Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Having brought forward in the preceding chapter examples of faith, in this chapter the Apostle insists, and through them urges the Hebrews to be constant in faith, and to receive persecutions willingly, as the paternal discipline of God.
Secondly, in verse 16, by the example of Esau, who sold his birthright for cheap food and was rejected, he urges the Hebrews not to sell the faith and grace of Christ for temporal gains, and thereby be rejected.
Thirdly, in verse 18, he shows how much the new Law given on Zion surpasses the old given on Sinai, and consequently how much more gravely Christians violating the new Law are to be punished than the Jews violating the old.
Fourthly, in verse 26, he continues to urge them with fear and threats, teaching that God, when He gave the Law on Sinai and Zion, moved heaven and earth, to show that He would be a terrible avenger of His Law, and that He is a consuming fire.
Vulgate Text: Hebrews 12:1-29
1. And therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses placed over us, laying aside every weight and the sin which surrounds us, let us run by patience to the contest set before us: 2. looking on the author of faith and the finisher Jesus, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God. 3. For consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners against Himself, that you may not be wearied, fainting in your minds. 4. For you have not yet resisted unto blood, struggling against sin: 5. and you have forgotten the consolation which speaks to you as to sons, saying: My son, do not neglect the discipline of the Lord: nor be wearied while you are rebuked by Him. 6. For whom the Lord loves, He chastises: and He scourges every son whom He receives. 7. Persevere under discipline; God offers Himself to you as to sons: for what son is there whom the father does not correct? 8. But if you are outside discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are bastards and not sons. 9. Moreover, we have had the fathers of our flesh as instructors, and we reverenced them: shall we not much more obey the Father of spirits, and live? 10. And they indeed for a time of few days, according to their own will, instructed us: but He, for that which is useful in receiving His sanctification. 11. Now all discipline at the present time indeed does not seem to be of joy, but of sorrow: but afterward it will yield the most peaceable fruit of justice to those who are exercised by it. 12. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13. and make straight steps with your feet, that no one limping may go astray, but rather be healed. 14. Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see God: 15. looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up hinder, and by it many be defiled. 16. Lest any be a fornicator or profane person, like Esau, who for one meal sold his birthright: 17. for know that even afterward, desiring to inherit the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it with tears. 18. For you have not come to a tangible mountain, and a burning fire, and a whirlwind, and darkness, and a tempest, 19. and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words, which they who heard excused themselves, that the word might not be made to them. 20. For they could not bear what was said: And if a beast shall touch the mountain, it shall be stoned. 21. And so terrible was what was seen. Moses said: I am terrified and trembling. 22. But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the throng of many thousands of angels, 23. and to the Church of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made perfect, 24. and to Jesus the mediator of the New Testament, and to the sprinkling of blood that speaks better than Abel. 25. See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape, refusing him who spoke upon earth: much more we, who turn away from Him who speaks to us from heaven. 26. Whose voice then moved the earth: but now He promises, saying: Yet once more, and I will move not only the earth, but also heaven. 27. And in that He says, "Yet once more," He declares the removal of the things which are moved as of things that are made, that those things may remain which are immovable. 28. Therefore receiving an immovable kingdom, we have grace: by which let us serve, pleasing to God, with fear and reverence. 29. For our God is a consuming fire.
Verse 1: And Therefore We Also, Having So Great a Cloud of Witnesses Placed Over Us
That is to say: Since the ancient Fathers, whom I reviewed in the preceding chapter, did so much through so obscure a faith, suffered such unheard-of things, and finally poured out their lives, and yet did not in that state attain the promised reward in heaven, much more we, roused by so many and so great examples of theirs, through a faith now much greater and clearer, ought constantly to persist and advance in the Christian faith and piety, and for it to expend, if need be, our goods and our life, since we shall obtain immediately after death the heavenly goods and the blessed life in heaven.
Placed over us. — The Interpreter reads "impositam" (placed over), and that aptly corresponds to the cloud. But the Greek has "perikeimenēn," that is, placed around, that is, holding and surrounding us on all sides. So read the Syriac, Chrysostom, and Theophylact.
A cloud of witnesses. — In Greek it is "nephos martyrōn," that is, a cloud of martyrs, or witnesses. For "martyr" in Greek is the same as "witness" in Latin. He therefore calls the martyrs and Fathers already named witnesses of faith, who through faith and for faith either suffered hard things or accomplished heroic works. For they by their works and sufferings testified how great is the certitude and efficacy of faith, how great are the goods that faith promises, and how all hard things ought to be done and suffered for it. Again, he calls these Fathers witnesses, as if to say: They sit now in the heavens, as if assessors of Christ, and witnesses of those who act bravely, that by their suffrages the palm may be given to as many as shall be judged by them worthy of the palm, says Galen. The former sense, however, is more in accord with the Apostle's mind. For he has regard to the testimonies of the Fathers, namely the distinguished works of faith of which he spoke in the preceding chapter.
Note: He calls "a cloud" the abundance of witnesses, which, like a dense cloud in temptation and the heat of affliction, by their testimony surrounds us on every side, embraces us, cherishes, animates, strengthens and refreshes us. So Chrysostom and Theophylact.
Secondly, because by their doctrine and example we are watered as if by a heavenly cloud and shower. On which Chrysostom here, homily 28.
Thirdly, Oecumenius and St. Athanasius add (although this work does not seem to be by St. Athanasius, but to have been collected from him and others, as is sufficiently clear to one examining Question XXIII), to Antiochus, Question CLXII, that by the prayers of those Saints we are covered and helped as by a cloud from heaven, as if the word "cloud" denoted the patronage and intercession of the Saints for us; but the first two senses are more in accord with the mind and purpose of the Apostle.
Morally note here how great is the power of example for sharpening virtue. Philo, in his book That Every Good Man is Free, writes that Miltiades, the leader of the Athenians, about to fight against very many of the Persians, called his comrades together and showed them gamecocks fighting most stubbornly between themselves according to custom, judging that this spectacle would move them more to fight bravely than any exhortation. So it came to pass. For the comrades, seeing the cocks fighting even unto death, eagerly and nobly took up arms and undertook this war, and threw themselves into wounds and death. If the examples of brute beasts accomplished this among the Gentiles, what will the contests of the Saints accomplish among Christians?
St. Gregory, in the preface to the Morals, says: as the stars illuminate the night, so the Saints illuminate us and show the beauty of the virtues. "To show innocence came Abel; to teach purity of action came Enoch; to instill the longsuffering of hope and labor came Noah; to manifest obedience came Abraham; to instill endurance of toil came Jacob; to show meekness came Moses; to show patience under scourges came Job. Behold how shining the stars are which we see in heaven, so that we may walk the path of our night with unstumbling foot of action. As many just men as God has set forth, so many stars as it were has He sent into the heavens above the darkness of sinners."
He who wishes to become a poet reads Virgil; he who would be an orator, Cicero; he who would be a physician, Galen; he who would be a philosopher, Aristotle; he who wishes to be a saint, let him read the lives and examples of the Saints: with these stars let him illuminate and kindle his mind.
Laying aside every weight. — He calls "weight" the anxiety of preserving and increasing one's wealth; and every burden of earthly business and cares, says Theophylact, which can hinder, weigh down, halt, and impede us in this Christian race and contest (about which follows). For it is a metaphor from those wrestling and racing in the stadium, who, having laid aside every weight of their clothing and possessions, light, unencumbered, and agile, entered the contest and ran in the stadium.
And the sin which surrounds us. — In Greek it is "euperistaton" (for in the Royal Bibles it is wrongly read "aperistaton," with quite the opposite meaning), "hamartian," that is, the sin that easily or thoroughly surrounds and encompasses us. Many understand by "sin" concupiscence, which surrounds us as a hedge and wall, and hinders us from the course and contest of faith and virtue, and obstructs the way: for when we think of doing something good, especially something arduous, immediately concupiscence rises up and stands around us to resist and impede the work. The Apostle aptly persists in the metaphor of runners which he had begun, as if to say: In order that you may run rightly in the stadium, it is not enough to cast aside burdens and packs, but it is also necessary that the way be smooth and unobstructed. For if a hedge or wall is interposed, it will block the way and hinder the course. Our hedge that fences us in and surrounds us is concupiscence, and it is manifold. Therefore this must be cast down and thrown off; and we must strive not to nurture concupiscences, but to cut them down, lessen them, and mortify them: thus the way to every virtue will be smooth and unobstructed for us.
Secondly, St. Chrysostom and Theophylact say that sin surrounds us, that is, casts us down and conquers us, because we are easily conquered by it. On the contrary, St. Athanasius (or the author) to Antiochus, Question CLXIII, says that sin is called "euperistaton" because it has no place where it can stand, but is easily dissolved and vanishes through penitence.
Thirdly, Oecumenius, Erasmus, Vatablus, and others render "surrounding" as sin tenaciously clinging, as if the Apostle were alluding to us and our bodies, while sin to a burn (which in Hebrew is called "chelata"), or to the filth which clings stubbornly to our body, so that it cannot be scrubbed off without leaving residues. As if the Apostle were alluding to that of Ezekiel XXIV, 6: "Woe to the bloody city (Jerusalem), the pot whose rust is in it, and whose rust has not gone out of it."
Fourthly, the Syriac translates "metaieba," that is, sin which at every time submerges and presses us down, as if the Apostle persists in the metaphor of weight: for this weighs down and submerges. To this belongs the exposition of Maldonatus in his Manuscript Notes: "surrounding," he says, like a garment which we put on, encircling us. By the term "putting on" in Scripture an intimate conjunction is signified, as if to say: Sin so impedes us as we run in the stadium of this life toward heaven, just as a garment wrapped about those who are running in a contest is wont to be an impediment.
Fifthly, Theodoret and Galen: Sins, they say, surround and encircle us like gladiators, who, several attacking one, easily cast him down. By these sins, however, Galen understands not concupiscences, but extrinsic temptations, occasions and perils of sin, e.g., evil companions: therefore the sins here are sinners, infidels and Jews, who were striving to draw the Hebrews away from the faith of Christ to Judaism. For these are properly said to surround; and concerning these, in similar words, he says in verse 4: "You have not yet resisted unto blood, resisting against sin" (that is, sinful Jews, who as antagonists surround you, and entice you to the sin of apostasy). This sense is very apt and literal. Two things must be guarded against by those running in the stadium: first, that they not be weighed down by any burden; second, that they not be impeded in their course by any obstacle. The obstacles of sins, however, which delay us from the course toward heaven, are companions and other extrinsic temptations, which the Apostle here aptly contrasts with the cloud of witnesses set around us and surrounding us, as if to say: Look to the examples of the Saints, which surround you on every side like a cloud, so that you may shake off the wicked examples and exhortations of the Jews, which impede you from your course.
Let us run through patience to the contest set before us. — The Roman editions read the preposition "to"; however, the Greek, the Greek Fathers, the Syriac, and many Latin manuscript Bibles omit it, and that reading seems better and truer. For thus the Greek has "di' hypomonēs trechōmen ton prokeimenon hēmin agōna," that is, let us run through patience the contest or struggle set before us, as if to say: Our contest, our struggle, consists not in fencing, not in striking back and forth, not in wrestling, but in a light and easy thing, says Chrysostom, namely in running, so that we contend by running, and run through our contest. Hence Vatablus translates, let us run through endurance in the contest set before us.
Note "let us run," that is, let us continue running. For the Hebrews had long since begun to run this contest. "Let us run" therefore signifies an act not just begun, but continued, according to Canon 32. Whence the Apostle requires of him not fervor, but patience and endurance: for this is what makes us continue and persevere in this contest. So Theophylact.
