Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He teaches that He is unwilling to deliver again to the Hebrews the rudiments of faith and repentance, because for those who have received so many gifts of God as they themselves have in Christianity, it is impossible to be renewed unto repentance: and so He turns the Hebrews away from falling and apostasy. Whence secondly, at verse 9, He encourages them to constancy, hope, patience, and long-suffering. Hence thirdly, at verse 13, He sets before them the example of Abraham, who patiently waiting for those things which God had promised and sworn to him, at last obtained them.
Vulgate Text: Hebrews 6:1-20
1. Wherefore leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us go on to things more perfect, not laying again the foundation of penance from dead works, and of faith towards God, 2. of the doctrine of baptisms, and imposition of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3. And this will we do, if God permit. 4. For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5. have moreover tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6. and are fallen away, to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making Him a mockery. 7. For the earth that drinketh in the rain which cometh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God. 8. But that which bringeth forth thorns and briers, is reprobate, and very near unto a curse, whose end is to be burnt. 9. But, my dearly beloved, we trust better things of you, and nearer to salvation: though we speak thus. 10. For God is not unjust, that He should forget your work, and the love which you have shown in His name, you who have ministered, and do minister to the saints. 11. And we desire that every one of you show forth the same carefulness to the accomplishing of hope unto the end: 12. that you become not slothful, but followers of them, who through faith and patience shall inherit the promises. 13. For God, making promise to Abraham, because He had no one greater by whom He might swear, swore by Himself, 14. saying: Unless blessing I shall bless thee, and multiplying I shall multiply thee. 15. And so patiently enduring he obtained the promise. 16. For men swear by one greater than themselves: and an oath for confirmation is the end of all their controversies. 17. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of the promise the immutability of His counsel, interposed an oath: 18. that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have the strongest comfort, who have fled for refuge to hold fast the hope set before us, 19. which we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm, and which entereth in even within the veil, 20. where the forerunner Jesus has entered for us, made a high priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech.
Verse 1: Wherefore Leaving the Word of the Beginning of Christ, Let Us Go On to Things More Perfect
You will ask, on what grounds the Apostle infers the "wherefore," since he ought rather to have inferred the contrary; for he had said that they were weak, and needed milk rather than solid food.
I answer, the "wherefore" looks back to verses 11 and 12 of the preceding chapter, where he said: "Of whom (Melchisedech) we have great things to say," and: "You ought to be teachers," as if to say: Although hitherto, O Hebrews, you have been weak and slothful in the doctrine of Christ and Christianity, yet because you long ago heard the rudiments of the faith, so that it is a shame that you should still cling to them so long: hence it is fitting that you stir up your industry and sharpen your understanding, so that as if perfect you may begin to be fed on solid food: "wherefore leaving," to be afterwards taken up again if needful, "the word of the beginning of Christ," that is, the rudiments of Christianity, namely those things which are taught in catechism to children and other unlearned, "let us go on to things more perfect," so that we may set forth perfect doctrines, especially concerning Melchisedech and his priesthood, as antitype of the priesthood of Christ: for of this He said in the preceding chapter: "We have a great and uninterpretable word to say"; not that He wished to pass over it, but in order to stir up the slothful and torpid Hebrews to hear and grasp it, hence he stung and reproved them for ignorance and sloth; whence soon, in chapter VII, he takes up the same discourse again and brings it forth. So Theophylact and Anselm, from Chrysostom.
Verse 2: Not Laying Again the Foundation of Penance from Dead Works, and of Faith Towards God, of the Doctrine of Baptisms, the Imposition of Hands, the Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Judgment
As if to say: There is no need that I again teach you "the foundation of penance," so as to instruct and warn you about the life to be first renewed by penance; nor is there need to lay "the foundation of faith": for I have already done that long ago; nor of "baptism," to deliver to you its doctrine; nor of "the imposition of hands," that is, of the sacrament of Confirmation; nor of "the resurrection and the judgment": for the truth and doctrine of these you have already heard sufficiently in your first catechesis, when you became Christians. So Theophylact and Anselm. Note here the five heads of catechism and Christian doctrine, to be set forth above all to catechumens and the recently converted, which the Apostle here teaches were set forth to the Hebrews from the beginning of Christianity.
The first is, of "penance," and of conversion "from dead works," that is from sins, by which the soul is deprived of God's grace, and dies to God: for no one can enter upon a good and Christian life, unless he rises through penance from the death of sin.
The second head is, of "faith towards God," or in God; for the Greek eis theon means both, namely the symbol of the Apostles, and the faith concerning the triune and one God, and concerning the incarnation, passion, death, and redemption of Jesus Christ.
The third head is, of "baptisms"; he says baptisms, not baptism, because the catechumens were taught that there is a threefold baptism, namely of water, of spirit, and of blood. Or rather he calls them baptisms not from his own mind, but from the mind and phrasing of the Hebrews, who, accustomed to the very frequent lustrations and baptisms of the law for the cleansing of themselves, thought, being newly converted and still untrained, that in Christianity also a man ought often to be baptized, so that as he often sinned, he might also often receive remission of sins, and so they called this Sacrament not baptism, but baptisms, says Oecumenius and Theophylact, as if to say: I shall not now deliver to you the doctrine of baptism, and especially that among Christians there are not many baptisms, as among the Jews, but one only.
