ACC ~ Hebrews 11 v1 - 3

BECOMING GOD’S FRIENDS THROUGH FAITH. THEODORET OF CYR: He shows both those before the law and those under the law becoming God’s friends through faith and enjoying distinction. In this he achieves two things at the same time: he brings out the power of faith (faith accomplishing what the law did not achieve) and provides encouragement to those dispirited at the insurrections of the adversaries, showing everyone in possession of everlasting repute to have traveled through the same storms. First he teaches the very definition of faith: through it we see what is unseen, and it acts as an eye for discernment of what is hoped for. Faith depicts for us in advance the resurrection of those still lying dead in their tombs and causes the immortality of the dust of our bodies to become evident. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11.

IF YOU DO NOT BELIEVE, YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: “Should your springs be scattered abroad, streams of water in the streets?” “The majority do not turn their minds to the sort of things they encounter, and, if they are taught, they do not acquire knowledge, although they think they do.” So says the admirable Heraclitus. Do you not realize that he is another critic of nonbelievers? “The righteous shall live by his faith,” says the prophet. One of the other prophets remarks, “If you do not believe, you emphatically will not understand either.” How could a soul come to the study of these things, itself exceptional, if, deep within, lack of faith over the teaching is fighting against it? Faith, which the Greeks think alien and useless and which they consequently malign, is in fact preconception by the will, an act of consenting to religion and, as the divine apostle puts it, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old received divine approval.” Without faith it is impossible to please God. STROMATEIS 2.2.8-9.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He has made use of many proofs, since he knew the Jews especially questioned faith by means of a certain line of argument. For the Jews were setting forth the law and righteousness by their works, but Christians set forth faith, saying that even if someone should be guilty of ten thousand evils, by only believing in Christ he receives immediately deliverance from all of them, being deemed worthy of justification from him. Therefore, having determined this, then partly to appropriate the things that had been said before and partly to be able to show that faith appeared among all the virtuous men of old, he adds, “by faith the men of old received divine approval.” FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 11.1-2.

THE DELAY OF SALVATION STRENGTHENED FAITH. LEO THE GREAT: Rejoice that whatever the shadows of the Old Testament used to veil beneath the testimonies of prophets has been brought out into the open through the mystery of the Lord’s passion. As a result, the various kinds of sacrifices and the different means of purification have come to a halt. Thus, the precept of circumcision, the distinction between foods, the sabbath rest, and the killing of the paschal lamb have ceased, since “the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Figures came first so that their fulfillment could follow. When the reality which had been announced finally arrived, there was no longer any need for the services of heralds. Reconciliation of the human race was conducted in such a way that the salvation which comes in Christ should have been available to all generations under the same justification. Delaying this salvation was a calculated move. It had the advantage of causing those things which were believed long before they actually took place to be honored without interruption. When the strength of faith has been established in those things that do not lie open to our vision, heavenly doctrine treats us more leniently. … To help us understand more easily, we benefit from many more prophets and witnesses than former ages. SERMON 69.2.

SCRIPTURE TESTIFIES ABOUT THE FAITH. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Now our faith is not destroyed by despair because it was made firm by true hope. And there are witnesses who testify about it. In fact, even though faith was hidden from the people of the middle generation, it had nonetheless been revealed to those of the first. And there is a proof that reveals what is not evident. What proof? Certainly the one through which the testimony about the people of the first generation was made, that is, the narrative of scripture, that testified about the faith, through which the ancient fathers were put to test. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

AROUSE THE REASON IN YOUR HEART. AUGUSTINE: If they are not seen, how can you be convinced that they exist? Well, where do these things that you see come from, if not from one whom you cannot see? Yes, of course you see something in order to believe something, and from what you can see to believe what you cannot see. Please do not be ungrateful to the one who made you able to see; this is why you are able to believe what you are not yet able to see. God gave you eyes in your head, reason in your heart. Arouse the reason in your heart, get the inner inhabitant behind your inner eyes on his feet, let him take to his windows, let him inspect God’s creation. SERMON 126.3.