Secondly, he calls it "contest," either by metonymy the stadium itself, in which those contending strove by running, as if to say: Let us run through our stadium. Or properly the contest of running itself in the stadium. For just as we are said to contend a contest, so we are said also to run a contest, that is, by running to contend, that we may obtain the prize, for thus elegantly and significantly we are said to run through our contest, when we duly accomplish it by running, as if to say: You, O Hebrews, are contestants and stadium-runners; your stadium, your contest is the struggle for the faith of Christ; you have begun well to run in this stadium, continue patiently, and persevere bravely in this contest and course, though it be harsh and difficult: for you must run through exiles, through plundering of goods, through the midst of enemies; thus it will come about that, running rightly, you will obtain the heavenly prize set before you. Put on therefore patience, this will be for you an impenetrable breastplate, by which you may ward off all the weapons of the enemies: armed with this, brisk and inviolable, you will rush into the midst of all the contests of persecutions. If, however, anyone with some others reads the preposition "to," in this manner, "through patience let us run to the contest set before us," he will conveniently expound it thus: "through patience," that is, patiently and constantly "let us run," that is, let us continue to run to this stadium and contest of faith, in which we contend with the Jews and run to the prize of the heavenly crown. For from time to time this contest, when interrupted, had to be resumed by the Hebrews. For when persecution ceased, the contest ceased; when persecution flared up again, the contest flared up again, into which, in their accustomed manner, the Hebrews had to continue and rush forth bravely and constantly to engage repeatedly.
Verse 2: Looking Unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of Faith
As the goal, end, and reward of your contest and course; or rather, as to the most perfect exemplar of your contest and course. For Paul alludes, as Chrysostom notes, to painters, who, in order to bring forth a copy from a prototype, an image from a model, often look upon and gaze at the prototype itself or model, as if to say: I have set forth to you, O Hebrews, in the preceding chapter, so many examples of Saints; now I set forth to you the very exemplar of faith and patience, namely Christ crucified, that gazing at Him constantly, you may strive to express and imitate His patience and constancy in yourselves.
Beautifully and movingly St. Augustine, in On the Catechizing of the Uninstructed: "Christ despised all earthly goods, that He might show they ought to be despised; He endured all earthly evils throughout the time of His mortal life, which He commanded to be endured, that neither happiness be sought in those things, nor unhappiness feared in these. For born of a mother who ever remained a virgin, but betrothed to a carpenter, He extinguished all pride of carnal nobility. Born in Bethlehem, which was small among all the cities of Judea, He willed that no one should glory in the loftiness of any earthly city. He also became poor, He whose are all things, lest anyone, when believing in Him, should dare to be exalted on account of earthly riches. He would not be made king by men, because in His humility He showed the way to the wretched, whom pride had separated from Him, although all creation testifies to His eternal kingdom. He hungered, who feeds all; the fountain of the thirsty thirsted; He was wearied with earthly journey, who made Himself the way for us into heaven: as it were He fell silent and grew deaf before those who reviled Him, He was bound, scourged, crucified, died: but also He rose, never again to die, lest anyone should so learn from Him to despise death as though never about to come," etc.
Note: For "author" the Greek is "archēgos," which signifies not only beginner, but also leader and author. For "finisher" the Greek is "teleiōtēs," which signifies both finisher and perfecter and crowner, as if to say: Christ is the beginning and the end, the leader and crowner of faith.
Note secondly: Christ is not called the beginner and author of faith as if in Christ there were faith or the habit or act of faith: for this is obscure, and it was excluded in Christ by the clear beatific vision and infused knowledge. Christ therefore did not have faith, but as wayfarer He had infused knowledge, and as comprehensor He had the vision of God, which directed all Christ's beatific actions, just as infused knowledge directed all Christ's other actions, both natural and supernatural and meritorious. Therefore Vatablus is not correct in supposing that Christ is called "author and consummator of faith" because Christ suffered much and obtained eternal life, since He believed God to be truthful and a keeper of His promises. For Christ did not believe this by faith, but by His own knowledge and vision saw it clearly. Again, Christ did not merit eternal life, that is, the beatitude of His soul, but obtained it before all merit at the first instant of His conception, as something owed to the hypostatic union by which He was joined to the Word. Yet this exposition can have a true sense.
Note thirdly: Christ is the originator or author and consummator of faith, both in Himself and in us. In Himself, because Christ through infused knowledge, as through His own faith, believed future goods and persuaded Himself with certainty of things to be hoped for and not seen, of which faith is the substance and argument, and these He Himself first in the world clearly taught both by word and by His example, as one who, for this faith, labored throughout His whole life, preached, and finally constantly endured a most bitter cross. Thus Abraham is called father of the faith and of the faithful, because he by his outstanding faith gave to all others an illustrious example of believing. Again, Christ is the consummator of faith because He first happily completed the course of faith, and obtained the things hoped for perfectly and consummately, namely the glory of His body and the fame of His name, and the salvation of men, which God had promised Him, and which Christ infallibly believed would come to Him through this His Passion. For in this sense Christ, as the leader, victor, and triumpher of faith, has gone before us. And this seems to be the genuine sense of this passage, both because Christ here is set before us as leader and accomplisher and victor of faith as it were of a war undertaken for the cause of faith; and because the Apostle so explains himself when he adds: "Who, having joy set before Him, endured the cross": behold Christ author of faith; "and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God": behold Christ consummator and triumpher.
Secondly, Christ is the author and consummator of faith not only in Himself, but also in us. For which observe what Ribera has noted: faith here signifies both the object of faith, or that which we believe by faith, and the act and habit of faith by which we believe. Christ therefore is the author of faith, both because He first taught us the Creed, or articles of faith, which we ought to believe; and because by His grace He begins and produces in us the act and habit of faith, for faith is the grace and gift of Christ. Again, Christ is the consummator of faith, both because the things which He taught here as to be believed, He will later show in heaven as to be seen; and because He changes the act of faith into vision: for vision is the perfection and consummation of faith.
Vasquez adds thirdly, because He grants the opportunity that the good which we have conceived in mind through His faith and grace, we may carry out in deed.
Who, having joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame. — There is here a threefold reading. First, "having joy set before Him": so read the Roman editions. Second, "in place of joy set before Him": so read the Royal Bibles. Third, "in preference to joy set before Him": so Ribera will have it read, as if Paul says: Christ, in preference to joy, that is, in place of and in stead of the joy set before Him, preferred and chose the cross. For since it was free for Christ to remain in His own glory and divinity, He yet preferred to become man for us and to be crucified. Again, having become man and taken on a body, although He could at once have derived the glory and beatitude of His soul into His body and filled it with immortality and joy, yet He willed not to do this, but preferred to take the cross upon His body. So Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius.
Rupert adds that the eternal Father in the first instant of His Incarnation set before Christ the choice of joy and cross, so that, if Christ willed, He could rejoicing, delighting and triumphing bring salvation to the world; but Christ, in preference to this joy set before Him, embraced the cross. For through it He willed in justice to satisfy God the Father for our sins, and to merit, and not have gratis, both the glory of His name and body and our salvation. But these things do not sufficiently agree with the eternal decree by which God decreed that Christ should suffer and be crucified, unless you say that that decree presupposed a free choice of Christ foreseen by God, not absolutely but conditionally. For God foresaw that if He set before Christ the incarnate man the choice of joy and cross, indicating that it would be more pleasing to Him if Christ chose the cross rather than joy, and impelled Him to this choice with congruous and efficacious grace, Christ would freely choose the cross over joy. With this foreknowledge being established, God absolutely decreed from eternity that Christ should suffer and be crucified, and in time to grant Christ the aforementioned congruous grace by which Christ would by His own will submit to God's decree and freely choose the cross over joy. For thus nothing detracts from the authority and certainty of the divine decree, and on the other hand much praise, merit, and virtue accrues to Christ; finally in this way the sweetness and at the same time the efficacy of divine providence is commended.
But because the Roman edition and all other Latin copies generally have "having joy set before Him He endured the cross," "set before" seems to signify that this joy was set before Christ, as it were a reward of the cross, and that the Greek "anti" signifies the same, as is clear below in verse 16, where it says that Esau, "anti brōseōs," that is, on account of food, sold his birthright. Therefore the price of the birthright with Esau was, as a kind of reward, food. For in a similar way the translator could have rendered there saying: Esau, having food set before him, sold his birthright. So we commonly say: A soldier, having victory set before him, that is, for the sake of the victory which he sets before himself as a kind of reward, fights most fiercely; a farmer, having his daily wage set before him, that is, for the sake of the daily wage which he proposes to himself, labors strenuously. So Paul says here also of Christ that, "having joy set before Him," that is, on account of the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, as if to say: Christ endured the cross in order to merit and obtain the joy which the Father set before Him, both by Himself and by the angel, who comforted Christ when in the agony in the garden, Luke XXII, 43 (for to this Paul here alludes). For this angel set before Christ — in the lower part, which was abandoned by the upper part and exposed to pain and passion, not inwardly in the imagination, but outwardly by a bodily voice — the joy that would follow from the cross, namely the resurrection and the glory of His body, as well as of His name, and the salvation of men, who would acknowledge, worship, and adore Christ as Redeemer, build temples to Him, institute priests, and preach and celebrate the name of Christ throughout the whole world; and therefore Christ, on account of this joy set before Him, embraced the ignominy and shame of the cross. Wrongly then does Melchior Cano, in book XII of De Locis, ch. 14, interpret this joy as the delight flowing from the vision of God, which he thinks was suspended by God in Christ's Passion and merited by Christ, about which we must speak elsewhere. Better Theodoret: "Christ," he says, "calls the salvation of souls His joy"; for this was a true but partial joy of Christ, not formal but objective.
This sense, just as it is simpler and plainer, so it is also more genuine and more significant than the former. Thus by the example of Christ all the holy Apostles, Martyrs, and Virgins, having joy set before them, endured the cross. Hear St. Vincent mocking the tyrant Dacian and his tortures: "These banquets (the tortures you inflict on me) I have always desired: never has anyone served me so well as you." For no one harms the patient man, but enriches and crowns him; for whatever good anyone takes away from him, or evil he inflicts, this is repaid to the same a hundredfold in heavenly treasures. This therefore is the wisdom and glory of the patient, that he may say: For the love of God and heaven, by thirst I drink, by hunger I am fed, by poverty I am enriched, I tread upon death, everywhere I am rich and renowned, everywhere abounding.
And is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. — The Syriac and Greek have "kekathiken," that is He sat, or sat down, in the past tense; but, as Erasmus himself admits, the past here, as also often elsewhere, is taken for the present, as if to say: See, O Hebrews, how Christ, the leader of faith, through His patience and constancy, with which for the sake of the faith He bore shame and the cross, has now been so exalted that He sits at the right hand of God in all glory and honor. The same will happen to you, if in this stadium of faith and patience you run constantly to the end: for you will sit with Christ your leader and head, and as it were assessors of Christ and judges of the world, you will judge not only the twelve tribes of Israel, but also all the tribes of the earth.
Verse 3: For Consider Him Who Endured Such Opposition From Sinners Against Himself
For "enim" (for), some in the Greek read "gar," others with the Syriac read "oun," that is, "therefore."
Secondly, for "recogitate" (think over) in Greek is "analogisasthe," that is, seriously think upon, consider, weigh.
Thirdly, by "contradiction" he understands by synecdoche and metonymy not only all the reproaches, mockeries, insults, but also the blows, scourges, torments and death inflicted on Christ by sinners, that is, by the impious Jews. For the Jews contradicted Christ not only by words, but also by deeds and blows, attacking Him and persecuting Him. Thus Chrysostom.