The fourth head is, of "the imposition of hands," that is, of the sacrament of Confirmation, which at the beginning of the Church all the baptized received soon after baptism, so that they might be firm in the faith amid the then raging persecutions, as is gathered from Acts VIII, verses 14, 15, 17. So St. Augustine in book I On Faith and Works, chapter XI, and Ambrose.
The fifth is, the mystery of "the resurrection and eternal judgment": for the hope of the resurrection rouses all to Christian constancy and a holy life; while the fear of judgment deters all from apostasy and other sins: it is called "eternal judgment" by metonymy, because in judgment a sentence will be pronounced concerning the whole eternity, either of blessedness or of misery, of each one, I say, fixed and irrevocable forever. How wise is he who always has this eternal judgment and the eternal years in mind!
Verse 3: And This We Will Do, If God Permit
"This," namely that, having omitted the rudiments and foundations of the faith, "to things more perfect," that is to the perfect doctrines of Christianity, "we be borne," says Theophylact, Anselm, and others. Others differently; for they explain it thus, as if Paul said: Concerning the rudiments of the faith already mentioned, which I shall now pass over, I shall afterwards treat them again, God granting, when it shall be opportune; for he treats of baptism and penance below in chapter X, of faith in chapter XI, of judgment in chapters X and XII, of the resurrection of the dead in chapters XI and XII.
But if the Apostle had wished this, he would rather have said with an exceptive particle thus: "Although we shall do this also." Therefore the former exposition is plainer, and coheres better with what precedes. For the "this" looks back to "leaving," and "not laying again."
Verses 4-6: For It Is Impossible for Those Who Were Once Illuminated to Be Renewed Again Unto Penance
For this word gives the reason why he said in verse 1 that the foundation of penance is not to be laid again, namely because this is impossible for those who are "illuminated," that is baptized, as the Syriac translates. Note: St. Dionysius in chapter III of Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, part 1, and other Fathers, call baptism φωτισμόν, that is illumination, because in baptism a man is enlightened by the faith of Christ, "and receives a share of the first and uncreated light, and the beginning of all divine illuminations," says St. Dionysius, in symbol of which torches are wont to be lit at baptism.
Have tasted also the heavenly gift. — In Greek ἐπουρανίου, which can be translated supercelestial gift, that is, the remission of sins, says Chrysostom, the grace, virtues, and charismata of the Holy Spirit, and especially the joy, peace, and serenity of a pure and holy conscience, and the sweetness and delight of the new and Christian life, which both the newly baptized experience, as do those who have made a serious confession of sins and changed their life for the better. For this sweet taste is signified by the word "have tasted."
Verse 5: They Have Nevertheless Tasted the Good Word of God
That is, they have tasted how sweet and consoling the evangelical doctrine is, how great and joyful goods it promises us, both to be received here and in heaven. Note: "Good" with the Hebrews is often the same as glad, joyful, happy, delightful. Hence he calls "a good word" the most joyful promise of God to the Jews, of liberation from the Babylonian captivity. So Psalm XLIV: "My heart hath uttered a good word," that is, a most joyful epithalamium concerning the nuptials of Christ and the Church. So also the Poet sings:
Now on a good day good words are to be spoken.
And the powers of the world to come. — "Powers" here are not opposed to vices: for in Greek it is δυνάμεις, and in Syriac חילא chaila, that is strength, power, energy, as if to say: Those who have tasted, through the knowledge of faith, through love, hope, joy, and desire, the "powers," that is the potencies of the world to come — namely what the future world is able to do and to effect, how mighty in it shall be the redemption and liberation from every evil and misery, how great the felicity and beatitude, how great the power God shall show in the Blessed, that is in their so wondrous and august glory, immortality, eternal life, vision and fruition of God, and the abundance and affluence of all joys and goods, both of body and of soul. St. Augustine and his mother St. Monica had this foretaste of the future life, as he himself affectionately relates in book IX of the Confessions, chapter X. Likewise St. Francis when he says: "So great is the glory that I expect, that every pain delights me."
Oecumenius takes these "powers," or potencies, more broadly, namely so as to embrace both the so mighty pains and torments of the damned in hell, and the mighty, august, and divine rewards of the Blessed in heaven.
Verse 6: Crucifying Again to Themselves the Son of God, and Making Him a Mockery
And are fallen away. — After so many gifts, lights, sweetnesses and delights, they have fallen into apostasy or other sins.
To be renewed again unto penance. — In Greek ἀνακαινίζειν, that is to renew, namely so that the priests by the sacrament of penance might renew the fallen. But the modern Greek text is to be corrected from Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Theophylact, who read ἀνακαινίζεσθαι, that is to be renewed, as Our [Vulgate] translates.
Note, "unto penance," that is, through penance. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius. For the Greek εἰς or ἐς corresponds to the Hebrew ב beth, which signifies in, to, through, on account of: so we commonly say, at the first (that is through the first) offence Peter fell: at the touch (that is, through the touch) of Christ the woman with the issue of blood was healed: at (that is, through) the presence of fire tow is set ablaze.
You will ask, what is the sense of this passage, and how is it impossible for the fallen to be renewed unto penance?
From this passage, badly understood, arose the heresy of Novatus and the Novatians in the time of St. Cyprian, who taught that to the lapsed neither penance nor pardon was to be granted: and from this they called themselves Cathari, that is, the pure and the clean.
