ACC ~ Hebrews 10 v12 - 25

OVERVIEW:

After his sacrifice Christ is seated at the right hand of God, for he is no longer a servant and no longer a minister who stands; by his humiliation and poverty he made us rich in grace and worthy of the glory of the kingdom (CHRYSOSTOM). It is according to our faith that we are allowed the entrance to his own sanctuary and kingdom (EPHREM, CHRYSOSTOM), the fact that boggles the mind (SYMEON). In the new covenant he remembers the sins of believers no more. It is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Thus it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles and unite both in himself (ATHANASIUS). His death tore the temple curtain and opened us entrance into heaven (CHRYSOSTOM). He is the true tabernacle (GREGORY OF NYSSA), the house of God (OECUMENIUS). In him the faithful are clothed in the raiment of glory (ISAAC). A person who has received pardon for sins must refrain from future sin (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). Thus we are encouraged to do good in community (PHOTIUS). Love is increased by our gathering together, as the works of love are more powerful than words, and love is a “highway that leads to virtue.” There is always room for repentance, but only one cross (CHRYSOSTOM). Chrysostom encourages faithful living after communion. The believers are reminded to remember the days of persecution, when the Hebrews joyfully endured suffering as a community. It is through suffering that we become strong.

10:12-13 | Enemies Underfoot

HE EXECUTED THE PRIESTLY OFFICE ONCE FOR ALL. CHRYSOSTOM: Do not then, having heard that he is a priest, suppose that he is always executing the priest’s office. For he executed it once and thenceforward “sat down.” Lest you suppose that he is standing on high and is a minister, he shows that the matter is part of a dispensation or economy. For as he became a servant, so also he became a priest and a minister. But as, after becoming a servant, he did not continue a servant, so also, having become a minister, he did not continue a minister. For it belongs not to a minister to sit but to stand. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 13.8.

HIS ENEMIES HIS FOOTSTOOL. THEODORET OF CYR: In the former case a multitude of priests, a multitude of victims, and no benefit, whereas in this case priest and victim are one and the same, he achieved abolition of sins and needs no further service; instead, he is seated with the Father who begot him, awaiting the end of the present life. At that time, in fact, all the adversaries will adore him as God and Lord. Among his foes will be, first, the devil and the mass of the demons, then those of the Jews and the Gentiles who did not accept the illumination of the faith, and along with them the bands of the heretics guilty of the blasphemies against him. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 10.

THE RICH PERSON IS ASSAILABLE ON EVERY SIDE. CHRYSOSTOM: “He sat down at the right hand of God, then to wait”—why the delay?—“until his enemies be put under his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” But perhaps someone might say, “Why did he not put them under at once?” For the sake of the faithful who should afterwards be brought forth and born. Whence then does it appear that they shall be put under? By the saying “He sat down.” He called to mind again that testimony which says, “until I put the enemies under his feet.” … But who are the enemies? All unbelievers. … And intimating the greatness of their subjection, he said not “subjected” but “put under his feet.” Let us not therefore be among the number of his enemies. For not they alone are enemies, the unbelievers and Jews, but those also who are full of unclean living. “For the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, for neither can it be.” What then, you say? Carnality is not a ground of blame. Rather, it is very much a ground of blame. For the wicked person, as long as that one is wicked, cannot be subject to God’s law. That one can, however, change and become good. Let us then cast out carnal minds. But what is meant by carnal? Whatever injures the soul even while making the body flourish and do well, as, for instance, wealth, luxury, glory—all these things are of the flesh—carnal love. Let us not then love gain but ever follow after poverty, for this is a great good. But, you say, it makes one humble and of little account. True, for we have need of this, for it benefits us much. “Poverty,” it is said, “humbles a man.” And again Christ says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Do you then grieve because you are upon a path leading to virtue? Do you not know that this gives us great confidence?