Fourthly, the word "such" has emphasis, that is, so harsh, so hostile, so infamous, so horrible — namely, even unto the death of the cross, that He was suspended as if a robber among robbers and fastened with nails on the cross. What faithful soldier, then, would Christ the Emperor not move to follow Him? "He who, as St. Chrysostom says (Sermon on Thursday of the Passion, tom. III, near the end), is not indeed glorious, clothed in purple, adorned with a diadem, sprinkled with gold, lofty on a throne; but going forth into the field, lowly in countenance and last in honor, first in dangers, laden with iron, heavy in arms, for fatherland, for citizens, for children, for the life of all presses upon the enemy, despises perils, scorns wounds, and willingly takes upon Himself death for the salvation of His own? For so Christ from the bosom of the Father came to our slavery, that He might restore us to His freedom; He took upon Himself our death, that we might live by His death," etc. Lucan, in book IX, describes Cato thus, going before his soldiers through the deserts of Africa with arms and words:
I will be the first to enter the sands, and will set the first steps in the dust. Let the ethereal heat strike me, let the serpent full of poison meet me, and by my fate let your dangers be tested first, etc., known by no distinction, whether I go as leader or as soldier.
Far more truly let the faithful soldier consider these things to be said by Christ his leader; nor merely said, but actually done in deed: except that Christ goes as a soldier in such a way that He also goes ahead through all hardships as leader, and this is known to all.
That you be not wearied, failing in your minds. — That is, lest, conquered by weariness, you fall and in the midst of the course cease and grow exhausted, "failing in your minds," in Greek "ekluomenoi," that is, unstrung, as namely the vigor and fortitude of your minds is loosed, and you become languid, weak, faint-hearted, and so yield to the Jews and return to Judaism, as if to say: Up to now you have stood firm in the faith, by great labor you have won great rewards, do not throw away the labor that has gone before; rather endure in evils, and on account of the contests already overcome, promise yourselves the victory of those to come. So we read of Clement of Ancyra, Athanasius, and others, who, conscious of past victories, returned ever more readily to new contests. They saw afar off that "idein to telos" (to see the end). Hence Seneca: "Even if," he says, "I knew that men would never know, and God would forgive, still I would not wish to sin, on account of the foulness of sin." For sin is the highest evil of nature and of the world, so that neither man, nor demon, nor God Himself, can inflict on a man as much evil as the man himself inflicts on himself when he sins. For they can only inflict the evil of punishment, which is far less than the evil of fault or sin. Rightly therefore Chrysostom: "What is sin? It is a voluntary demon and spontaneous madness."
Verse 4: For You Have Not Yet Resisted Unto Blood, Striving Against Sin
The word "enim" (for) is not in the Greek, but is understood, and has great emphasis and force, as if to say: Think upon Christ's cross and death: thus it will come about that even unto the cross and death you may resist the Jews and the sin of apostasy to which they themselves solicit you. For though you have resisted unto the loss of your goods, as I said in chapter X, verse 34, yet you have not yet resisted unto blood. Think upon the blood which Christ shed on the cross for you, and so strengthen yourselves that likewise for Christ you may desire to pour out not only goods but also blood and life, and may say with Herminius: "I prefer to die rather than be defiled by sin."
Note: For "repugnantes" (resisting) in Greek is "antagōnizomenoi," that is, contending like an athlete who in the contest strives with his antagonist with all his sinews and strength to overcome and trip him. So we must resist sin as our antagonist, that as noble athletes and soldiers of Christ we may be certain and resolved in this contest bravely either to conquer or to die. For this very death and martyrdom is our victory.
Note this, Christian, you who for the sake of companions, for mockeries, for pleasure, for some little gain, consent to sin. See how far you are from the virtue and constancy of Christ and the Saints: they resisted sin unto blood; let it shame you, if not unto blows, at least unto words, taunts, insults, not to harden yourself and resist sin. Hear the Saints' "asponodon polemon," that is, the irreconcilable war against sin; hear and imitate. Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius, made dire threats against St. Chrysostom: it was answered her by her own: "In vain do you terrify him, Chrysostom fears nothing but sin." Rufinus flattered the Emperor Theodosius, and said that he would see to it that Ambrose would willingly loosen the chains imposed upon him. To whom Theodosius: "I know the constancy of Ambrose, and that he will not transgress the divine law from any terror of royal majesty." St. Louis, taught by his mother Blanche, bore deeply fixed in his heart that he preferred to die rather than to sin. St. Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, says: "I would rather leap into a burning pyre than knowingly commit any sin against my God." St. Anselm: "If on the one hand," he says, "I were to behold bodily the horror of sin, on the other the pain of hell, and were necessarily to be plunged into one of them, I would seek hell before sin." And in the book On Beatitude, chapter XIX: "I would prefer," he says, "to enter Gehenna pure of sin, than to hold the kingdom of heaven defiled with the filth of sin." Eleazar, II Maccabees VI, says he would prefer to be sent down to hell rather than to transgress the law of God.
See what the seven Maccabean brothers said and did, II Maccabees VII. Finally the Apostle Romans VIII, 35: "Who," he says, "shall separate us from the charity of Christ? I am certain that neither death, nor life," etc.
Verse 5: And You Have Forgotten the Consolation Which Speaks to You as to Sons
He modestly rebukes the laziness of the Hebrews, as if to say: You have not resisted sin unto blood; nay, you have forgotten the exhortation and consolation (for the Greek "paraklēsis" signifies both), by which God (as Scripture says) chastises and instructs us as His sons by the discipline of afflictions.
Note: The Apostle tacitly refers the Hebrews in persecution to the Scriptures, that through the patience and consolation of the Scriptures they may have hope and sharpen their courage, as the Maccabees did, I Maccabees chapter XII, verse 9. For from neglect of the reading of sacred Scripture and the preaching of the word of God, lukewarmness and torpor grow in a man, so that he languishes in faith and piety, and easily, when temptation arises, denies the faith.
Note secondly: The Apostle cites Proverbs III, 11, according to the Septuagint, where it has thus: "My son, do not neglect (in Greek 'mē oligōrei,' that is, do not esteem of little value, as if small, when in truth it is a great gift of God) the discipline of the Lord." "Discipline" he calls chastisement; whence, explaining, he adds in verse 6: "For whom the Lord loveth, He chastises." For "discipline" in Hebrew it is "musar," that is, discipline, correction, rebuke, chastisement, by which men, especially boys in their first years, by teaching, threats, rods and other punishments, by discipline and laws, by which they are restrained and bound, are kept from sins and accustomed to a good and honest life; and it is the more severe instruction of early age, for taming its levity and wantonness, which by the Greeks is called "paideia." Hence Xenophon entitled the first education of Cyrus, the Paedia of Cyrus. Such is every chastisement and discipline which God sends upon men, or permits to be sent: for God chastises only for this, that He may teach us to walk in the way of right virtue, by which, despising earthly things, we may seek the spiritual and the heavenly.
Hence note thirdly: All afflictions, e.g. plunderings of goods, undertaken by the Hebrews for the cause of the faith, and all the torments of the Martyrs, are musar, that is, the chastisement and discipline of God, not as sending them, but as permitting them, partly for this, that through them sins may be punished, even slight ones, which the faithful and martyrs at times committed. Thus the Maccabees ascribe all that persecution of Antiochus and all the tortures by which they were tormented by him to their own sins, II Maccabees VI, 13, and VII, 32. For it is, as Cyprian says to the Martyrs, very prudent and pious to attribute to bad merits what you suffer, even if you suffer the same for the sake of the faith. Partly for this, that through them the faithful may learn patience, charity, continence, martyrdom, and other virtues. For affliction strikes down and consumes every concupiscence and teaches every virtue: thus God chastised, taught, polished, and perfected in every grace and glory the Blessed Virgin, Paul, the Apostles and all the Saints who were most preeminent and most dear to Him, with many afflictions.
Beautifully St. Bernard, Sermon 10 On the Lord's Supper: "The vinedresser," he says, "digs around the vine, and digs the earth even to its lower root with a sharp hoe; and if it has put forth any little roots, he cuts them off with the pruning knife. And the more such vain and less useful things the vine loses, the more fruitful and abundant it rises up to bear fruit. So whom He loves, He scourges and strikes: for He scourges every son whom He receives. For it belongs to those to receive scourges here, to whom it is given to rejoice in eternity. But he who murmurs at suffering does not draw near to Him who is above him; nay, he loses the inheritance of heavenly happiness, if he does not patiently and with love accept the scourge of God the Father. And if he murmurs at the scourge of the Lord, let him be sure that he incurs the punishment of the murmurers."
Persevere in the discipline. — Namely, by which God exercises and harasses you through the Jews, your fellow-countrymen, with exiles and proscriptions, as I have already said.
Note: Our translator reads "en paideia," that is, "in discipline"; so also reads the Syriac and Chrysostom, as appears from his exposition. Now indeed the Greek manuscripts have "ei paideian," that is, if you endure discipline, God offers Himself to you as to sons. And so reads Theophylact and Oecumenius.
Laertius reports that Diogenes the Cynic, having gone to Athens to Antisthenes to be taught by him, betook himself to him, and, although often repelled by him, did not cease to cleave to him: so much so that when Antisthenes once threatened him with a staff, he willingly placed his head under the staff, saying: "Strike if you will, but you will find no staff so hard with which you may drive me from you, until you have taught me something." If Diogenes did thus to Antisthenes, how ought a Christian to seek and pursue the discipline of Christ?
Let him therefore who is eager for virtue and perfection — not Cynic, but Christian and religious — listen to its excellent master, Blessed John Climacus: "If you wish to climb to the summit of virtue, seek a leader and master whose nature is harsher and prouder, under whom, persevering, drink in continual rebukes and mockeries daily as honey and milk. He who runs to the most placid quiet of soul and to God with all his might, on the day in which he does not endure curses, should consider that he has sustained an immense loss. For as trees agitated by winds always strike with deeper roots, so also those who live in obedience and are variously exercised in it, possess strong and unshaken souls. Blessed is he who, daily provoked by curses and insults for God's sake, does violence to himself! For he will triumph with the Martyrs, and will be equal to the angels in glory. Blessed is the ascetic who esteems himself worthy of every ignominy and every abjection!" Thus far Climacus. Such a leader and master St. John Damascene chose for himself, and under his discipline, wonderfully trained, he attained to such great sanctity.
Verse 7: God Offers Himself to You as to Sons
That is to say: Through this discipline, chastisement, and persecution God shows Himself to you as a father; for a father chastises the son whom he loves. Receive therefore this discipline with a grateful and cheerful spirit, count yourselves blessed by this tribulation, and glory in it, because it is itself a sign that you are sons of God, and that you are governed and treated by God as sons.
The Gentile philosophers thought the same. Seneca, in the book On Providence: "God," he says, "brings up the good more harshly, like strict fathers, and wills that they gather strength through pains and losses." And below: "The gods," he says, "follow this reasoning in good men, which teachers follow with their disciples, who demand more labor from those in whom there is more certain hope. Let them say therefore: We were judged worthy by God, in whom He might test how much human nature can suffer: the best soldiers are sent to the hardest tasks."