Hence also Tertullian was deluded, when in book I of On Modesty he taught that the lapsed are to be received to penance only once. But this heresy has long since been exploded and condemned, and manifestly opposes St. Paul himself, who at I Corinthians V, and II Corinthians VII, and elsewhere in many places urges penance both upon that fornicator of Corinth and upon any others who have fallen.
Again Peter Lombard and Hugh of St. Victor, in Question LXI on this epistle, think that the Apostle is speaking of the penance to be performed after this life: for this is impossible. But the Apostle here suggests or hints at no such thing.
I say therefore that there are two most probable expositions of this passage. The first is that of nearly all the ancients, of Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Haymo, Sedulius, Primasius, Ambrose in book II On Penance, chapter II; Jerome in book II Against Jovinian; Augustine, at the beginning of the Epistle to the Romans, and others: these hold that the Apostle is speaking of the penance of baptism, or that which precedes baptism, and is in this place only condemning the iteration of baptism: whence the ancients everywhere from this passage teach and prove that Baptism, like Confirmation, cannot be repeated. For the Hebrews in their Judaism often baptized themselves, and from this, having become Christians, they thought that in the same way they could be baptized again a second, third, and fourth time, and by repeated baptism wipe away again and again the sins into which they often fell. This explanation is proved firstly, because the Apostle here looks back to the penance which he treated of in verse 1; but there he joins penance to baptism, and understands that which precedes baptism.
Secondly, this is indicated by the word "to be renewed," which is generally given to baptism: whence the Apostle, at Titus III, 5, calls baptism "the laver of regeneration and renovation."
Thirdly, the word "impossible" itself hints at this: for properly only the iteration of baptism, not of penance, is simply impossible.
Fourthly, because the Apostle adds, "crucifying again to themselves the Son of God," as if to say: Baptism is the figure and representation of the cross; and he who is baptized is symbolically crucified with Christ, as I said at Romans VI, 3. Whence just as Christ cannot be crucified a second time, so neither can baptism be repeated; and those who are baptized a second time, these symbolically crucify Christ again in themselves: for by this very fact they signify and protest that the cross once undertaken by Christ, and shadowed forth by the prior and only baptism received by themselves, is not sufficient; but that there is need that Christ be crucified again, and so a second baptism be instituted for the washing away of sins. So Chrysostom and Damascene, in book IV On the Faith, chapter X.
The second and more plain and genuine exposition of this passage is that of Anselm, Lyra, Hugh, Dionysius, Tilemann, Vasquez, Ribera, and other more recent writers: these hold that the Apostle is speaking properly of penance, and that he says it is impossible, that is, very difficult, for sinners — not for any sinners, but for the gravest and most ungrateful, namely apostates, who after so many notable lights and heavenly gifts received from God, after so many graces and consolations of the Holy Spirit, after they have tasted the delights of God and of the life to come, defect from God, from the faith and the recognized truth, and from Christ to Judaism and unbelief, as some of the Hebrews were doing.
This exposition is proved firstly, because in the following verse he calls the cursed earth, which having received the dew of heavenly grace and faith, nevertheless brings forth the thorns of apostasy, and is therefore reprobate and to be burnt with fire: for almost all apostates cannot be expiated by penance, but are hardened and reprobate, and are therefore consigned to gehenna; where you clearly see that not the force and fruit of baptism, but of penance is taken from them.
Secondly, because the words themselves plainly signify it: for poenitentia does not signify baptism, but penance, of those who have fallen into sin after illumination, that is, after baptism.
Thirdly, because in chapter X, verse 26, he says of these apostates altogether similarly: "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins," as if to say: For those who willfully sin and defect from Christ, the sin and apostasy can be expiated by no — I do not say baptism, but sacrifice for sin, by no penance, that is, can with the greatest difficulty and scarcely be expiated: because such men hardly ever seriously repent, just as we see our apostate priests and monks, when they desert from our religion and from their Order to the heretics, with the greatest difficulty and most rarely are converted and repent. So at Matthew chapter XII, verse 32, Christ says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not (that is, with difficulty, scarcely) be forgiven in this age, nor in the next. So at I John V, 16, it is said: "There is a sin unto death: for that I say not that any man ask," as if to say: If anyone should sin, provided he does not sin the sin unto death, let one pray for the sinner, and let him hope with certainty that he will be heard, and obtain pardon for him: but if anyone should sin a sin unto death, I would not dare to promise, nor with certainty hope, that one praying for him will obtain pardon for him; not, however, that I altogether forbid prayer to be made for him. Where the sin unto death seems to be nearly the same as that of which the Apostle here treats when he says: "It is impossible for those who were once illuminated and have fallen away, to be renewed unto penance." For the sin unto death, as St. Jerome teaches in book II Against Jovinian, is any most grave sin, especially that which is done out of malice and a hardened mind, e.g. when someone out of malice condemns the recognized faith, deserts it, and slanders it as if demonic, which sin is ordinarily scarcely forgiven, and is such and so great that scarcely anyone rises again from it to the spiritual life of grace; but he who sins remains in it, and consequently in the death of the soul, and so is to be punished with eternal death.
To the first argument brought forward for the prior exposition concerning baptism, I reply that the Apostle in verse 1 takes "penance" generally, and means by it both that which precedes baptism and that which follows baptism: for both kinds usually serve to teach the unlearned and the catechumens, so that they may know how to prepare themselves for baptism, and how, after a fall — if they have fallen into sin — they can repair themselves through penance and be restored to baptismal purity: for soon after baptism catechumens usually take up and frequent the Sacrament of penance.
