ACC ~ Hebrews 1 v1

BETTER THAN ALL THE PROPHETS. THEODORET OF CYR: The divine apostle immediately in the prologue demonstrates that Christ is better than all the prophets. Beginning with the divine nature, he shows him to be eternal—coeternal with the Father and the Creator of all. Next, contrasting him with the angels, he turns to sacred Scripture, which openly teaches that Christ is Son and God, while angels are ministers and creatures. He proceeds to show that the dispensation of our Lord Christ is greater than that of Moses, for Moses gave the Old Testament but Christ gave the New, which was promised through the prophets of old. The former promised that Palestine would be given; the latter, the kingdom of heaven. He compares the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek with the Levitical priesthood and demonstrates its superiority and excellence. In addition, he shows that even those who lived before the law or under the law and were nourished by piety were distinguished because of their faith. He speaks of them and their sufferings and courage, encouraging his hearers, who were in grave danger. Then, reminding his hearers of their own struggles and exhorting them to stand steadfast to the end and weaving together moral exhortation with doctrine, he closes the epistle. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 1.

UNDER DIVERSE GUISES. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “In many and various ways God spoke,” in the first place, “to our fathers by the prophets.” In fact, he evidently spoke in various and mutable manners to Noah, Abraham and Moses and to the people in the desert, appearing to them under the diverse guises of an old man, a giant and other characters. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

HE SET ALL TO RIGHTS. THEODORET OF CYR: The phrase “in many ways,” of course, indicates the manifold dispensations, “various ways,” the different kinds of divine visions. He appeared to Abraham in one way, to Moses in another, to Elijah in another, to Micaiah in another.Isaiah, Daniel and Ezekiel saw him under different guises. To bring this out the God of all said, “It was I who multiplied visions, and took visible form at the hands of the inspired authors.” After all, the divine nature is not pluriform, but without either shape or appearance, simple and uncomplicated. It was, therefore, not the incomprehensible nature that they saw but guises of some kind, which the unseen God revealed as need required. The phrase “in many ways,” of course, implies something else as well, that each of the inspired authors was entrusted with some particular dispensation, whereas their God—I mean Christ the Lord—did not provide for some single need, but by becoming man he set all to rights and secured the salvation of human beings. It became obvious, of course, that there is one lawgiver of the old and new. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 1.

IN DIFFERENT TIMES, IN DIFFERENT MANNERS. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: “In many ways,” that is, according to the differences of the times in which the promises concerning us were imparted, such as at the creation of Adam, at the time of Cain, in the days of Noah, at the time of Abraham, at the time before the law, at the time after the law. For many are the manners of God’s administration on our behalf. And “in a variety of ways,” because one commandment was given to Adam, another to Noah, yet another to Abraham, and another through Moses, and yet different ones through the prophets. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 1.1-2.

NO CONTRADICTION IS INVOLVED. EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA: Holy Scripture teaches that God was seen by Israel dimly, meaning the Word of God. In the book of Numbers Moses prays, saying, “Since you are the Lord of this people who is seen by them face to face.”… And it is said in Exodus, “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.” …

From the text, “No one has ever seen God,” perhaps it might be thought that the above quotations contradict the Savior’s words, implying that the invisible is visible. But if they are understood … as the Word of God, who was seen by the fathers “in many ways and various ways,” no contradiction is involved. The God of Israel here seen is shown to be the same being who was seen by Israel, when he wrestled with the one who first changed his name from Jacob to Israel, saying, “You have striven with God.” And when also Jacob, appreciating God’s divine power, called the place of the struggle the Sight of God, saying, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved”… this was no other than the Word of God. PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 5.18.

COMPLETE EXHIBITION OF THE SCRIPTURES. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Those who are ready to toil in the most excellent pursuits will not desist from the search after truth until they have evidence from the Scriptures themselves. … Now all people have the same judgment. Some, following the Word, frame for themselves proofs. Others, giving themselves up to pleasures, wrest Scripture according to their lusts. … We have, as the source of teaching, the Lord, by the prophets, the gospel, and the blessed apostles “in many and various ways” leading from the beginning of knowledge to the end. … Thus we may not give our assent to people on a bare statement by them, who might equally state the opposite. … Rather, we establish the matter that is in question by the voice of the Lord, which is the surest of all demonstrations or rather is the only demonstration, in which knowledge those who have merely tasted the Scriptures are believers. On the other hand, those who have advanced further and have become correct expounders of the truth are Gnostics. As, in what pertains to life, craftsmen are superior to ordinary people and model what is beyond common notions, so, consequently, we also persuade from faith by demonstration, giving a complete exhibition of the Scriptures from the Scriptures themselves. Those who follow heresies also venture to avail themselves of the prophetic Scriptures; however, they will not make use of all the Scriptures, and they will not quote them entirely, nor as the body and texture of prophecy prescribe. Instead, selecting ambiguous expressions, they wrest them to their own opinions, gathering a few expressions here and there. They do not look to the sense of the words but simply make use of the words themselves. For in almost all the quotations they make you will find that they attend to the names alone, while they alter the meanings. They neither know as they claim to nor use the quotations they cite according to their true nature. However, the truth is not found by changing the meanings—for so people subvert all true teaching—but in the consideration of what perfectly belongs to and becomes the sovereign God and in the corroboration of each point demonstrated in the Scriptures from similar Scriptures. STROMATEIS 7.16.