Verse 8: But If You Are Without Discipline, of Which All Are Partakers, Then You Are Bastards and Not Sons
For "adulteri" (adulterers) it seems should be read "adulterini," that is, spurious: for this is what the Greek "nothoi" signifies. That is to say: If you always indulge yourselves and pass your life in pleasures from lust, being without God's fatherly chastisement, then you are not true sons of God, but spurious and supposititious. For chastisement and discipline, when promptly and humbly received, proves the true sons of God and separates them from the spurious. For just as the eagle, by exposing its young to the sun so that they may gaze with steady and unaverted eyes, tests the genuine ones and distinguishes and separates them from the spurious (which, blinking at the sun, it lets fall by releasing its talon): so God, by exposing His own to affliction, tests and discerns them.
Verse 9: Shall We Not Much More Obey the Father of Spirits, and Live?
It is another argument, from the lesser to the greater; he calls parents "fathers of the flesh," who begot us according to the flesh. The Apostle signifies that our soul is not from our parents, but is created by God, and by creating is infused into human flesh. For this reason he calls parents "fathers of the flesh." But he calls God the Father of spirits, that is, of souls.
Secondly, for "instructors" the Greek is "paideutas," that is, teachers, correctors, chastisers, as if to say: Our carnal parents corrected and chastised us in childhood, and we received this chastisement of theirs with reverence, patience and obedience: how much more patiently ought we to receive this discipline and chastisement of God, who is Father, not only of our flesh, but also of our soul, especially since God commands it, who is to be obeyed, and who promises eternal life to those who obey Him in this discipline? For to obey God here is the same as to acquiesce and patiently bear afflictions sent or permitted by Him, as if he who impatiently endures them in some way resists God. Thus Theophylact.
Note: For "father" the Syriac has "tabahin deruchata," that is, to the fathers of spirits. By "fathers of spirits" Galen understands Bishops and pastors, whose office is to govern and instruct souls. But in this whole discourse the Apostle is not treating of these fathers, but of God, who chastises us as a father with His discipline and affliction. Whence all the Greeks and Latins read, not "to fathers," but "to the Father of spirits"; therefore from this passage and similar ones the Syriac version is not sufficiently approved by some.
Again, Theophylact explains these spirits in three ways. God, he says, is the father of spirits, that is, of angels. Secondly, of spirits, that is, of spiritual gifts. Thirdly and best, of spirits, that is, of souls. Paul alludes to Numbers XVI, 22, where Moses says: "Most mighty God of the spirits of all flesh." Note here that God is called Father of souls not only because He creates them, but also because He instructs, chastises, forms, sanctifies, and perfects them as a teacher and pedagogue: for it is in this sense that "father" is understood here; for the office of a good father is, like a pedagogue, to educate his son. As if the Apostle said: Just as carnal fathers are pedagogues of sons according to the flesh and body, so as to compose in them the outward manners of the body according to honor and decency (for "of our flesh" is to be referred both to "instructors" and to "fathers"): so God, who is the Father of souls, instructs and forms them as a pedagogue for the inner, holy, and spiritual life; and for this reason the Apostle named God Father not of souls, but of spirits. Thus He Himself explains in the following verse.
Note: Just as God is called by the Hebrews "Adonai" or "Eloha," and by the Arabs "Allah," as the Phoenicians pronounce it; and by the Greeks "ho kyrios," that is Lord, by excellence. Again, so God is called by the Hebrews "melech haolam," and by the Greeks "basileus tou aiōnos," and by the Latins King of the age, or King of ages: whence also the Ethiopians (whose language, like that of the Arabs, Persians, Phoenicians, Armenians and other Orientals, is akin to and as it were daughter of the Hebrew language) call God "egnziabher," that is, Lord the good Father. For "Eghzia" means Lord, "ab" father, and "her" good. For the fatherhood as well as the goodness of God is most evident in the creation and governance of souls: for to these God communicates Himself and all His goods, when He creates them after His own image and likeness, and when He fills them with His wisdom, grace, and glory.
Verse 10: He for That Which Is Profitable, in Receiving His Sanctification
The Apostle adds force and weight to his argument by a double antithesis: the first is, that our carnal fathers educated us for the present age, time, and life, which is brief and fleeting, that we might know how to live and act with men, and to care for and provide the wealth and goods of this life: but God educates us for eternity.
Secondly, they, "according to their own will," in Greek "kata to dokoun autois," that is, as it seemed to them, according to their own judgment, conception and fancy, taught us those things which they thought would be useful for us, when in reality they were often not useful, but harmful; nay, often they taught what they thought would be useful and splendid not for us, but for themselves and their own family: but God always instructs us for that which is useful, not to Himself, but to us, "in receiving," that is, in order to receive (for this is what the Greek "eis to metalabein" signifies) "His sanctification," that we, namely, may be made partakers of the divine holiness, here through grace, in heaven through blessed and eternal glory.
Verse 11: Now All Discipline at Present Seems Not of Joy but of Sorrow
Note: The Apostle does not say, it is, but "it seems" to be of sorrow, because in truth in itself discipline is the cause and procreator not of sorrow, but of all gladness and joy, and even of eternal life, says Chrysostom; nevertheless to us at the moment of chastisement and affliction it seems to be of sorrow, not of joy, because discipline by its sense of pain so affects and grips us that we do not consider the most peaceful fruit that will follow from it: for when the pain has passed, then for the most part we judge better, and we recognize and perceive the fruit of discipline, and therefore rejoice.
In the same way while you fast, abstain from wine, chastise the body, the body labors, the flesh suffers; while you patiently bear an injury and forgive it, the mind feels the pain; while you take from yourself food or money to give to the poor, cupidity is tortured; while you pray assiduously, and spend a good part of the night watching and praying with the Lord, while you lie on the ground, the back, knees and head are afflicted, especially in beginners: but afterwards to the trained they will bring the most peaceful fruit of justice and holiness. Again, the glory which is gained by this temporal labor will be eternal: "for what is momentary and light of our tribulation worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory."
But afterwards it will yield to them that are exercised by it the most peaceful fruit of justice. — For "exercised" the Greek is "gegymnasmenōn," which denotes wrestlers, such as those of old who, naked, wrestled and exercised in the palaestra, which thence was called gymnasium: and from this a school is called a gymnasium, in which, as in a palaestra of the mind, there is frequent and great exercise of intellect, memory, spirit, and virtue.
Theophylact notes that discipline is called a gymnasium, because it exercises Christians like athletes, forms them, strengthens them and perfects them: why then do you dread and flee from it, O Hebrews, O Christians? For discipline teaches you patience, and patience teaches every virtue, and, as St. James says, ch. 1, "has a perfect work." Again, just as athletes well exercised beforehand, when there is serious contending and matters must be vigorously handled, then show themselves men, and having learned through exercise to conquer, conquer in the contest, and obtain the prize: so you, O Hebrews, exercised through these persecutions, when martyrdom or some graver struggle threatens, will easily overcome it and triumph. Take up therefore this discipline of persecutions, that through it you may prepare yourselves for martyrdom and outstanding triumphs. Thus we see scarcely any made martyrs except those who have first afflicted themselves with martyrdom, or who have been previously exercised by God in many troubles, and as it were prepared and trained for martyrdom, and have merited it.
Note: He calls "the fruit of justice" justice and sanctity itself, which is the fruit of discipline. By a similar Hebraism the virtue of humility is called the very virtue which is called humility, and the sin of pride is called pride itself: but by this "justice" he understands solid and perfect patience. For this is the fruit of discipline and chastisement, as cause; this is sanctity and justice, namely by excellence illustrious and outstanding, because nothing purges the mind, makes it gentle, perfects and sanctifies it like patience; this finally is most peaceful, because patience brings peace and tranquility of conscience, silence and joy of soul. For the patient man is fitted for every fortune, and receives no inconvenience from external things and vexations, however hard and troublesome, but always enjoys the deepest peace of mind; but this justice and patience will be perfected in heaven and in the future beatitude.
Whence secondly, by the fruit of justice we may take blessedness itself, glory, and the eternal reward, which is owed to patience from justice. Thus Theophylact and Anselm. This is the third argument of the Apostle, by which he persuades the Hebrews to receive calmly the persecutions of the Jews, as discipline of God, and it is taken from the fruit of discipline which is perfect justice, sanctity, peace, and joy of conscience. The Gentiles saw this from afar. A certain disciple of Zeno, asked by his father what he had learned in so much time, replied, "I will show you." When he said nothing else, the father, enraged, thinking the expense had been wasted, began to beat his son with whips. The young man bore this savagery of his parent most equably, and said: "These are the fruits I have brought back from philosophy, that I may bear my father's anger conveniently."
Excellently St. Bernard, sermon 10 On the Lord's Supper, citing these words of the Apostle: "By the scourges of the Lord," he says, "the fatness of carnal pleasure is worn down, and the virtues of the soul are strengthened: the lascivious flesh is restrained, and the soul is lifted up by the wings of virtues to heavenly things; the flesh loses what it had of superfluity, and the spirit acquires virtues which it did not have. If therefore through the scourges of the Lord virtues are increased, vices cut off, earthly things despised, heavenly things loved, we awaiting the rewards of eternity, if some grave infirmity, or strong temptation, or even loss of temporal things steals upon us, from all these we ought to take strength: because as the fight grows, we shall not doubt that a more glorious victory awaits us. For in this we show with how great desire we burn for God, if we go to Him not only through tranquil and gentle things, but also through harsh and hard. We cannot now return to eternal joys, except through temporal losses: and therefore by the hope of abiding gladness, we ought to reckon all adversities no small prosperity."
Verse 12: Wherefore Lift Up the Hands Which Hang Down, and the Feeble Knees
It is a description of an indolent man, weak and despondent in spirit (as the Apostle here implies some of the Hebrews were). For such a one fails in hands for working, and in knees for walking and running in the stadium; because in the knee is all the strength of the leg. On the contrary he who is vigorous has hands ready for work, and agile and strong knees for running. The Apostle alludes to, or rather cites, Isaiah XXXV, 3, where he says: "Strengthen the dissolved hands, and confirm the weak knees," that is, rouse others to act boldly, courageously, manfully: for just as audacity, flowing from boiling bile, strengthens the powers and confirms the limbs: so fear, by the cold that it brings with it, weakens and enervates the faculties of body and mind: therefore when terror seizes the spirits, and the vital force grows cold and languid, from which sense and motion are derived to all the limbs, all the joints must tremble, and the strength fail. All which audacity restores and confirms.
Verse 13: And Make Straight Steps With Your Feet, That No One Limping May Go Astray
He opposes "straight steps" to limping: for he who limps does not walk straight, but now to this side, now to that, leans, and easily deflects from the straight path. As if to say: Do not, O Hebrews, mix the Gospel with Judaism, like those limping who incline now to Judaism, now to Christianity, but constantly retain and follow the straight and one faith and life of Christianity. The Apostle cites Proverbs IV, 25, where for "steps" the Hebrew is "magal," in Greek "trochias," which signifies both a path and a chariot-track, as the Syriac and Theophylact translate, and a step along it, by a usual and common metonymy. Secondly, for "make straight" the Hebrew is "palles," that is, weigh, that is, as in a scale and balance of wisdom and justice weigh and consider your steps, that is, your actions, see how you walk, see that you proceed and act rightly.
That no one limping may go astray. — In Greek "hina mē to chōlon ektrapē," that is, as Vatablus and Erasmus translate, lest he stray into what is lame, namely, lest limping lead him from the way, especially since it is narrow. As if to say: Sure and not wavering steps are needed in this way of the Christian faith and religion. Let each therefore beware lest he waver and limp, and so when persecutors press, deflect from faith into apostasy. But if anyone has begun to waver and limp, let him take care to be healed at once, and restored to his former Christian strength, uprightness, and constancy.