To the second I reply that the word "to be renewed" is attributed both to penance and to baptism; whence the Apostle exhorts the Ephesians, as also the Romans and Colossians, who had long since been baptized, saying: "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind," Ephesians IV, 23. So the Council of Trent, session XIV, chapter II, teaches that through the Sacrament of penance we are renewed and restored to the newness received in baptism.
To the third I reply that "impossible" here is taken not physically but morally; and it signifies that which commonly and ordinarily does not happen, and which according to custom and ordinary law cannot happen. For so the Jurists call "impossible" that which is very difficult, and rarely or never happens. Thus Christ in Matthew XIX, 26, says that it is impossible for a rich man to be saved: which He soon explains, saying that with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. In the same way it is impossible for those who sin with this sin of apostasy to be renewed unto penance, if you look at the common course both of nature and of grace which God ordinarily gives, in accordance with which we see such men most rarely and scarcely ever converted; so that, speaking morally and in common parlance, we say it is impossible for such to be converted. Thus among the heresiarchs, who are the chief among apostates from Christ, we have so far seen no one who has come to his senses, except one Berengarius. But with God it is possible for them to be converted, if, namely, some very holy man entreats God for them, or if God of His own accord bestows on them some rare and extraordinary grace, by which He bends and softens their hard heart to true and serious penance, as we sometimes see happens.
To the fourth I reply in the next paragraph.
Crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making Him a mockery. — Note that these words are not to be referred to "renovari," as if they were crucifying Christ in the very renewal and repetition of baptism; but to "prolapsi." This is clear from the Greek, in which they are placed in the same case — namely the accusative — that is, ἀνασταυροῦντας and παραδειγματίζοντας, as if to say: They have fallen away, because they crucify Christ again and make Him a mockery; and therefore it is impossible for them to be renewed unto penance: for everyone who relapses into former sins, and especially he who falls back from the faith into Judaism and heresy or infidelity, again as it were crucifies Christ, because by a new sin he gives a new cause for the cross and death of Christ: for he does again that on account of which Christ was crucified; for unless the death of Christ had been so efficacious as to extend itself to all sins whatsoever to be committed in any future ages and to be done over again, it would be necessary for Christ to die and be crucified as often as men sin, just as the Aaronic sacrifices and victims had to be slain and offered as often as the Jews sinned.
Making Him a mockery. — In Greek παραδειγματίζοντας, that is, setting Him up as a paradigm or example, to be seen and laughed at by all; that is, defaming Him, exposing Him to derision and ridicule. Hence the Syriac has נצערון netsaarun, that is, they despise, scorn, treat with contumely and ignominy. For he who apostatizes and falls back into sin, by that very fact despises, contemns, and mocks Christ, and Christ's cross and redemption, and by this very fact is the cause that Christ is set forth as a mockery to the Gentiles and to all men, and that the sharp-tongued and malevolent Gentiles deride Christ and Christ's law and Church, just as the Jews mocked Christ hanging on the cross: thus Julian the Apostate derided, and proposed for derision, Christ and Christianity.
Verse 7: For the Earth That Drinketh in the Rain Which Cometh Oft Upon It, and Bringeth Forth Herbs Meet for Them by Whom It Is Tilled, Receiveth Blessing from God
"Meet" (Greek εὔθετον, that is, useful and suitable). He calls "blessing" the continual fertility: for while the earth responds to labor and cultivation, and produces herbs, God brings it about that men cultivate it more diligently, and from time to time sow barley, wheat, and other grains in it; and God Himself sends upon it new rains, and new influences of the sun and sky: so that the land thus cultivated bears new, more, and better fruits — which is, as it were, the blessing and happiness of the earth, just as the happiness and blessing of a mother is to bring forth many and beautiful offspring. By this similitude and analogy of the earth, the Apostle signifies that men who receive the rain of divine grace, and cooperating with it produce fruits of good works, are blessed by God — that is, are heaped up with a greater inflow of grace and heavenly consolation, with an abundance of virtues and merits.
Verse 8: That Which Bringeth Forth Thorns and Briers Is Reprobate, and Very Near Unto a Curse; Whose End Is to Be Burnt
For "proferens" the Greek is ἐκφέρουσα, that is, bringing forth, emitting, ejecting, as it were against nature, "thorns" — as it were a miscarriage, when of itself it ought to produce useful herbage. So Oecumenius. Second, for "reproba" the Greek is ἀδόκιμος, that is, to be disapproved, deserted, rejected, and left uncultivated, so that it becomes a dreadful thicket of thorns and brambles. Hence, third, he calls it "near unto a curse," so that, unless it bears better growths, it lies perpetually subject to a curse — that is, to sterility and barrenness. Fourth, the "consummation," that is, its end and outcome, is that it be unto "burning," so that it be burned with its thorns and briers.
From the parable of the fruitful and the sterile earth, the Apostle proves what he had said, namely, that the sin of apostasy, committed after receiving such great gifts of grace — as it were a heavenly rain — is most grievous and as it were irremissible; because the apostate has neglected this rain and has not responded to it, but has remained sterile of good works, and is therefore near to a curse, so that, unless he plainly amends himself, he will hear from God: "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels."