CHRIST IS CALLED WISDOM. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Christ is called Wisdom by all the prophets. This is he who is the teacher of all created beings, the fellow counselor of God who foreknew all things; and he from above, from the first foundation of the world, “in many and various ways” trains and perfects; hence it is rightly said, “Call no one your teacher on earth.” STROMATEIS 6.7.

ALL WISDOM IS FROM THE LORD. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: And again, it is written expressly in the name of the Lord, “And speak to all that are wise in mind, whom I have filled with the spirit of perception.” Those who are wise in mind have a certain attribute of nature peculiar to themselves. And they who have shown themselves capable receive from the supreme Wisdom a spirit of perception in double measure. For those who practice the common arts are highly gifted in what pertains to the senses: in hearing, those who are commonly called musicians; in touch, those who mold clay; in voice, the singers; in smell, the perfumers; in sight, the engravers of devices on seals. Those that are occupied in instruction train the sensibility according to which the poets are susceptible to the influence of measure; the sophists apprehend expression; the dialecticians, syllogisms; and the philosophers are capable of the contemplation of which they themselves are the objects. For sensibility finds and invents, since it persuasively exhorts to application. And practice will increase the application which has knowledge for its end. With reason, therefore, the apostle has called the wisdom of God “manifold,” and it has manifested its power “in many and various ways”—by art, by knowledge, by faith, by prophecy—for our benefit. “All wisdom is from the Lord and is with him forever,” as says the Wisdom of Jesus. STROMATEIS 1.4.

BOTH SHEEP AND GOAT. AUGUSTINE: You see, those old sacrifices of the people of God also represented in a variety of ways this single one that was to come. Christ himself, I mean, was both a sheep, because of his innocence and simplicity of soul, and a goat because of “the likeness of sinful flesh.”And whatever else was foretold “in many and various ways” in the sacrifices of the old covenant refers to this single one which has been revealed in the new covenant. SERMON 228B.2.

YOU HAVE BEEN MADE PARTAKERS. CHRYSOSTOM: Truly, as Paul says in Romans, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” He intimates this here also, in the very beginning of his epistle to the Hebrews, for it was likely that they [the recipients of the law] were afflicted and worn out by evils, and, judging things from that perspective, they would think themselves worse off than all other people. He shows here that they had rather been made partakers of a greater, even very exceeding, grace. Thus, with these words he arouses the hearer at the very opening of his discourse, saying, “God … in these last days … has spoken to us by a Son.” ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 1.1.

NONE OF THEM SAW GOD. CHRYSOSTOM: The apostle did well to begin, “In many and various ways,” for he points out that not even the prophets themselves saw God. Nevertheless, the Son saw him. For the expression “in many and various ways” is the same as “in various ways.” “It was I,” says he, “who multiplied visions and through the prophets gave parables.”The excellence consists not in this alone, that to them prophets were sent, while to us was sent the Son. Rather, the excellence consists in that none of them saw God, but the only begotten Son saw God. The apostle does not at once assert this, but by what he says afterwards he establishes it, when he says, concerning Christ’s human nature, “For to what angel did God ever say, ‘You are my Son,’” and, “Sit at my right hand?” ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 1.1.

FOR THE SAKE OF OUR SALVATION. JOHN OF DAMASCUS: The God proclaimed by the Old Testament and the New is the one who is celebrated and glorified in Trinity, for the Lord said, “I have come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill.”For he worked our salvation, for the sake of which all Scripture and every mystery has been revealed. Again, “Search the Scriptures, for it is they that bear witness to me.” And the apostle too says, “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.” Through the Holy Spirit, then, both the law and the prophets, evangelists, apostles, pastors and teachers spoke. Therefore, “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable,” so that to search the sacred Scripture is very good and most profitable for the soul. ORTHODOX FAITH 4.17.

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