But, one says, “the poor man’s wisdom is despised.” And again another says, “Give me neither poverty nor riches,” and, “Deliver me from the furnace of poverty.” And again, if riches and poverty are from the Lord, how can either poverty or riches be an evil? Why then were these things said? They were said under the old covenant, where there was much account made of wealth, where there was great contempt of poverty, where the one was a curse and the other a blessing. But now it is no longer so. But will you hear the praises of poverty? Christ sought after it and said, “But the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” And again he said to his disciples, “Take no gold, nor silver, nor two tunics.” And Paul in writing said, “as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” And Peter said to him who was lame from his birth, “I have no silver and gold.” Yes, and under the old covenant itself, where wealth was held in admiration, who were the admired? Was not Elijah, who had nothing save the sheepskin? Was not Elisha? Was not John?

Let none then be humiliated on account of their poverty. It is not poverty which humiliates but wealth, which compels us to have need of many and forces us to be under obligations to many.

And what could be poorer than Jacob, tell me, who said, “If God give me bread to eat and clothing to wear”? Were Elijah and John then wanting in boldness? Did not the one reprove Ahab and the other Herod? The latter said, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip’s wife.” And Elijah said to Ahab with boldness, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house.” You see that this—poverty—especially produces boldness? For while the rich man is a slave, being subject to loss, and in the power of everyone wishing to hurt him, those who have nothing fear not confiscation nor fine. So if poverty had made people wanting in boldness, Christ would not have sent his disciples in poverty to a work requiring great boldness. For the poor are very strong and have nothing from which they may be wronged or evil entreated. But the rich person is assailable on every side, just as one in the same way would easily catch a man who was dragging many long ropes after him, whereas one could not readily lay hold on a naked person. So here also it falls out in the case of the rich person; slaves, gold, lands, affairs innumerable, innumerable cares, difficult circumstances, necessities make this one an easy prey to all. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 18.3-4.

10:17-18 | He Promised Forgiveness

I WILL REMEMBER SINS NO MORE. THEODORET OF CYR: Now, this happened through the new covenant: we receive also in all-holy baptism the forgiveness of sins. In the life to come, when immortality is granted us, we shall live differently from everyone else, sin no longer capable of troubling those who have become immortal. May it be our good fortune to attain this life. We shall attain it if in the present life we embrace with enthusiasm the effort virtue involves and accept the struggles it requires. The Lord himself, who is the source of the future goods, will work with us. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 10.

10:19-21 | The New and Living Way

THE INNER TABERNACLE IS FAITH. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “Therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the sanctuary,” which is faith. In his blood he renewed for us the way of faith that the former priests had already. But since it had become obsolete among them, he renewed it for us at that time “through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

COME TO ME! SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN: The people I am speaking about, whom I call heretics, say there is no one in our time among us who is able to keep the gospel commandments and become like the holy fathers. Such a person would be, first of all, one who is faithful and active—for faith is shown through works, as the likeness of a face is shown through a mirror. Further, this person would be both the greatest of contemplatives and one who sees God, by being illumined, obviously, and receiving the Holy Spirit, and through him seeing the Son together with the Father. Well then, those who say that this is impossible possess not one particular heresy but all of them, if I may say so, because this one outdoes all of those and covers them with irreverence and excess of blasphemy. The one who makes this heretical claim overthrows all the divine Scriptures. I think this vain person is saying that the present reciting of the holy Gospel is in vain, and affirms solemnly that the reading of the writings of Basil the Great and the rest of our priests and holy fathers is in vain, or even that they were written in vain. If, then, the things which God says, all of which all the saints first practiced and then also wrote about and left for our instruction—if these things are impossible for us to do in deed and to keep completely, why is it that those folks labored and wrote about them back then and they are now read in church? Those who are saying these things are shutting heaven, which Christ opened for us, and they cut off the ascending path to that place which he himself inaugurated for us. For even though God, who is above all, stands on high at the gate of heaven, as it were, and peers out and is seen by the faithful, and through the holy Gospel cries out and says, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” these enemies of God, or rather, enemies of Christ, are saying, “This is impossible, impossible!” DISCOURSE 29.4.