Verse 9: But, Beloved, We Trust Better Things of You, and Nearer to Salvation, Though We So Speak
For "confidimus" the Greek is πεπείσμεθα, that is, we are persuaded, we believe, we have persuaded ourselves, namely that you are not like the earth which sprouts thorns and briers, and is therefore cursed: yet we have wished to say these things and to forewarn you, because we have seen some among you fall away from their first fervor and grow daily slack, who, if they continue thus, will at length become cursed earth and be damned: these we frighten and admonish by this parable, so that they may resume their first fervor and respond to divine grace, and bear fruits of virtues like the fertile and blessed earth. So Theophylact.
Verse 10: For God Is Not Unjust, That He Should Forget Your Work, and the Love Which You Have Shown in His Name
Some modern Doctors think that the Apostle is here speaking to Hebrews who had lapsed into apostasy and mortal sin, and that he is raising them up into the hope of pardon by setting before them, partly their own penance and the works of penance and charity by which, now penitent, they have ministered to the saints; partly God's justice — that is, His fidelity — who as He promised pardon to penitent sinners, so will indeed bestow it: as if to say, Be of good cheer, O Hebrews: for although you have fallen, nevertheless, because you repent and bear witness to that penance by ministering to the saints with such great charity, be assured that God will receive you again into His grace; "for He is not unjust," but just and faithful, so that He will grant and show forth to you, the penitent, the mercy and remission of sins promised. If you object that the Council of Trent, session VI, chapter XVI, says that these words of the Apostle are to be set before, not sinners, but the justified, they reply that these words are to be set before the justified not as if of themselves they pertained to them, but as an a fortiori argument: as if to say, If God does not forget the pardon He promised to the wicked if they repent, much less will He forget the reward He promised to the works of the just. But the Council seems to set forth these words to the justified, not as an a fortiori argument, but in order to explain and show to them themselves the reward of the works of the just: for otherwise, omitting this passage, it would have brought forward other clear and express testimonies of Sacred Scripture which signify the same thing expressly. Add to this that the Apostle is not speaking to sinners, but to the justified, as is evident from the Apostle himself, as I shall presently show.
This opinion is in itself true, yet it does not seem to be plainly genuine, nor from the mind of the Apostle in this place. For although he sometimes hints that some Hebrews had fallen, and although he fears the same fall for some others, namely the slothful, nevertheless he sufficiently signifies that those to whom he writes and whom he here addresses and accosts had not yet fallen — in the preceding verse, 9, where he says: "We trust better things of you, and nearer to salvation, although we thus speak," and in verses 11 and 12, and likewise in X, 34, where, having praised the Hebrews and said that they had compassion on the bound and had taken with joy the spoiling of their goods and other hardships, he adds: "Do not therefore lose your confidence: for patience is necessary for you, for yet a little while, and He that is to come will come." Again, when he had said in this place that God is not unjust, that He should forget their work and love, he adds: "And we desire that every one of you show forth the same carefulness to the accomplishment of hope unto the end." By which words and others scattered throughout the whole epistle, he exhorts the Hebrews not to repentance, but to constancy in the faith, lest, pressed and worn out by temptations and persecutions, they fall back from it and desert the Christian assembly.
Second, that the Apostle is not here treating of penitents, and so is not here commending penance, is clear from this — that both here and in verse 6 he says that it is "impossible for those who have fallen to be renewed unto penance," and that not mercy but only the terrible judgment of God awaits them. Again, this appears from what he says in verse 1: "Leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be carried on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of penance."
Third, the Council of Trent seems so to expound it, session VI, chapter XVI, where it teaches that these words of the Apostle are to be set before those justified from sin, in order to stir them up to the pursuit of good works in hope of the reward they will receive from God, the just Judge.
Second, St. Thomas and Francisco Suarez in that learned work De Reditu operum mortificatorum, think that the Apostle is speaking to Hebrews who were both standing in grace and who had previously fallen into sin but had now been restored and justified, to whom the good works performed before their fall had now been restored by God through penance. Hence from this passage of the Apostle they prove that good works and merits, mortified by subsequent sin, return again after penance and revive, and are restored to the penitent. For these Hebrews seem to have sinned and fallen, as the Apostle hints in verse 6; wherefore from this passage they teach that these merits return and are restored to the penitent of right, presupposing however the liberal ordination and promise of God by which He promised this return and restitution, and that the Apostle therefore says: "For God is not unjust, that He should forget your work."
This therefore is the mind and meaning of the Apostle: he had said a little before, "We trust better things of you, and nearer to salvation," namely that you are not like sterile, reprobate, cursed, and burnable earth; but rather, that you are like fertile and blessed earth, and that you are tending by right paths to salvation and are near to it: he proves this by saying: "For God is not unjust," etc., as if to say: Since God is the just rewarder of works, He cannot forget, but is ever mindful of your love and mercy, so as to reward it, giving you grace and incentives by which you may easily persevere and grow in this love, as also in faith, hope, patience, and other good works, and through them tend toward and at length attain salvation and the crown of glory which He has promised to good works; provided that you yourselves continue to cooperate with this grace and remain constant in the faith: which alone I desire, and to which I exhort you plainly. Whence he adds: "And we desire that every one of you show forth the same carefulness to the accomplishment of hope unto the end." Hence it follows that good works merit stability and perseverance in faith, grace, and good works: just as conversely evil works merit and dispose toward straying through lusts and crimes, and at length toward wavering in the faith and losing the faith itself.
