ACC ~ Hebrews 10 v38 - 39

THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. THEODORET OF CYR: God has said this through the inspired authors, he is saying; and so even when the law was in force, the remedy of faith secured salvation. … Through faith we are related to God. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 10.

THE SOUL BECOMES JUST BY SHARING IN THE BETTER ONE. AUGUSTINE: “Faith working through love,” comes not so much by fearing punishment as by loving justice. Still, as the soul does not become just except by sharing in the better one who justifies the ungodly—for what has it that it has not received?—it ought not to glory as if it had not received it, by attributing to itself what comes from God. That is why it was said to him, “Be not high-minded, but fear.” And that fear is also commanded for those who live by faith and are heirs of the new covenant, being “called to freedom.” LETTER 140.21.

CLAD IN JUSTICE. AUGUSTINE: “No man living is righteous before you,” yet “the righteous one lives by faith.” The saints are clad in justice, one more, another less; yet no one lives here without sin. In this also, one more, another less, but he is best who has least sin. LETTER 167.13.

FOUNDED ON FAITH. AUGUSTINE: What is closer to your ears than a heart that is penitent and a life founded on faith? CONFESSIONS 2.3.5.

THE JUST BELIEVE WHAT THEY CANNOT SEE. AUGUSTINE: Will there be any of us bold enough to say, “I am just”? I assume, after all, that “I am just” amounts to the same thing as “I am not a sinner.” … Here we are with people who have been justified from their sins. We can’t deny it. There remains, however, the struggle with the flesh, there remains the struggle with the world, there remains the struggle with the devil. When you are struggling, you sometimes hit, sometimes you get hit; sometimes you win, sometimes you’re done for; it remains to be seen how you leave the stadium. Because “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Again, if we say we have no justice at all, we are telling a lie about God’s gifts. You see, if we have no justice at all, we have no faith either; and if we have not faith, we are not Christians. But if we do have faith, we already have at least some justice. Do you want to know how much that “some” is? The just live by faith. The just, I repeat, live by faith, because they believe what they cannot see. SERMON 158.4.

UNTIL THEY ARE BROUGHT FACE TO FACE. AUGUSTINE: This justice is the grace of the New Testament, by which the faithful are just while they live by faith until, by the perfection of justice, they are brought to the face-to-face vision, as they are also equally brought to immortality of the body itself by the perfection of salvation. Hence, in another place the apostle says, “So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” And then he adds, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin”—that is, a sacrifice for sin, for in that law offerings made for sins were called sin—“so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,”that is, in his body, which is the church, of which he is the head, that we may be the justice of God. LETTER 140.30.

WE HAVE FAITH INSTEAD. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: The just one lives when endurance and faith are found in that one. But if somebody is oppressed by doubts and scruples, because the rewarder did not appear, “my soul has no pleasure in him” on that day.

But we are not victims of scruples, which destroy our path to heaven and “bring us to perdition”; we have faith instead, through which we obtain “the salvation of our soul.” COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

BY FAITH HEBREWS 11:1-7

OVERVIEW: This chapter calls the roll of the Old Testament heroes of the faith. Without faith there is no understanding, for faith, which the Greeks think alien and useless, is in fact “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA). If things are not seen, how can you be convinced that they exist? Where do the things come from, if not from the one whom you cannot see? The reason faith is greatly rewarded is that it does not see and yet believes. Faith does not falter, because it is supported by hope; if you take away hope, faith falters. If, from faith and hope, you withdraw love, what is the point of believing; what is the point of hoping, if you do not love? Indeed, you cannot even hope for anything you do not love (AUGUSTINE). Faith is the foundation of the church, and the faith in the risen Lord sustains many (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). Faith supersedes human reason, as it penetrates the invisible substance of things. Furthermore, communal faith of the church is superior to individual. Seek God, but not despairingly. For the desperation of our search to see hidden reasons in God’s purpose is transcended through simple faith.

The pattern of faith is seen in the history of the patriarchs and primitive heroes who believed God’s promise (CHRYSOSTOM). That pattern extends from Abel, who spoke through his faith to Enoch, Moses and even to the woman from Canaan and Paul, all of whom sought God (EPHREM, ATHANASIUS, PACHOMIUS, CHRYSOSTOM). Often the figures and stories are typological allusions to Christ. The figures came first so their fulfillment could follow (LEO THE GREAT). It is only through faith that we join the church through the confession of a creed (“I believe”) and thus are released from the bond of sin (BEDE). A sound faith of the church is the foundation of eternal salvation (LEO THE GREAT) as well as of personal morals (CYRIL OF JERUSALEM). Unlike our belief in God, our knowledge about God is limited (CHRYSOSTOM). Noah and Abraham are just two examples of faith that resulted in righteousness through faithful obedience to God’s word (EPHREM, CHRYSOSTOM).

Heb