THE VEIL OF FLESH IS LIFTED UP. CHRYSOSTOM: “For the entrance into the sanctuary.” What does he mean here by “entrance”? Heaven and the access to spiritual things. “Which he opened,” that is, which he prepared and which he began. For the beginning of using is thereafter called the opening, which he prepared, he means, and by which he himself passed. “The new and living way.” Here he expresses “the full assurance of hope.” “New,” he says. He is anxious to show that we have all things greater; since now the gates of heaven have been opened, which was not done even for Abraham. “The new and living way,” he says, for the first was a way of death, leading to Hades, but this of life. And yet he did not say, “of life,” but called it indeed “living” namely, that which persists by God’s own command. “Through the curtain,” he says, “of his flesh.” … And with good reason did he call the flesh “a curtain.” For when it was lifted up on high, then the things in heaven appeared. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 19.2.

UNITING THE ANCIENT PEOPLE AND THE GENTILES. ATHANASIUS: If any of our own people inquire, not from love of debate but from love of learning, why he suffered death in no other way save on the cross, let them also be told that no other way than this was good for us, and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he came himself to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have “become a curse” unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross. For this is exactly what is written: “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree.” Again, if the Lord’s death is the ransom of all, and by his death “the dividing wall of hostility” is broken down, and the calling of the nations is brought about, how would he have called us to him had he not been crucified? For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Thus it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself has said, signifying by what manner of death he was ransom to all: “I, when I am lifted up,” he says, “will draw all men to myself.” For the devil, the enemy of our race, having fallen from heaven, wanders about our lower atmosphere and there, bearing rule over his fellow spirits, as the devil’s peers in disobedience, not only works illusions by their means in them that are deceived but tries to hinder them that are going up. About this the apostle says, “Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience,” while the Lord came to cast down the devil and clear the air and prepare the way for us up into heaven, as said the apostle, “Through the curtain, that is to say, his flesh”—and this must be by death. Well, by what other kind of death could this have come to pass than by one which took place in the air, I mean, the cross? For only he that is perfected on the cross dies in the air. Therefore, it was quite fitting that the Lord suffered this death. For thus being lifted up, he cleared the air of the malignity both of the devil and of demons of all kinds, as he says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven,” and made a new opening of the way up into heav-en, as he says once more, “Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors!” For it was not the Word himself that needed an opening of the gates, being Lord of all; nor were any of his works closed to their maker; but it was we who needed it, whom he carried up by his own body. For as he offered it to death on behalf of all, so by it he once more made ready the way up into the heavens. ON THE INCARNATION 25.

THE NEW WAY IS ALWAYS RECENT. PHOTIUS: He says, “recent,” lest anyone say, “Then if it is recent, it too will cease; for it will age and grow old and it will also be destroyed like that of the old testament.” Not in the least, he says. But since it is always recent, it remains new and will be “living,” for it never receives death and destruction. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 10.20.

THE HOUSE OF GOD. OECUMENIUS: He calls the faithful “the house of God” in accordance with the passage of Scripture that states, “I will dwell among them and walk in their midst.” FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 10.21.

THE TRUE TABERNACLE IS CHRIST. GREGORY OF NYSSA: Taking a hint from what has been said by Paul, who partially uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle that encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be “Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God,” who in his own nature was not made with hands, yet capable of being made when it became necessary for this tabernacle to be erected among us. Thus, the same tabernacle is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in preexistence but created in having received this material composition. LIFE OF MOSES 2.174.

CONVERSING IN ANOTHER FASHION. ISAAC OF NINEVEH: But now, when He has poured out His grace upon the world through His own Coming, He has descended not in an earthquake, not in a fire, not in a terrible and mighty sound, but “as the rain upon a fleece, and rain-drops that fall upon the earth” softly, and He was seen conversing with us after another fashion. This came to pass when, as though in a treasury, He concealed His majesty with the veil of His flesh and among us spoke with us in that body which His own bidding wrought for Him out of the womb of the Virgin, even Mary the Theotokos. All this He did so that, on beholding Him Who was of our race conversing with us, we should not be smitten with terror by the vision of Him.