Note that he says, "For God is not unjust." For by these words he signifies that God would be unjust if He denied and withheld the reward which He promised to good works, or if He gave a smaller reward than the works deserve. For God has bound Himself by His promise to the just and condign reward of works: hence, because He is most just, what is just and what He has promised He will most justly bestow. See what is said in II Timothy IV, 8.
And of the love. — It must be read thus with the Syriac, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius; for now — I know not by whom — in the Greek there has been added τοῦ κόπου τῆς ἀγάπης, that is, of the labor of charity, or of love, that is, of laborious charity, or of labor undertaken out of charity.
Which you have shown (that is, performed and rendered) in His name, — that is, to the name, or toward the name itself, namely of Christ your God and Lord, so that it is the beth of contact; or "in the name," that is, on account of His name, so that it is the beth of cause or price, as if to say: For Christ's sake you have done good to Christians, and have undertaken great labor in helping Christ's poor. Again, while you have done and are doing this, you show how much you love Christ and Christ's name, since out of love for Christ you minister to and assist with your alms all who are marked with Christ's name.
Note: To minister means both to succor and to give alms, and to carry alms to the poor and the sick, and to wait upon them: which is the full and perfect mercy and charity of Christians.
Morally, see here Chrysostom in his moral homilies 10 and 11, teaching how we ought not curiously to scrutinize the poor as to whether they be good and holy, but simply to give alms in the name of Christ, not only to Christians, but also to pagans.
Verse 11: And We Desire That Every One of You Show Forth the Same Carefulness to the Accomplishment of Hope Unto the End
"Show forth" (ἐνδείκνυσθαι, that is, to display). "To the accomplishment of hope," that is, that your hope may be full, and may daily be increased and become fuller through perseverance and the pursuit of good works, and at length be fulfilled in deed, when hope itself shall be turned into the reality, and when you shall in fact obtain the heavenly reward which you have hoped for and for which you have labored.
Note here that hope and confidence of salvation are born and strengthened by the exercise and pursuit of good works: hence he who anxiously dreads gehenna and fears to be damned, let him exercise himself assiduously in good works, and thus his confidence of salvation will grow, which will either exclude all this fear, or greatly diminish it.
Note: For "expletionem" the Greek is πληροφορίας, which Vatablus, Erasmus, and others render as full proof, persuasion, and certitude, so that, namely, your hope through good works may become certain, unto the end of the certainty of hope — that is, until you are fully persuaded and plainly and certainly (as far as is permitted in this life) trust that you will obtain the hoped-for glory in the heavens; so that you may serve God not timidly, scrupulously, and anxiously, but freely, most joyfully, and most confidently — to the same effect as what St. Peter admonishes when he says in epistle II, chapter I, verse 10: "Be the more diligent that by good works you may make sure your calling and election." So also Vasquez. Plerophoria, he says, is a certain and full faith or persuasion, from which arises a certain and full hope: for then hope is full, when faith is full concerning that which is hoped for. But plerophoria properly signifies fulfillment, as Our Translator renders. As I have shown on Romans XIV, 5.
Note secondly that "unto the end" must be referred to "show forth carefulness," as if to say: I desire that you show this carefulness for good works unto the very end of your life. It can however also be referred to "the accomplishment of hope," as if to say: That your hope may be fulfilled unto the very end, namely so that it may daily so increase, until at length it itself is fully completed, finished, and consummated: for as holy life grows, hope grows also; and as much as the one, so much also is the other perfected and consummated.
Verse 12: That You Be Not Slothful, But Imitators of Them Who Through Faith and Patience Shall Inherit the Promises
And that you be not slothful, — in retaining and pursuing the Gospel and the Christian life, in persecutions and afflictions to be suffered for it.
But imitators of them, who through faith and patience shall inherit the promises. — "Faith," namely, by which they believe that, if they are faithful to God, they will receive from Him eternal goods: for this is the faith which arouses and sustains hope for undertaking and bearing any hard things; concerning which he treats throughout chapter XI, in order to encourage the Hebrews to constancy in the persecution to be endured, by enlivening and strengthening them through this faith.
For "patience" the Greek is μακροθυμία, that is, long-suffering, by which we endure in evils and are not broken by them, even though they press us for a long time, but with long-suffering we await that at length we may at some time be freed from them, and that we may behold and inherit in the heavens the goods promised and hoped for: for these are the "promises" celebrated in the Scriptures and therefore known to the Hebrews, which Paul here means — namely, the goods promised to us in the heavens. For by metonymy the promise is put for the thing promised. "Patience" therefore, or long-suffering, here is the same as perseverance. The like is in verse 15.
Verse 13: For God, Making Promise to Abraham
As if to say: What I have just said, "Be imitators of them who through faith and patience shall inherit the promises," I confirm by the example of Abraham; and I propose Abraham himself, your father and the father of all who believe and patiently wait, for you to imitate; so that, just as he himself by faith and patience at length obtained the promise made to him by God and confirmed by an oath, so you also may obtain the same by long faith, hope, and patience. For the promise made to Abraham was made also to you, and to all the faithful, as will presently be evident. In a similar manner the Apostle proposed Abraham as an example to the Romans, chapter IV, 16.
Because He had no one greater by whom He could swear, He swore by Himself. — He shows that God's promise is certain and firm, and that no one can doubt it, because God confirmed it by an oath, swearing by Himself, since He had no one greater than Himself by whom to swear.
