which they had undergone in the desert, so that by this as by a goal and prize He may stir up the Hebrews to constancy in faith, as if to say: The end and reward of the labors which the Hebrews underwent wandering in the desert was rest in Canaan, into which Joshua led them: but the end of the labors and sorrows which Christians undergo in this life is eternal rest in heaven, foreshadowed by Canaan, into which Jesus leads us; and accordingly see, O Hebrews, that you do not depart, in Greek ἀποστῆτε, that is, apostatize from God, namely by apostatizing from the faith and law of Christ, who is our true, living God, efficacious in avenging this injury done to Himself.
Verse 13: But Exhort Yourselves Every Day, While It Is Called Today, That None of You Be Hardened by the Deceitfulness of Sin
13. But exhort yourselves every day, — to persevere in faith, in hope and in the bearing of persecutions, as it were noble soldiers and athletes of Christ.
While it is called Today, — that is, while you live: he alludes to the verse cited in Psal. XCIV: "Today if you hear His voice," and emphasizes the word "today." Note: "Today" signifies the present time of life, of grace and of penitence, which is given to each one: for in that "today" that very thing which God spoke once to the Jews in Psal. 94, He now and in any centuries speaks to any man, namely: "Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts." For as long as we breathe and live, it is today; as long as it is permitted to hear, to believe, and to be converted, it is today. Those who lived a hundred, two hundred, three hundred, a thousand years ago, had their today, that is, their time of hearing Christ, their time of procuring their salvation: for them this has now passed, and seems to have been only today, that is, one day. To us today still remains, if not the whole, certainly some part of it; let us use our today, since we shall never have a tomorrow, "Too late is the morrow's day, live today." So Chrysostom and Oecumenius. In the same way St. Antony as he was dying exhorted and stirred up the brethren to the pursuit of virtue, saying: "Today consider that you have begun the religious life daily." So also Barlaam to Josaphat in Damascene: "Consider," he says, "that today you have begun to serve God, that today you will end the same;" consider that today is the first and the last day in which you serve and shall serve God: so it will come about that always alert you may overcome all weariness, and alertly progress in the obedience of God.
Cunningly Calvin and Beza say, "today" is present, as long as God calls us: for so long this day lasts and no longer; as if God calls us only up to a certain time of life, after which God's grace and calling are hoped for in vain; whereas the Fathers everywhere say that in this life we always have our Today, there is always a time for repenting and being converted to God. Add that the Apostle and the Psalmist distinguish "today" from God's calling, as is clear from the fact that he says: "Today if you hear His voice." By which words he plainly indicates and presupposes that there can be a Today in which the voice and calling of God is not heard, for the conditional conjunction "if" demands this.
That none of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. — That is, lest, captivated by the deceitful enticements of sins, you grow hardened to the voice of God, namely lest through love of temporal goods you fall away from the faith of Christ, while you fear to lose them, since the Jews used to despoil their own who were converted from Moses to Christ of these things.
Verse 14: For We Are Made Partakers of Christ, If So Be That We Hold Fast the Beginning of His Substance Firm unto the End
14. For we are made partakers of Christ, — as if to say: We have been engrafted into Christ as parts and members into the body and head, through faith, baptism and grace; whence the Syriac translates etchallatan, that is, we have been mingled with Christ, made concorporate with Christ, and consequently we have been made partakers of the life, grace, glory and inheritance of Christ. Let us therefore see that no such trivial thing, namely fleeting goods, separates and tears us away from Christ, from so great a dignity, from such great goods.
If so be that we hold fast the beginning of His substance firm unto the end. — For "substance" the Greek is ὑποστάσεως, that is "subsistence." "The beginning of substance," or of subsistence, he calls faith, by which we first began as it were to subsist in spiritual and divine substance, and we became partakers of the divine nature. For through faith we have been regenerated in baptism, and have begun to be a new creature of Christ. Faith therefore is the beginning of our substance, or spiritual subsistence, that is, of our justification, by which we have been made new men, namely Christians, spiritual and divine. So St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, as if to say: We have indeed been made partakers of Christ, and engrafted into Christ; but this will not profit us, nor shall we participate in the life and eternal inheritance of Christ, unless we persist in the faith of Christ. Under faith understand hope, grace, charity, and all the offspring and fruits of faith, as I said in Chapters 3 and 4. Again, "beginning," in Greek ἀρχήν, he calls the foundation of faith: because the foundation of any thing is first in it, and is its beginning; while ὑπόστασιν, that is substance, he calls faith itself in ch. XI, 1. So Maldonatus in his manuscript Notes.
Others think faith is called "the beginning of substance" because through faith we constantly subsist and persist in Christianity: for faith, setting before us the hope of future reward and glory, sustains us, and as it were makes us subsist in adversities and persecutions, strong and unmovable from Christ. For so in ch. XI the Apostle says: "Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for." But, because here "to be hoped for" is not added, and because "substance" simply signifies nature and essence, not constancy, hence the former sense is more genuine.
15. While it is said: Today if you shall hear His voice. — This sentence depends on the preceding verse; for it explains what "unto the end" is, namely that it is the same as "while it is said, Today," that is, while the present time of our life is being acted out, while we live and hear the voice of God, lest we harden our heart and provoke God, and so be excluded from the rest of heaven, as the Jews of old by their hardening provoked God, and therefore died in the desert, and were excluded from the rest of the promised land.
Verse 16: For Some Provoked, but Not All
16. For some provoked, but not all. — Because not Joshua, not Caleb, not the little ones, not the women, not the Levites. For these did not murmur against Moses, nor provoke God, and therefore as they were free from blame, so also from punishment, and entered safe and unharmed into the promised land of Canaan. See what was said on Num. XIV, v. 29. The Apostle here intimates that some Hebrews had defected from the faith of Christ through fear of persecution, but not all: he therefore exhorts those who still persisted in the faith, not to imitate those timid ones falling away from the faith, unless they wish to be excluded from heaven: but rather let them look upon and emulate others constant in the faith.
By Moses, — under the leadership of Moses.
Verses 17 and 18: And With Whom Was He Offended, but With Those Who Were Incredulous?
17 and 18. And with whom was He offended, but with those who were incredulous? — That is, who not believing Moses and distrusting of God's promises, despaired of being able to obtain the land of Canaan, and therefore wished to return to Egypt: for which cause they were punished by God with death, and their bodies were laid low in the desert. The Apostle so greatly inculcates and stresses incredulity, that he may turn the Hebrews away from it, and confirm in the faith of Christ those tempted by so many persecutions and wavering.
Verse 19: And We See That They Could Not Enter In
19. And we see that they could not enter in, — as if to say: As God swore and threatened, so He carried out in fact: for we know, and in fact see, that those incredulous and murmuring ones could not enter into Canaan, as if to say: The same will befall us, that, unless we obey God who threatens, and believe and trust in Him, in fact we shall be excluded from heaven.