Verse 14: Follow Peace With All Men, and Holiness, Without Which No One Shall See God
Follow peace with all men. — In Greek "diōkete," that is, pursue, that you may pursue and seize peace even when remote or fleeing like a hare. He alludes to Psalm XXXIII, 13: "Seek peace and pursue it." The Apostle mentions peace, lest the Hebrews pursue with hatred their Jewish persecutors, but rather strive to soften and bend them by their charity, meekness, patience and peace, and to win them over to themselves and to the Christian faith. Rightly St. Augustine to Count Boniface: "Peace," he says, "ought to be the will, war the necessity," so that, unless necessity compels, peace ought not to be exchanged for war. And St. Bernard, sermon 3 On the Dedication of the Church: "Pursue peace," he says, "with all men. This is what makes brothers dwell together in unity of manners, building a new city for our true peaceable King, which itself is called Jerusalem, which is the vision of peace. For where without a covenant of peace, without observance of law, without discipline and government a headless multitude is gathered, it is called not a people, but a mob: it is not a city, but confusion: it presents Babylon, has nothing of Jerusalem."
And holiness, without which no one shall see God. — There are some who follow peace, but in such a way that they neglect holiness: for while they desire to please the wicked, they approve and praise their crimes. Prudently therefore Paul warns that peace is to be cultivated in such a way, yet that holiness be preserved unharmed. By "holiness" Chrysostom, Theodoret, Theophylact, Oecumenius, Jerome on Ezekiel XLVII, and Augustine, epistle 112, ch. V, understand chastity. For chastity is the holiness of body and mind, as the Apostle teaches in I Corinthians VII, 34, and 1 Thessalonians IV, 4. But this chastity is not in virginity alone, but also in marriage. For, as Paphnutius said in the Council of Nicea, marriage also has its own chastity, when the spouses preserve mutual faith and the laws of the Sacrament wholly and inviolably.
Secondly and more fully, by "holiness" you may take purity of soul, that the soul be holy, that is, pure from every sin. For the Apostle alludes to that of Matthew V: "Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God." For the vision of God is promised, not only to the chaste, nor to all the chaste, but to all those who are pure from sin.
Verse 15: Looking Diligently Lest Any Man Be Wanting to the Grace of God
In Greek "episkopountes," that is, watching over and attending to others, "lest any be wanting," in Greek "hysterōn," that is, lest he fail and be destitute (through sin and pusillanimity) of the grace of God. Just as in an army the weak and weary, when they cannot keep up with it on the march, fail along the way and stop; for the gathering of whom prudent generals customarily appoint guardians, as it were bishops who watch lest any fail: so Paul teaches that it is not enough for us to have our own faith and salvation, but we must also confirm others, especially the weak and wavering, in the same, lest any more sluggish, weaker or more timid one fail and go over to the enemies, Jews, Pagans, or heretics, and betray the standard of faith.
Lest any root of bitterness springing up hinder, and by it many be defiled. — "Root of bitterness," that is, bitter, is sin, which embitters the conscience through remorse and the guilt of punishment, says Chrysostom, and which exasperates neighbors, scandalizes them, invites them to sin. For the sinner rubs off and instills his bitterness and venom of sin onto others. The Apostle speaks in general of any sin, for he adds: "Lest any one be a fornicator, or profane person." For all sins lead away from God, and consequently gradually from faith, especially if persecution presses. Thus Chrysostom, Theophylact, Oecumenius. Yet most especially the Apostle speaks of the sin of heresy and apostasy. For he alludes to Deuteronomy XXXI, 18, where Moses calls apostates a root of bitterness, who solicit others to idolatry, as if Paul said: See and take care, lest any among you offer himself as a leader of apostasy, who may rouse, entice, or even solicit others to Judaism.
Verse 16: Lest Any One Be a Fornicator, or Profane Person, as Esau
He explains the root of bitterness by examples and the more frequent kinds, as if to say: By the root of bitterness I especially denote fornicators and profane persons; for these are opposed to holiness, that is, chastity, which he commended a little before. The phrase "as Esau" refers to "profane," not to "fornicator," as some opine from the connection of words. It is clear first, because all that follows explains "profane"; secondly, because we nowhere read that Esau was a fornicator; thirdly, because the Romans place a comma after "fornicator," as if to disjoin it from Esau. Therefore the Apostle, before other vices, inculcates the avoidance of fornication, because men are most prone to it, and because in that age the Gentiles thought simple fornication was not a sin. For the same reason the Apostles forbade it before others, Acts XV, 29. For the Jews, surrounded by, indeed mixed with, the Gentiles, easily and willingly drew this error from them. Thus St. Chrysostom, Theophylact and others. Although Theodoret thinks Esau is called a fornicator, either because of his gluttony and gula, on account of which he sold his birthright, or because of nefarious and unlawful marriage: for he took foreign wives.
"Profane" is he who has nothing sacred, who neglects, violates, tramples sacred things. He is called "profanus," as if to be eliminated far from the sanctuary (procul a fano). Whence Virgil, Aeneid VI: "Far hence, far hence be ye profane." And Plato in the dialogue On Sanctity: "What is dear to the gods," he says, "that is holy: but what is not dear, is profane." The same Plato in Minos: "The most sacred of all," he says, "is a good man, and the most profane on the contrary is a bad man." So in Greek "bebēla," that is profane, are called those things which are exposed to all for trampling. The word is derived "apo tou bēlou," that is, from the pavement, which is trodden by any one, says Elias Cretensis in his Apologetic on the first oration of Nazianzen. Thus the Apostle calls Esau profane, because for a vile lentil meal he sold, and by selling trampled and profaned, the right of primogeniture, which was sacred, in the part where it included the right of priesthood. For in the law of nature the firstborn were priests and succeeded their father in the priesthood. As if Paul said: See, O Hebrews, lest like Esau you sell the sacred right which through the faith of Christ you have to the heavenly inheritance for earthly wealth, so that you prefer to retain these, with the loss of faith and of the kingdom of heaven, rather than by retaining faith to lose them, when the Jews persecute you, and press you to make loss either of goods or of the faith of Christ.
It is asked here, whether and in what way Esau sinned by selling, Jacob by buying, the birthright?
Note: The right of primogeniture at that time was partly temporal, partly spiritual. It was temporal inasmuch as it gave the firstborn the right to a double portion of the paternal inheritance, while the other brothers had only a single one; again inasmuch as it made the firstborn the successor of the father and prince of the brothers. For this is what is said in Genesis XLIX, 3: "Ruben, my firstborn, prior in gifts, greater in command"; and Deuteronomy XXI, 17: "And he shall give him (the firstborn) of all that he hath, double." It was spiritual inasmuch as it had annexed both the right of priesthood, before it was conferred on Levi and the Levitical tribe, and the right to the paternal blessing; for this the dying father conferred upon the firstborn, praying and obtaining from God, that God would heap upon him His favor, grace, and beneficence: which blessing was efficacious, and therefore was greatly esteemed, as is plain in Jacob, who snatched away this blessing from Esau, who was raging and gnashing his teeth.
I say therefore: Esau, by selling the whole right of the firstborn — that is, both spiritual and temporal — sinned first by simony, just as those who now sell their priesthoods and Benefices are simoniacs, because they sell a spiritual right for a temporal price. For this reason Esau is here called by the Apostle "profane," because, accustomed to hunting, banqueting, and delights, he neglected and made little of the priesthood and the paternal blessing, and sold and profaned them. That the Apostle here looks to the paternal blessing is plain from the following verse, when he says: "Afterwards, desiring to inherit the blessing, he was rejected." Secondly, he sinned by gluttony, because he sold so great a thing as the birthright was for so cheap a morsel.
You will say: At Genesis XXV, 22, it seems to be said that Esau, compelled by the extreme necessity of hunger, sold his birthright; for he says: "Behold, I am dying"; therefore he did not sin by gluttony. I answer: When he says, "behold I am dying," he pretexts the necessity of his gluttony; for there is no doubt that in so wealthy a household as Isaac's he could easily have had bread and other foods with which to satisfy his hunger. Therefore the fragrance and lust for the lentils which Jacob had cooked seized him and so deranged him, that, unless he might enjoy them, he said he would die, as Cajetan and Pererius rightly noted there. The same is confirmed by what Moses says at Genesis XXV, last verse, saying of Esau: "And thus, having taken bread and the dish of lentils, he ate and drank, and went away, making little of having sold his birthright." Which words signify that he sold his birthright not from necessity, but from contempt, because he made little of it.
Morally, on the damages of gluttony see St. Gregory, Book XXX of the Morals, chapter 27.
I say secondly, Jacob did not sin by buying Esau's birthright. First, because he intended only to buy the right of the firstborn insofar as it is in itself merely temporal and concerns temporal goods: for to that extent this temporal right could be sold and bought for a temporal price. For although it had annexed a spiritual right, namely of the priesthood and of the paternal blessing, yet this was secondary and accessory among other nations; indeed among Christians and Jews the right of the firstborn did not have annexed the right of the priesthood. Therefore that right could in itself be sold under the law of nature, even though it had annexed the right of the priesthood: for that right was deemed not to be sold, but to follow as an accessory to its principal, especially when one in mind so distinguishes them, and intends to sell or buy in that way only — namely intending to buy the principal right of the firstborn, not the accessory, although he knew it was annexed to and followed his principal right and would pass with it to the buyer: just as even now a field can be sold and bought to which the right of patronage to this or that Ecclesiastical Benefice is annexed: for then it is not the right of patronage that is sold, but the field to which this right is annexed; so that, the field passing by sale, this right necessarily annexed to the field passes also to the buyer. Thus concerning Jacob and Esau, among others, Aloysius Lipomanus thinks and teaches at Genesis XXV, 33.
You will say: Jacob seems to have sinned, if not by simony, at least by injustice, that he bought a thing of so great a price, such as the birthright is, for so cheap a morsel. I answer: no injury is done to one who is willing and knowing, and who squanders his own thing: Esau, however, knowing and willing, sold and squandered his birthright for so cheap a morsel, because he despised and lightly esteemed it.
Secondly, Jacob did not sin by buying the right of the firstborn, because he knew (his mother Rebecca having indicated it to him, as is sufficiently gathered from Genesis XXVII, 13 and 14) that this right belonged to him by God's decree and gift: whence also presently at verse 17, when his mother urged him to forestall his brother Esau in the blessing, he obeyed without hesitation and joyfully. Therefore Jacob did not buy this right, but extorted it as his own and as owed to him by craft from an unjust possessor under the appearance of a sale. See Cajetan, II II, Quaestio C, art. 4.
Verse 17: Know That Afterwards When He Desired to Inherit the Blessing, He Was Rejected
That is, he was repulsed from his petition and the paternal blessing, which he desired and asked from his father Isaac, when namely Isaac himself said to Esau: "I have blessed him (Jacob), and he shall be blessed: and to you afterwards, my son, what more shall I do?" So Anselm and Theophylact, who however secondly add that Esau was properly reprobated by God through his father Isaac, and therefore damned. But Scripture at Genesis XXVII hints at no such thing; for it only signifies that Esau was "reprobated," that is, was rejected from the paternal blessing. For "know" the Greek is "iste," which can be rendered both "you know," as Erasmus translates, and "know."