Verse 14: Saying: Unless Blessing I Shall Bless Thee, and Multiplying I Shall Multiply Thee
"Nisi" ("Unless") with the Hebrews is a note of execrative oath, in which there is an aposiopesis, as if to say: Unless blessing I shall have blessed thee — that is, unless I shall have done good to thee with heaped-up benefits and abundantly enriched thee (for this is what that doubling "Blessing I shall bless" signifies; and God's blessing, since it is real and efficacious, is the same as doing good) — supply and understand, "may I not be held God," truthful, faithful. For God here swears, as the Apostle says, by Himself, and as it were devotes Himself.
Note: For "nisi" the Greek is ἦ μήν, which Our Translator, Vatablus, Erasmus, and others render "nisi," so that it is the same as εἰ μή; Theophylact however and Oecumenius render it "truly" or "certainly."
Hence secondly, it is clear that the Apostle here, as elsewhere, cites not the words of God and Scripture, but the sense, and so embraces many words of God in a few. For thus God says in Genesis XXII, 16: "By Myself I have sworn (that is, I swear), saith the Lord: because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only-begotten son for My sake, I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the seashore; thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice." All of which Paul has summarized in these few words, saying: "Unless blessing I shall bless thee, and multiplying I shall multiply thee."
Hence thirdly, it is clear that this blessing and promise made to Abraham and to Abraham's descendants was fulfilled in beginning in Isaac and in the Jews born of Isaac, when, namely, God heaped them up with an abundance of temporal goods; but it was perfectly fulfilled in Christ and Christians, whom God has blessed with an abundance of spiritual grace and every heavenly blessing: for that temporal blessing of Isaac and the Jews shadowed forth, as a type and figure, this spiritual blessing of Christians. That this blessing of his pertains preeminently to Christ and Christians as the true and genuine sons of Abraham according to the mind of God and Scripture, is clear from the very words in which He says: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed": for through Isaac only the Jews were blessed, but through Christ all the nations, as is clear from Galatians III, 16; whence the Apostle, Romans IX, 6: "For all are not Israelites who are of Israel; nor are they all the children of Abraham who are his seed: but in Isaac shall thy seed be called — that is, not those who are children of the flesh are the children of God; but those who are children of the promise are accounted for the seed," as if to say: Not the Jews who according to the flesh are born from Abraham and Israel (that is, Jacob), but the faithful and Christians, who according to the spirit are descended from Abraham and Jacob — because as genuine sons they have imbibed and imitate the faith and spirit of their father Abraham — are accounted by God to be the seed, that is, the descendants and sons of Abraham, adopted by God as sons; and consequently these alone are accounted, and are, the heirs of Abraham, and of the promise and blessing made to him. So Theophylact, Anselm, and others, following St. Chrysostom.
Verse 15: And So Patiently Enduring, He Obtained the Promise
For in his old age Abraham was heaped up both with offspring and with wealth, Genesis XXV, 1 and following.
Secondly, in his descendants according to the flesh, four hundred years after the promise made to him, Abraham was blessed, when, with Joshua as their leader, the Hebrews — Abraham's descendants — obtained the gates of their enemies, that is, the land and the cities of Canaan.
Thirdly, spiritually and most of all, Abraham was blessed when, after death, he was led into limbo, and thence in the time of Christ into heaven: likewise in his descendants according to the spirit he is blessed, and is still daily being blessed, when the faithful and the Saints enter into heaven, of which Canaan was the type; and it is of this third blessing that the Apostle speaks, when he says in chapter XI, verse 13, that Abraham and the patriarchs died without having received the promises, but had looked at them and saluted them from afar.
Verse 16: For Men Swear by One Greater Than Themselves
He teaches by the example of men, among whom every law and every doubt is terminated and confirmed by an oath, that God willed to confirm His promise by an oath, and that by swearing through Himself, since He had no one greater than Himself by whom He could swear. Note the Grecism, "greater than Himself," that is, greater than He.
Verses 17-18: God, Willing to Show to the Heirs of the Promise the Immutability of His Counsel, Interposed an Oath
Wherein (in which matter, namely His promise; or in which, that is, on account of which; so the Syriac: for the Hebrew beth, that is "in," is often the same as "on account of") God, willing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise (the sons of Abraham, namely the faithful) the immutability (firmness and unchangeableness) of His counsel (of His promise), interposed an oath: 18. that by two immutable things (by the promise and the oath, says Theophylact and Anselm, which are "immutable," that is, unchangeable and irrevocable, both among men, and most of all with God; whence he adds:) in which it is impossible for God to lie (that is, to revoke, to take back what He promised and swore to men, and so to mock and deceive men), we may have the strongest consolation. — In Greek ἰσχυρὰν παράκλησιν, that is, as Vatablus says, a strong consolation; or, as Theodoret and Theophylact have it, a strong exhortation may we have: namely, that looking upon God's promises so great and so certain, in persecutions and tribulations, we may not be broken in spirit, but stirred up by the hope of such great goods, may approach arduous matters with eagerness, may bravely undergo any labors and dangers for God and piety, may nobly endure plunderings, exiles, torments, and even death itself.
Secondly, for "to lay hold of" the Greek is κρατῆσαι, that is, that we might grasp and most firmly embrace, and bind to ourselves this anchor of hope, lest the whirlwinds of this age should snatch us away. Thus Ribera from Theophylact.
