ACC ~ Hebrews 10 v23 - 25

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.