For he found no place of repentance. — Penitence here does not signify sorrow for sin committed and God offended, for Esau did not have this: for, swelling with pride and indignation, he wished to kill his brother and to add sin to sin, as Theodoret, Theophylact, Anselm, and others note. For Isaiah the Abbot rightly said: "As the earth without water and seed cannot bring forth fruits, so neither can anyone repent without humility and affliction of the flesh." Wrongly therefore the Novatians wished from this passage to take away the penitence by which we are reconciled to the Church and to God. For the penitence which Esau sought and did not find was human, namely that by which one repenting of a deed done, e.g. of a sale made, desires to rescind and revoke it. Therefore "metanoia," that is penitence, is here used improperly for "metameleia," that is, regret not for sin but for the loss which someone has caused or incurred — by which namely Esau afterwards, having considered the matter better, when he saw the blessing and birthright not future but already present, esteeming it greatly, was sorry and grieved that by his own fault and by his profane and foolish sale he had lost so great a thing, desiring to recover the same, but in vain.
Others, like Gabriel Vasquez, subtly and probably take the penitence to be of Isaac, not Esau — as if Paul said: Esau by his tears could not effect that his father Isaac should repent of the deed, namely so as to revoke the blessing given to Jacob and recall it to Esau the firstborn. For Paul gives this as the reason why Esau afterwards (that is, after the sale of his birthright), desiring to inherit the blessing, was rejected: namely because his father Isaac, unwilling to repent — that is, to retract his blessing given to Jacob — reprobated and repelled Esau from it. Wrongly therefore did Luther expunge this epistle to the Hebrews from the canon of sacred books and proscribe it, on this argument: that it in this passage takes away penitence from sins and from sinners, such as Esau.
Note: by these words Paul touches the Hebrews, as if to say: Do not profane and cast away God's faith and grace, lest perhaps you, like Esau, be unable to recover them, and become reprobate. Where note that the case of Esau and that of the Hebrews is not in every respect alike. For Esau absolutely could not, since God was unwilling, receive again the lost paternal blessing; whereas we in this life can always absolutely receive again the lost faith and grace of God: we are however sometimes said to be unable, because we can with difficulty and pain receive it again, e.g. when we cast away the faith itself, which is the foundation of every good, and willingly desert the truth which we have acknowledged, and despise and assail it. For then we willingly harden our heart in evil, and turn away and shut out every divine influx and grace.
Although he had sought it with tears. — "It" — supply not penitence, but the blessing: although, even if with the Syriac you supply penitence, you will not favor the Novatians. For this penitence of Esau was not for sin and for grace of God lost, but for the paternal blessing and birthright lost, as I have said. Add, if you take penitence here not of Esau but of Isaac, it is simply true that Esau sought with tears this penitence of his father and the retraction of the blessing, but in vain.
Verse 18: For You Have Not Come to a Tangible Mountain
He goes on to exhort and goad the Hebrews with a new sting and argument, that they may not cast away the faith and grace of Christ, but constantly persist and continue in it. He draws this argument from Moses and the Old Law, which no one could cast aside and violate with impunity: for from this he infers: Who therefore shall with impunity cast away Christ, and Christ's grace and law, which is more excellent than the Mosaic Law?
Note: He calls Sinai a "tangible mountain," which could be touched, handled, and felt; on which Moses and the Hebrews received the Old Law, with an angel promulgating it; as if to say: You have not come to Sinai, a corporeal and earthly mountain, but to the Church of Christ, which is a spiritual and heavenly mountain. Others, by antiphrasis, think Sinai is called "tangible" meaning intangible, because God had commanded at Exodus XIX, 12, that the Hebrews should stand at the foot of Mount Sinai, but should not touch the mountain itself, nor climb it. But the former sense is the proper and genuine one.
A kindled fire (so it is to be read with the Romans and Greeks, not "accessible" as some read). — "Kindled," that is ignited or set ablaze, he calls the corporeal fire by which Sinai burned, when on it the Old Law was given — a fire which could be kindled and extinguished. This fire was huge and terrible, so much so that Moses, Deuteronomy IV, 11, says that Mount Sinai burned up to heaven. To this Paul opposes the spiritual fire of charity and the grace of the Holy Spirit, which was given to the Apostles at Pentecost, and which is given to Christians in baptism and the other Sacraments.
And whirlwind, and darkness, and tempest. — He calls "whirlwind" a vehement and impetuous wind; "darkness" a most dense cloud which covered Sinai; "tempest" the thunders, lightnings, and flashes circling about on every side, and likewise the rains. That these existed together with an earthquake on Sinai when the Old Law was given there, Josephus teaches, and Psalm LXVII, 9: "The earth," he says, "was moved, the heavens dropped down," although Moses does not express this in the history of the giving of the law, Exodus XIX. Moses adds at Exodus XIX, 18, that smoke arose terribly from Sinai as from a kindled furnace: from which it appears that, as in a furnace one sees partly burning flame and fire, partly smoke not yet kindled, so too the angel in God's place produced fire and smoke on Sinai, whether from the surrounding air, or from some smoky material (e.g. sulphur) which easily catches fire.
Verse 19: And the Sound of a Trumpet, and the Voice of Words
It is a hendiadys: for the sound of the trumpet was nothing other than the voice of the words. For God most great and good proclaimed His words, that is, the precepts of the Decalogue, through an angel from Sinai before the Hebrews with a trumpet-voice. So great was the crash of this resounding trumpet or buccina, that human ears could scarcely bear it. All these things looked to this end: to strike fear and reverence of God and of the divine law into the Hebrews, and by this terror of God and of divine vengeance to drive them to the keeping of the law.
Allegorically, this promulgation of the old law signified the promulgation of the new law at Pentecost. "Each was made on the fiftieth day from the Pasch — the former on Sinai, the latter on Sion: there the mountain trembled with an earthquake, here the house of the Apostles: there, amid the flames of fires and flashing lightnings, a whirlwind of winds and the crash of thunder rang out; here, with the vision of fiery tongues, a sound likewise came from heaven as of a mighty wind: there the blast of the trumpet rattled the words of the law; here the Evangelic trumpet sounded forth from the mouth of the Apostles." So St. Jerome to Fabiola, and from him the Venerable Bede in his Homily for the vigil of Pentecost. The Apostle insinuates the same here at verse 22.
Which (voice of the trumpet) they who heard excused themselves, that the word should not be spoken to them. — For the Jews, struck with fear of death, said to Moses: "Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest perhaps we die." Exodus XX, 19.
Verse 20: For They Could Not Bear What Was Said: If Even a Beast Shall Touch the Mountain, It Shall Be Stoned
In Greek "to diastellomenon," that is, what was being distinguished, that is, what was distinctly commanded. Thus Psalm CV, 33, it is said: "He distinguished (that is, said distinctly) with his lips." But this which was being said is that which the Apostle subjoins:
And if a beast shall touch the mount, it shall be stoned. — As if to say: The Hebrews could not bear the terror and the terrible signs of God already mentioned, which He set forth to them when giving the law on Sinai, especially when, under penalty of death, He forbade approach to and touching of Mount Sinai — as if it were the tribunal of the terrible God — even to beasts, saying: "If even," in Greek "kan," that is, even if, "it be a beast that touches the mountain, let it be stoned" — as if to say: not only a man touching Mount Sinai, but even a draft animal touching Sinai, shall be stoned. He cites the words of God at Exodus XIX, 12, which run thus: "Beware lest you go up into the mount, or touch its borders: everyone who touches the mountain shall die the death; a hand shall not touch him (as it were a crime, an offscouring, and a defilement), but he shall be crushed with stones or transfixed with darts, whether it be beast or man, he shall not live."
Tropologically, St. Gregory, Book VI of the Morals, ch. XXVII: "A beast," he says, "touches the mountain when the mind, subjected to irrational desires, raises itself to the heights of contemplation; but it is struck by stones, because, not sustaining the highest things, it is killed by the very blows of the supernal weight."
Verse 21: And So Terrible Was That Which Was Seen. Moses Said: I Am Terrified and Trembling
Chrysostom with his followers connects all these things into one sentence, as if to say: So terrible was God in the wonders of Sinai, that Moses himself, most constant and accustomed to divine prodigies, said: "I am terrified." But thus it would have to be said "that Moses said" or "would say"; not however, "Moses said." Better therefore the Roman editions disjoin these, placing a stop between "was seen" and "Moses" — as if to say: And thus, when the people and the cattle were kept off Mount Sinai by God's command, very terrible was all that was being done by God on this mountain and seen by the people. Hence Moses, though familiar with God, yet stricken said: "I am terrified."
For "that which was seen," the Greek is "to phantazomenon." Erasmus translates: "what appeared"; Vatablus, "what seemed," that is, what seemed to be seen. But in this sense the prodigies of Sinai would not have been true and real, but only apparent and phantastic, like those things done through the illusions of magicians.
Better therefore Theodoret understands "to phantazomenon" as that which really existed, appeared, and was seen outwardly, while inwardly their author and worker, God the lawgiver, did not appear nor was seen. For God was truly present at these prodigies, yet did not appear in them, but exhibited a certain shadow, semblance, and appearance of His majesty through these signs and prodigies, so terribly outwardly to the eyes of the Hebrews. Thus "phainomena" are called among the Philosophers comets, halos, and other meteors, which really do exist and appear, but in such a way that their hidden origin, nature, and reason is unknown to the common people.
Moses said: I am terrified and trembling. — Moses said this, not when the law was given, but when he saw the burning bush, Exodus III, says St. Thomas and Lyranus. But this is irrelevant to this place: for the Apostle is not speaking of the signs of the burning bush, but of the giving of the law, Exodus XIX. For although Moses there did not express or write that he said this, Paul here supplies it, either from tradition, or from the instinct and revelation of the Holy Spirit. For in like manner Moses there passed over the whirlwinds, the earthquake, and the rains, which Paul here supplies, as I said at verse 18. So Chrysostom with his followers.
Verse 22: But You Have Come to Mount Sion, and to the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem
Here the Apostle opposes Christians to Jews, Sion to Mount Sinai, the heavenly Jerusalem to the earthly — that is, the Church to the Synagogue; and He teaches how much loftier and more sublime the Christian law, faith, and hope is than the Judaic and Mosaic law, so that the Hebrews may see how firm and constant they ought to be in it: namely so that they would rather suffer all hardships than make shipwreck of it. For if the Jews violating the law given on Sinai were punished, much more heavily shall Christians be punished who cast away the faith and grace of Christ. For so the Apostle deduces this argument at verse 25.
Note: By Sion he understands the Church of Christ, because in Sion — namely in the temple, which was on Sion — Christ taught. Again, on Sion the new law was promulgated, and the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues at Pentecost. The Church therefore is called Sion, because it began on Sion: hence by Isaiah, David, and the prophets it is often called Sion.
Note secondly: By Sion he understands the Church, both the earthly and militant, and rather the heavenly and triumphant, as if to say: You have come by faith and hope to the heavenly and triumphant Church; for this Church on earth tends, and rightly leads us, to the triumphant; and so the Church and society of the faithful here militant on earth, and triumphant in heaven, is one and the same. That the Apostle is rather speaking of the triumphant Church than the militant, is plain from the fact that he says "we have come to the assembly of many thousands of angels, and to the Church of the firstborn who are written in heaven, and to the spirits of the just made perfect." For these angels and spirits are in the Church not militant, but triumphant.
Again, because the triumphant Church, being invisible, is better opposed to the tangible and visible Mount Sinai than the militant: for the militant Church is also tangible and visible.
Thirdly, because he calls this Church the city of the living God, in which namely the living and eternal God reigns, and bestows blessed immortality on His citizens and glorifies them. He calls the same the heavenly Jerusalem, which the earthly Jerusalem prefigured — in which God reigned through David among the people, and through the priests in the temple: for these things and many more better suit the triumphant Church than the militant. Whence Theophylact and Oecumenius take Sion to mean heaven.