Wherefore every man has put on Christ when he is clothed with the raiment wherein the Creator was seen through the body that He put on. For the likeness in which He was seen by His own creation and in which He kept company with it, He willed to put on in His inner man, and to be seen therein by His fellow-servants. Instead of a robe of honour and outward glory, He was arrayed in this. When rational and irrational creation beholds any man clad in this likeness, it worships him as master, for the sake of its own Master’s honour, Whom it beheld clad and walking therein. For what creature does not feel reverence at the spectacle of a humble man? And yet until the glory of humility was revealed to all, this vision which is filled with holiness was held in disdain. But now its majesty has dawned on the eyes of the world, and every person honours this likeness in every place where it is seen. In this mediator, creation has been counted worthy of receiving the vision of its Creator and Maker. Wherefore not even by the enemies of the truth is it despised; and even if he who has acquired it is the most impoverished of all creation, yet by it he is honoured as though by the diadem and the purple. ASCETICAL HOMILIES 77.

10:22 | Full Assurance of Faith

LET US DRAW NEAR TO FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: “Let us draw near,” he says, “with a true heart.” To what should we “draw near”? To the holy things, the faith, the spiritual service. “With a true heart, in full assurance of faith,” since nothing is seen, neither the priest henceforward, nor the sacrifice, nor the altar. And yet neither was the Old Testament priest visible, but stood within, and they all without, the whole people. But here not only has this taken place, that the priest has entered into the Holy of Holies, but that we also enter in. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 19.2.

WATER PURIFIES, THE SPIRIT SEALS. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: For since a person’s nature is twofold, compounded of soul and body, the purification is also twofold, incorporeal for the incorporeal part, bodily for the body. For as the water purifies the body, so the Spirit seals the soul, that having our hearts sprinkled and our bodies washed with clean water, we may draw near to God. Therefore, when about to enter the water, do not regard it as mere water, but look for its saving power by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, for without both you cannot be made perfect. It is not I who say this, but the Lord Jesus, who has the power in this matter, says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Neither does he who is baptized but has not been deemed worthy of the Spirit possess perfect grace; nor will one who acts virtuously, but does not receive the seal by water, enter into the kingdom of heaven. This may appear a bold saying, but it is not mine, for it was Jesus who pronounced it. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 3.4.

10:23-25 | Stir Up One Another

WE MUST HOLD OUT IN HOPE. PSEUDO-CLEMENT OF ROME: Let us therefore serve God with a pure heart, and we shall be upright. But if, by not believing in God’s promises, we do not serve him, we shall be wretched. For the word of the prophet says, “Wretched are the double-minded, those who doubt in their soul and say, ‘We have heard these things long ago, even in our fathers’ times, and day after day we have waited and have seen none of them.’” You fools! Compare yourselves to a tree. Take a vine: First it sheds its leaves, then comes a bud, and after this, a sour grape, then a ripe bunch. So my people too have had turmoils and troubles; but after that [they] will receive good things. So, my brothers and sisters, we must not be double-minded. Rather must we patiently hold out in hope so that we may also gain our reward. For “he can be trusted who promised” to pay each one the wages due for his work. If, then, we have done what is right in God’s eyes, we shall enter his kingdom and receive the promises “what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived.” 2 CLEMENT 11.1-7.

DOING HAS GREATER FORCE FOR INSTRUCTION THAN SPEAKING. CHRYSOSTOM: “For he who promised is faithful.” “Promised” what? That we are to depart from here and enter into the kingdom. Do not then be over-curious nor demand reasonings. Our religion needs faith. “And,” he says, “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” And again in other places, “The Lord is at hand; have no anxiety about anything.” “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”

What is, “not neglecting to meet together”? He knew that much strength arises from being together and assembling together. “For where two or three,” it is said, “are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them”; and again, “That they may be one, even as we are”; and, “They were of one heart and soul.” And not this only, but also because love is increased by our gathering together, and, because love is increased, the things of God must follow. “And earnest prayer,” it is said, was “made by” the people. “As is the habit of some.” Here he not only exhorted but also blamed them.

“And let us consider,” he says, “how to stir up one another to love and good works.” He knew that this also arises from “meeting together.” For as “iron sharpens iron,” so also association increases love. For if a stone rubbed against a stone sends forth fire, how much more will soul mingled with soul! But not unto emulation, he says, but “unto the sharpening of love.” What is this? It means to love more, and to be loved more. “And good works,” that so they might acquire zeal. For if doing has greater force for instruction than speaking, you also have in your number many teachers who effect this by their deeds. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 19.2-3.