Who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. — "Have fled for refuge" is past tense, not present. This is clear from the Greek οἱ καταφυγόντες. Beza wrongly translates, "who run." For to flee is more than to run. For everyone who flees, runs; but not the contrary: for to flee is to run, in order that you may rescue yourself from danger and arrive at a safe place. So in this passage it signifies that we flee from death, that we may arrive at eternal life.
Verse 19: Which Hope We Have as an Anchor of the Soul, Sure and Firm
Chrysostom notes that faith is as it were a pillar or foundation cast in the earth, because faith among all things is the most solid, the most certain, and the most firm; but hope, which is indeed less certain than faith, is yet more certain than all human helps and hopes, being as it were an anchor — not just any anchor, but a sure and firm one, because just as a firm anchor at sea keeps a ship firm, unharmed, and unshaken amid waves and winds: so hope, amid temptations and all the agitations of this age, by which in this life we are tossed about as it were while sailing, strengthens and fortifies the soul, so that it may stand solid, unmoved, and constant in faith and the pursuit of virtue. Whence the Syriac translates: which (hope) is to us as an anchor, which holds our soul, lest it be moved.
Whence the Syrians and Arabs call hope vataca, as if to say firmness, strength, solidity: for in Syriac vatac means to bind, to make firm, to strengthen, and from that to trust and to hope.
Here note: Hope is as it were an anchor, but with this difference, that an anchor is cast into the depths, while hope is fixed in the heights, namely in heaven and in God Himself. This is what the Apostle adds, saying:
And entering in unto the interior of the veil. — Note: Paul alludes to the temple of Solomon, whose outer part was called the Holy place, the innermost the Holy of Holies, which was separated from the Holy place by a veil, or covering.
Secondly, the Holy place allegorically signified the Church militant on earth; the Holy of Holies signified the Church triumphant in heaven; the veil signified either the heaven interposed between us and the Blessed, as Theophylact holds, or the obscurity, the veiling, and the hidden joy of heaven, which we here behold only as through an enigma and the veil of faith, obscurely and from afar. The interior parts are the very vision of God, and all the glory and wealth of the Blessed, about which more in chapter IX. The Apostle could have said clearly: Our hope penetrates and pervades heaven itself and heavenly glory itself; but he preferred to say by a periphrasis, "unto the interior of the veil," so as to return smoothly and elegantly to Christ the High Priest, from whom he had digressed, in order to strengthen and rouse the afflicted Hebrews, who has entered into these interior parts, or into the Holy of Holies, that is, into heaven itself, as a high priest according to the order of Melchisedech, as he had begun to say in chapter V, verses 6 and 10.
Mares, Bishop of Chalcedon, when Julian the Apostate reproached him for his blindness, said: "I give thanks to God, who took my eyes from me, that I might not see you, an impious and blaspheming man." Sozomen, book VI, chapter 5.
St. Polycarp, when the Proconsul Herod threatened him with fire, replied: "You threaten me with this fire which is kindled for a moment and shortly afterwards extinguished. But you do not know the fire of Gehenna, which is prepared for the impious for perpetual punishments." And again: "For eighty-six years I have served Christ, and He has never harmed me at all: how shall I curse Him?" Eusebius, book IV, chapter 15.
So did St. Lucius, who, condemned to death for the faith of Christ, when he was being led to execution, said: "I give thanks, that you are sending me, freed from the most wicked masters, back to the supreme King of heaven and earth." The witness is Eusebius, book IV of his History, chapter 17.
Victor, Proconsul of Carthage, when solicited toward Arianism by the royal ministers, said: "Tell your king to subject me to fires, to drive me to the beasts, to torture me with every kind of torment: if I consent, I have been baptized in the Church in vain." The witness is Victor, book III of the Vandal Persecution.
Dionysia, scourged to blood by Huneric, said: "Ministers of the devil, what you do for my reproach, that is my praise." Victor, same place.
Eulogius, when the prefect of the Arian Emperor Valens said to him: "Communicate with him who possesses the kingdom," replied: "I too have a share both in the kingdom and in the priesthood." Tripartite History, book VII, chapter 33.
Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria, pressed by his persecutors, said: "Why do you labor by pursuing me? Take my head, for which you so weary yourselves, torn from my neck, and bear it as a great gift to the tyrant." Eusebius, book VI of his History, chapter 30.
St. Lawrence, roasted on the gridiron, said to Decius: "It is roasted enough, turn it, and eat." The same was said by the martyrs Tatian, Macedonius, and Theodulus.
Verse 20: Where the Forerunner Jesus Has Entered for Us, Made a High Priest Forever According to the Order of Melchisedech
Again He sharpens hope, and teaches that it is certain; because Jesus our forerunner has entered into heaven itself, toward which we tend through hope, and that not so much for Himself and His own glory, as for us and our glory: for Christ ran ahead into heaven, that He might lay open and prepare for us the way to the same place, and that we might shortly follow and overtake Him going before us; for he who runs ahead of another to open the gates, or to keep them open, runs only a small interval ahead of him who follows. So Theophylact. Finally, our hope is plainly confirmed and perfected by the title of eternal high priest, which the Apostle here adds to Christ, as if to say: For certain, Hebrews, hope for heaven, because Christ has entered into heaven, that He may there assist the Father as eternal High Priest, and represent and offer to Him His cross and death, and obtain for His faithful all grace and all the means by which they may strive toward heaven.