Toward this Jerusalem the twelve Martyrs gazed when they were crowned with martyrdom together with the presbyter Pamphilus. Whence one of them, asked of what country he was, replied: "Jerusalem is my fatherland." The prefect Firmilian, torturing him, asked what and where that city was. The Martyr replied, "that it was the fatherland of the pious alone, and that no others besides these alone would share in it; and that it was situated to the East, where the sun pours forth its rays at first dawn." The prefect obtained nothing else from the steadfast youth: whence he ordered him to be struck with the axe. So Eusebius, Book VIII of his History, ch. XXI.
And to the assembly of many thousands of angels. — For "assembly" the Greek is "panēgyrei," that is, a solemn gathering and festival, such as is held at feasts, public games, triumphs, where all things are full of pomp, splendor, joy, magnificence — as if to say: You have not come to Sinai, that there you may be struck by lightnings and thunders; but to Sion and the heavenly Jerusalem, that there with myriads of angels you may pass joyful and festive days in all happiness, glory, joy, jubilation, and triumph. Bear up, then, a little, O Hebrews; endure a little, contend a little, soon to pass over to these feasts and triumphs with the angels. Take your dinner here amid fighting enemies; soon in heaven you shall sup, triumphant, with God.
Verse 23: And to the Church of the Firstborn, Who Are Written in Heaven
"The firstborn of the Church," in Greek "prōtotokōn," that is, the firstborn ones, Paul calls the Apostles and the first faithful and martyrs, now departed from life, who have been enrolled and made citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, not only by predestination through faith, but actually and in deed; as if to say: Behold Stephen, behold James, behold the Apostles and Martyrs, who for the faith of Christ contended unto death, and poured out their blood and life: now in heaven they are crowned, and receive most beautiful palms. Look upon these: these you have seen, known, beheld. They now from on high invite you, that you too may contend nobly for the faith, and so soon be crowned with them in the heavens and reign forever. Hear St. Bernard, sermon On the Threefold Kind of Works: "Now," he says, "we must pass over from here to the souls of the Saints, who from the prison of this mortality have flown to the joys of heaven. To these we surely owe imitation: because they were like us, capable of suffering, and have made known to us the ways of life which they held both untiringly and interminably." And below: "Thus therefore we owe health to the body, purity to the heart, peace to the brother, imitation to the saints, compassion to the dead: let us ask help from the angel, piety from God."
And to God the judge of all. — As if to say: Through faith you have come to God, who is the judge of all, who through Christ shall judge the living and the dead, and who shall render mighty rewards to your faith and patience, and dreadful punishments to your persecutors. Strip off, then, sloth and yawning; act vigorously: the judge is at hand.
And to the spirits of the just made perfect. — In Greek "teteleiōmenōn," which Maldonatus in his manuscript Notes renders "of the deceased." For death is "telos," that is, the end of the living, and "teleiōsis" is the perfection and consummation of the course of the Saints. He understands the souls of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Saints of the Old Testament, whom in chapter XI he taught to have done and endured marvels through faith, but not to have been consummated before Christ — that is, not to have received blessedness and glory: but here he says that now after Christ the same are perfected or consummated in glory; as if to say: With the most pure and blessed Angels, Patriarchs, Apostles, Martyrs, and all the just departed before us and before Christ, now perfected — that is, enjoying the blessed vision of God — we have fellowship, because we are all members of the same Church of God; whose Head in the heavens is Christ, both as God and as man, as I said on Ephesians I, 22. To them therefore and to their felicity and glory are we called: they from heaven display to us their laurels which they already possess, and ours as it were prepared. Who shall hesitate here? Who shall tremble? Who shall shrink from the contest? Who shall apostatize from them? Nay rather, who would not desire to be joined with them, to follow them, to suffer a little with them — knowing that he too shall shortly be crowned and made blessed equally with them?
Verse 24: And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament, and to the Sprinkling of Blood That Speaks Better Than Abel
It is an occupatio, as if to say: Do not say, O Hebrews: You promise great things, O Paul, but who shall lead us to heaven, to the glory of angels and of the Saints? Who shall teach the way? Who shall open heaven? Who shall lavish good things upon us? Do not, I say, say these things: for you have come not to Moses, who could not by himself bestow the goods of the land of Canaan which he promised in his old Testament; but to Christ, who in very deed bestows, procures, and sets forth the heavenly goods which He Himself promised in His new Testament. For this reason He is called the mediator of the new Testament, as the Apostle taught in chapter IX, 15.
And to the sprinkling of blood. — That is, the blood of Christ poured out and sprinkled upon us. Whence the Syriac and Greek now have "kai haimati rhantismou," that is, "and to the blood of sprinkling," which namely is sprinkled to this end, that we may be washed and cleansed from sins; as if to say: Do not waver, do not say: To heaven indeed the way lies open through Christ, but we are sinners, and so we shall be excluded from heaven; for Christ, as He opened heaven, so by His blood expiates our sins and sanctifies us. If therefore you have sinned, draw near to Christ, receive Christ's sacraments; He by them shall wash you in His blood, and shall make you altogether pure and holy, that you may go straight to heaven.
Speaking better than Abel. — For "better" the Greek is "kreitton"; but Vatablus, Erasmus and others read "kreittona," that is, "better things," more useful, more excellent things.
Note: For "than Abel," in the Greek there is a double reading: for some read "para to Abel," and supply "haima" which preceded, that is, blood; so that "than Abel" means the same as "than Abel's," namely blood — as if to say: The blood of Christ speaks better, or better things, than the blood of Abel: because the blood of Abel cries for vengeance, Genesis IV, 10, but the blood of Christ cries for mercy, grace, and remission of sins. So Theophylact and Oecumenius from Cyril and Chrysostom.
Secondly, other codices, like the Royal, read "para ton Abel," that is, "than Abel himself," as if to say: The blood of Christ speaks better than Abel himself speaks (for the Apostle had said in chapter XI, verse 4, that Abel, though dead, still speaks), namely because the memory of the blood of Christ stirs us more to imitation of His faith and constancy than Abel slain stirs us. See what was said on chapter XI, 4.
Both readings and senses are convenient and apposite; the former, however, is more common, more savory, more wise, and more genuine; for plainly the Apostle seems to look back to that of Genesis IV: "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth," and to compare the blood of Christ with the blood of Abel; for he says: "The sprinkling of blood (of Christ) speaking better than Abel," that is, than Abel's, namely his blood. For the blood of Christ is not rightly compared with the person of Abel.
Verse 25: See That You Do Not Refuse Him Who Speaks
Not "the blood of Christ speaking better than Abel," as he said in verse 24: for "lalounta," that is "speaking," is masculine, while "haima," that is "blood," is neuter; but "speaking," namely Christ Himself, who, as follows, speaks to us from the heavens.
For if they (the Jews) did not escape (punishment) when refusing him who spoke upon earth. — Namely Moses, when at Exodus XXXII, 1, they said to Aaron: "Make us gods that may go before us: for as for Moses, this man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has befallen him"; on which account by God's command twenty-three thousand of the Jews were slain, Exodus XXXII, 28.
Much more shall not we (escape punishment), who turn away from Him who speaks to us from heaven. — Who namely turn away from and repel God and man, who from heaven has spoken to us, when after His ascension He promulgated the Evangelical law on Sion at Pentecost, and from heaven sent the Holy Spirit in the form of fiery tongues upon the Apostles; and who daily speaks to us from heaven, both outwardly through Paul and other preachers sent, taught, and enlightened by Him, and inwardly through holy inspirations.
The Greek now does not have "speaking" (to lalounta), but only "ton apo tou ouranou," that is, "Him who is from the heavens," and who from heaven descended to earth to teach you. But the Syriac, Chrysostom, Theophylact, and Oecumenius either read, or supply, "speaking"; and it has an emphasis: for it is said with great energy: See that you do not go back from Christ to Moses, from Christianity to Judaism, because Moses gave his law on earth, namely from Sinai, but Christ utters and teaches the Evangelical law from heaven; Moses is an earthly, Christ a heavenly lawgiver and teacher.
Verse 26: Whose Voice Then Moved the Earth; Now He Promises, Saying: Yet Once More, and I Will Move Not Only the Earth, but Also Heaven
Whose voice then moved the earth. — "Whose," namely Christ's, who is God; "voice then," when namely with a trumpet-voice He gave the law on Sinai, "moved the earth," through the earthquake by which He shook Mount Sinai, Psalm LXVII — as if to say: See that you do not refuse Christ speaking, because Christ is a most mighty lawgiver, judge, and avenger: for Christ, giving the law on Sinai through His angels, shook it with a tremendous crash; but now in the new law He promises that He will move not only Sinai or the globe of the earth, but the heavens themselves: fear therefore the power and vengeance of Christ speaking and promulgating His law.
Now however He promises, saying: Yet once more, and I will move not only the earth, but also heaven. — "Now," namely in the time of the prophet Haggai, through Haggai himself Christ promises that yet once more He will shake not only Sinai and the earth, but also heaven — namely through Himself, when He shall take human flesh and become man. The words of Haggai chapter II are these: "Yet a little while, and I will move heaven and earth, and the sea and the dry land; and I will move all nations, and the desired of all nations shall come."
In which note first, that Haggai is speaking of the first coming of the Messiah in the flesh and into the world, not however of His second coming to judgment. So St. Jerome there, Cyril, Book V on Genesis, and Augustine, Book XVIII On the City of God, ch. XXXV; indeed, the Apostle here.
Secondly, he calls "a little" the five hundred years which flowed from this prophecy of Haggai down to Christ, because to the Prophets, illumined by the divine light and elevated to God and God's eternity, every time compared to that seems brief and slight. Thus St. John, 1st Epistle, ch. II, verse 18, calls the time of the new law "the last hour."
Thirdly, for "a little" the Septuagint, and from them Paul, translate "hapax," that is "once"; for the Hebrew "achat" means both, and both fit this passage of the Prophet: for when he says "yet once," he signifies that this shaking to be made by Christ in the new law shall be the second and the last, as if to say: The first shaking of the earth was made in the first old law, given on Sinai; the second and last shall come about in the second and last law of Christ, which shall be unmoved and eternal, and to which no other law shall succeed.
Fourthly, for "I will shake" the Hebrew is "marisch," which signifies not only "to shake" but also "to make tremble," "to bring on dread and trepidation." The Septuagint and from them Paul translate "seiō," that is, "I shake," partly the earth and heaven, partly the nations themselves.
Fifthly, "the desired of all nations," or, as it is in the Hebrew, "chemdat col haggojim," that is, the desire of all nations, is Christ: for although the nations, as long as they were Gentiles and unbelievers, did not desire Christ, yet Christ in Himself was desirable to them, as their Savior and Redeemer, and all the nations, as soon as they heard through the Apostles of Christ's life and miracles, began to desire Christ. For which reason Christ is called by the patriarch Jacob, Genesis XLIX, 10 and 26, "the expectation of the nations and the desire of the everlasting hills," that is, the desire of the Patriarchs and Prophets of former and ancient ages, who, as it were hills on the earth, stood out above and surpassed other men in their wisdom and holiness.
You will ask, when and how God shook and convulsed the heaven, the elements, and the nations in the time of Christ? I answer: He shook "heaven" when at Christ's birth the angels sang: Glory to God in the highest; and when He gave the new star to the Magi to lead them to Christ. He likewise shook heaven by many other prodigies, which Paulus Orosius, Book VI Hist., ch. XX, and Julius Obsequens, Book On Prodigies, ch. CXXVIII and following, narrate as having occurred about Christ's nativity. Thus too in the passion of Christ God shook heaven, when He miraculously brought a solar eclipse, darkness, and mourning over the whole world.