LOVE IS A HIGHWAY THAT LEADS TO VIRTUE. CHRYSOSTOM: This then let us “confirm” toward each other. “For love is the fulfilling of the law.” We have no need of labors or of sweatings if we love one another. It is a pathway leading of itself toward virtue. For on the highway, if one finds the beginning, he is guided by it and has no need of one to take him by the hand. So is it also in regard to love. Only lay hold on the beginning, and at once you are guided and directed by it. “Love does no wrong to a neighbor” and “thinks no evil.” Let each person consider how he is disposed toward himself. He does not envy himself. He wishes all good things for himself. He prefers himself before all. He is willing to do all things for himself. If then we are so disposed toward others also, all grievous things are brought to an end; there is no enmity; there is no covetousness, for who would choose to overreach himself? No one. On the contrary, we shall possess all things in common and shall not cease assembling together. And if we do this, the remembrance of injuries would have no place, for who would choose to remember injuries against himself? Who would choose to be angry with himself? Do we not make allowances for ourselves most of all? If we were thus disposed toward our neighbors also, there will never be any remembrance of injuries. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 19.4.

EXERCISE IMPROVES STRENGTH. CHRYSOSTOM: Christ asks nothing impossible, seeing that many have even gone beyond his commands. Who has done this? Paul, Peter, all the company of the saints. Hardly. If I say that they loved their neighbors, I say no great matter, but they have loved their enemies. They have loved them even more than those who would think like themselves. For who would choose for the sake of those like-minded, to go away into hell when he was about to depart for a kingdom? No one. But Paul chose this for the sake of his enemies, for those who stoned him, those who scourged him. What pardon then will there be for us, what excuse, if we shall not show toward our friends even the very smallest portion of that love which Paul showed toward his enemies?

And before him too, the blessed Moses was willing to be blotted out of God’s book for the sake of his enemies who had stoned him. David also, when he saw those slain who had stood up against him, said, “I, the shepherd, have sinned, but these, what have they done?” And when he had Saul in his hands, he would not kill him but saved him—and this when he himself would be in danger. But if these things were done under the old covenant, what excuse shall we have who live under the new covenant and do not attain even to the same measure with them? For if, “unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” how shall we enter when we have even less than they?

“Love your enemies,” he says. Love your enemy, therefore, for you are doing good not to your enemy but to yourself. How? You are becoming like God. One whom you love has no great gain, for he is loved by a fellow servant; but you, in loving your fellow servant, have gained much, for you are becoming like God. Do you see that you are being kind not to him but to yourself? For he appoints the prize not for him but for you.

What if he is evil, you say? So much greater is the reward. You ought to feel grateful to him for his wickedness, even if he continues in his evil despite receiving ten thousand kindnesses. For if he were not exceedingly evil, your reward would not have been exceedingly increased. … That he is evil is the very reason for loving him. Take away the contestant, and you take away the opportunity for the crowns. Do you not see how the athletes exercise when they have filled the bags with sand? But there is no need for you to practice this; life is full of things that exercise you and make you strong. Do you not also see that the trees, the more they are shaken by the winds, become ever stronger and firmer? We then, if we are longsuffering, shall also become strong. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 19.4-5.

THEY DO NOT PERMIT ANY FAULT. PHOTIUS: “Let us stir up one another,” concerning those things whose meddlesomeness and inquiry and observation sharpen us in love and edification. And they do this who do not permit any fault concerning one another but receive everything (even whatever things seem to be worse) for the good and the better. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 10.24.

THE COMFORT OF THE ASSEMBLY. PHOTIUS: “But encouraging.” Whom? “Their gathering together,” that is, one another. For that is how “the gathering together” is commonly understood. And the comfort of the assembly becomes for them a way to be eagerly renewed and in a short space of time. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 10.25.

UNITY IS THE WORK OF LOVE. THEODORET OF CYR: It is not separation but assiduous effort at unity that is the work of love. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 10.