Secondly, in the time of Christ God shook "sea and land," both by the battles of Augustus Caesar with Antony, Lepidus, and foreign nations, waged by land and sea; and in the description of the whole world, by which all by land and sea were forced to return to their cities and to present themselves to the Roman governors to be enrolled and to pay tribute to them; and finally in the passion of Christ, when the earth was shaken, the rocks were rent, and at the opening of the tombs the dead arose.
Thirdly, all "the nations" were shaken and made to tremble in the time of Christ, because at the preaching of Christ and of the Apostles, struck with a salutary fear, they turned themselves to the faith of Christ, to penitence, to a change of conduct, to grace and salvation.
Expounding this passage of Haggai and Paul partly literally, partly mystically and anagogically, Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 5 On Theology, ch. III, says that in the Scriptures a threefold earthquake is heard of. The first was that by which the Hebrews on Sinai were terrified by God and led to keep the law. The second earthquake was made for the earthly Jews and Gentiles, when these were shaken from idols, and those from the law, and converted to the Gospel. The third earthquake is when we are moved from the present Church and pass over to the triumphant, and when from earth we ascend into heaven.
Verse 27: And When He Says "Yet Once More," He Declares the Removal of Movable Things, That Those Which Are Immovable May Remain
By "movable," Theophylact understands heaven, earth, sea, and the nations, of which in the preceding verse he said: "I will move heaven and earth," etc. For these, being created, "are movable," that is, subject to change and corruption — in Greek "saleuomena," that is, unstable, which fluctuate, are agitated, and shaken. Of these "movable things" on the day of judgment and of Christ's coming "shall come a removal," that is, a change "as of things made," that is, as of things factitious and brought forth for a time, which by their nature and condition perish, that they may be changed into incorruptible, immovable, and eternal things — namely into a new heaven and a new earth, which shall abide forever.
But better and more genuinely you should take by "movables" the Mosaic tabernacle, hand-made, the ark, the Cherubim, and the rest — both vessels and sacrifices and rites of the Old Law; these are movables, because they have been removed by the law of Christ, which the Apostle here calls "immovable": for this is what shortly before — indeed throughout almost the whole epistle — the Apostle proves and inculcates; as if to say: The word "once," which Haggai uses, when he says: "Yet once more, and I will move not only the earth, but also heaven," declares the Old Testament with its vessels and ceremonies to be movable and to be transferred, and to signify this, it was given with an earthquake. For this earthquake of the law given with it signified the motion and change of it. This therefore is the translation and abrogation of the "movable" ancient rites, "as of things made," that is, as of things and figures, which were truly made and fulfilled through Christ's passion and the new law, which succeeded it, as an immovable and eternal kingdom. Go therefore, O Hebrews, leave behind the now abrogated movable ceremonies of the old law, cleave immovably to Christ and His immovable law.
Note: The law of Christ is called immovable, first, because it is never to be changed or abrogated, but will always remain, nor will any other law succeed it. Secondly, because it leads us to immovable goods, the kingdom and joys of the future age. For the things of Christ and of Christians are chiefly esteemed by their end.
Verse 28: Therefore Receiving an Immovable Kingdom, We Have Grace, by Which Let Us Serve, Pleasing God With Fear and Reverence
He calls the Evangelical law an "immovable kingdom," through which Christ reigns in us, and in it makes us kings, here through grace, and in the future through glory, by which we shall possess the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven.
Secondly, instead of "we have," the Syriac and the Greek now read "echōmen," that is, "let us have," this is, let us retain grace. But this is more obscure; therefore it seems rather that we should read "echomen," that is, "we have"; conversely, for "let us serve" the Greek reads "latreuomen," that is, "we serve," with omicron, when it should be read with omega, "latreuōmen," that is, "let us serve."
Thirdly, for "let us serve, pleasing God," the Greek is "latreuōmen euarestōs tō Theō," that is, let us worship God with latria well-pleasingly, that is, in such a way that we please Him much and well. The Syriac for "placeamus" translates "nespar," which has emphasis, as if to say: That we may grow beautiful unto God, that God may delight in our service as in some most beautiful thing, that He may take pleasure in our faith and piety, that we may be beautiful, comely and pleasing in His eyes.
Here is a new stimulus, by which He tacitly rouses the Hebrews to proceed bravely in the faith and law of Christ, as if to say: Since the Church of Christ is an immovable kingdom, in which through Christ grace is given to us, by which we ourselves may serve and please God continually, go, O Hebrews, hold fast this grace, this immovable and eternal kingdom of Christ.
Mystically Clement of Rome, in Book II of the Constitutions, ch. XXVII, takes "grace" for the Eucharist: "That all," he says, "may approach the mystical worship with fear and reverence, as those approaching the body of the king." For the Eucharist is the grace of graces: whence by Cyril of Jerusalem it is called "heavenly grace"; by others, "divine and vivifying grace."
With fear and reverence. — For "fear" the Greek is "aidōs," that is, shame or modesty, which is nothing other than fear, or dread of disgrace and reproach, as Aristotle teaches in Ethics IV, ch. IX; wherefore our Interpreter rightly translates "fear." Thus Homer, Iliad α, says "aideisthai hierēa"; that is, to revere the priest, namely Chryses, where "aidōs," that is shame, is taken for "eulabeia," that is religious fear, or reverence. The Apostle therefore wishes us to serve God with "shame and fear," namely that we may be ashamed first, that we serve so great a majesty so coldly and negligently. Secondly, that we commit sins, even if only venial, before our God. Sin is a shameful and reproachful thing, which inflicts immense shame on a pious mind, as we read it inflicted on many Saints. So David, Psalm XLIII, v. 16: "The confusion of my face has covered me." And Baruch I, 15: "To the Lord," he says, "our God justice, but to us confusion of face." And Daniel IX, 7: "To Thee," he says, "O Lord, justice, but to us confusion of face, because we have departed from Thee," etc. Thirdly, by this shame we fear to be confounded by Christ on the day of judgment, and therefore we carefully avoid and flee all sins. Whence Theophylact thus explains: "With fear," he says (or rather "with shame": for this is what the Greek "aidōs" properly signifies), "that is, let us speak nothing impudent, nothing immodest, indeed even the outward face should have modesty toward men." Although the Apostle speaks more of modesty toward God than toward men: I have spoken of reverence in chapter V, 7, at the end.
Verse 29: For Our God Is a Consuming Fire
The word "for" gives the cause why we ought to serve God with fear and reverence; this is the cause, that our God like fire punishes, burns and consumes those who lack this fear and reverence of His.
Secondly, the word "our" has emphasis, as if to say: Not only among the Jews was God a fire punishing and consuming idolaters and other violators of the law, as is said in Deuteronomy IV, 24, but even now among us Christians God is likewise a fire avenging and consuming sinners and apostates from Christ and from Christ's law.
Note: Throughout the Scriptures God exhibited and showed Himself to men through fire, so that He rightly calls Himself a consuming fire in Deuteronomy IV. So God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, Exodus ch. III, v. 4; and to the Hebrews in the column of fire and cloud, Exodus ch. XIII, v. 21; to Daniel also ch. VII, v. 9: "His throne," he says, "was a flame of fire, His wheels burning fire: a fiery stream issued from before Him"; to St. John also Apocalypse ch. I, 15: "His eyes," he says, "were as a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass, as in a burning furnace." So to the Apostles at Pentecost the Holy Spirit appeared in fiery tongues. So at Sinai God, about to give the law to the Hebrews, showed Himself through fire. Whence it is said in Deuteronomy IV, 15: "The Lord spoke to you in Horeb, from the midst of the fire." He did the same when entering into a covenant with the Hebrews, Exodus XXIV, 17: "The appearance," he says, "of the glory of the Lord was as a burning fire," because God like fire most fiercely was about to torment and would avenge transgressors of this covenant and of His law. Thus of God punishing Sennacherib, and slaying 185,000 Assyrians, Isaiah says in X, 17: "And the light of Israel shall be a fire, and his Holy One a flame: and his thorns and his briers shall be set on fire, and shall be devoured in one day, and the glory of his forest, and of his Carmel shall be consumed both soul and body, and he shall flee away for terror," Sennacherib. Note here: By the light of Israel and his Holy One, Isaiah understands God, or certainly the angel of God, who struck down Sennacherib's camps with fire, that is, with a most swift and most violent destruction, as if of fire. Again with fire, because, as St. Jerome teaches there, the Hebrews relate that the bodies of the Assyrians, the angel striking, with their garments and arms unharmed, were consumed by hidden fire. Hence Isaiah calls the throng of armed soldiers of Sennacherib a forest, who with crests, helmets and spears resembled a most dense forest. He calls Carmel an abundant supply, and abundance of all things: for because of the fertility of the place Carmel passed into a proverb. Whence he says: "And his thorn and brier shall be devoured," that is, soldiers both greater and lesser will be killed. "And the glory of his forest and of his Carmel," that is, leaders and princes of the army, "from soul to flesh," that is wholly, or all together "shall be consumed," both with present death and with eternal. For this is what these Hebrew proverbs signify. Isaiah alludes, as Forerius rightly noted, to the fire that came down, which in the temple was perpetually fed for burning sacrifices; as if this fire, the avenger of the worship of God and of ancestral religion (like the pillar of fire, which brought consolation and light to the Hebrews, terror and darkness to the Egyptians) brought sanctification and liberation to the Jews, devastation to the Assyrians, leaping out of the temple upon them. Whence Isaiah, alluding more clearly to the same, in XXXI, 9, says thus: "The Lord has said, whose fire is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem," as if to say: This destruction of Sennacherib and the Assyrians the Lord God foretold, who is worshipped with sacrifices and perpetual fire (prepared to set these sacrifices ablaze) in Sion and in the temple, that He may consume His enemies the Assyrians like stubble and wood going forth from Jerusalem, as if a flame, says St. Jerome there, of which I have said more on Isaiah.
The Gentiles too represented and defined God through fire. Zoroaster and the Platonists thus describe God: "God," they say, "is the first fire, life-bearing, or bringing life to all things, from which the starry fires, that is, stars and constellations, and all other things are begotten." Alluding to which Horace, of Julius Caesar, as if reckoned among the gods, sings thus:
Glitters among all the Julian star, as among the lesser fires the moon.
And Virgil thus invokes and calls the stars to witness as living and divine fires, that is, as gods:
You eternal fires, and inviolable godhead, I call to witness.
Apollo also, when asked who he was, and what altogether God was, replied: "Born of Himself, untaught, without mother, immovable, falling neither into reason nor into speech, dwelling in fire, this is God; but we angels are a small portion of God." Finally the Persians worshipped God under the appearance of fire, and erected a temple to fire, as appears in II Maccabees I, 34. The reason why God showed Himself by fire rather than by other things is first, lest if He had appeared under any other appearance than fire, e.g. under the appearance of a man or some animal, the Jews, prone to idols, would make an idol of it and worship it: this reason Moses gives, Deuteronomy ch. IV, 16. Secondly, because fire is the first and most noble element, the purest, most subtle, most efficacious, most sublime, swiftest, most luminous, hottest, simplest, wholly impassible, penetrating all things, consuming all things, interminable, igniting all things and assimilating them to itself. Such also is God, and the grace and charity of God. So St. Dionysius teaches, On the Celestial Hierarchy, ch. XV, and St. Thomas on Isaiah X: although the Apostle here following Moses speaks not of grace but of the vengeance of God, and from it as terrible and most efficacious, calls God a consuming fire, as I said at the beginning of this verse.