A WORD TO CATECHUMENS ABOUT FAITH. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.” Notice how great a dignity the Lord bestows on you in transferring you from the order of catechumens to that of the faithful. The apostle Paul says as much when he affirms, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son Jesus Christ.” Since God is here called faithful, you also in receiving this title receive a great dignity. God is called faithful in the same way that he is called good, just, almighty and maker of the universe. Consider therefore to what kind of dignity you are rising, seeing you are to become a partaker of a title of God.

Here, then, it is further required that each of you be found faithful in his conscience: “for a faithful man it is hard to find”—not that you need to reveal to me what is on your conscience, for you are not to be “judged by man’s judgment.”But you are supposed to show the sincerity of your faith to God, “who tries the reins and hearts” and “knows the thoughts of men.” A faithful person is a great thing, being richest of all rich people. For “to the faithful person belongs the whole world of wealth,” in that he disdains and tramples on it. For they who in appearance are rich and have many possessions are poor in soul: since the more they gather, the more they pine with longing for what is still lacking. But the faithful person (a strange paradox, indeed) is rich in poverty. Such a person knows that we only need to have “food and clothing” and, being “content with these,”he has trampled riches under foot. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 5.1-2.

FAITH SUSTAINS MANY. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: It is not only among those of us who bear the name of Christ that the dignity of faith is great. Rather, all things that are accomplished in the world, even by those who are strangers to the church, are accomplished by faith. By faith the laws of marriage yoke together those who have lived as strangers. Because of the faith in marriage contracts, a stranger is made partner of another stranger’s person and possessions. By faith, farmers are also sustained, for the one who does not believe that he shall receive a harvest is not going to endure the work. By faith seafaring men, trusting to the thinnest plank, exchange that most solid element, the land, for the restless motion of the waves, committing themselves to uncertain hopes and carrying with them a faith more sure than any anchor. By faith therefore most of men’s affairs are held together: and not among us only has there been this belief, but also, as I have said, among those who are outside the church. For if they receive not the Scriptures but bring forward certain doctrines of their own, even these they accept by faith. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 5.3.

PROPHECY SEEN IN LONG TIME FRAME. CHRYSOSTOM: But I will make the matter more plain by an example. Christ said that Jerusalem should be taken and should be so taken as no city ever was before, and that it should never be raised up, and in fact this prediction came to pass. He said that there should be “great tribulation,” and it came to pass. He said that, as a grain of mustard seed is sown,so should the preaching of the gospel be extended, and every day we see this happening over the world. He said that they who left father or mother or brothers or sisters should have both fathers and mothers, and this we see fulfilled by facts. He said, “In the world you have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world”; that is, no one shall get the better of you. And this we see by events has come to pass. He said that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church,” even though persecuted, and that no one shall quench the preaching of the gospel; and the experience of events bears witness to this prediction also. And yet, when he said these things, it was very hard to believe him. Why? Because all these were words, and he had not as yet given proof of the things spoken. So that they have now become far more credible. He said that “the gospel will be preached throughout the whole world, then the end will come.”Lo! Now you have arrived at the end, for the greater part of the world has been preached to; therefore, the end is now at hand. Let us tremble, beloved. But what, tell me? Are you anxious about the end? It indeed is itself near, but each person’s life and death is nearer. For it is said, “The days of our years are seventy years; but if one be in strength, fourscore years.” The day of judgment is near. Let us fear. “A brother does not redeem; shall man redeem?” There we shall repent much, “but in death no man shall praise him.” Wherefore he says, “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving,”that is, his coming. For here in this life indeed, whatever we do has efficacy; but there, no longer. Tell me, if a person placed us for a little while in a flaming furnace, should we not submit to anything in order to escape, even were it necessary to part with our money or to undergo slavery? How many have fallen into grievous diseases and would gladly give up all to be delivered from them, if the choice were offered them? If in this world, then, a disease of short duration so afflicts us, what shall we do yonder, when repentance will be of no avail? ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 21.5-6.

YOUR HANDS ARE NOT EMPTY. AUGUSTINE: When you hope, you do not yet have what you are hoping for, but, by believing it, you resemble someone who does possess it. For faith will eventually take hold, but our very faith stands for the thing itself. I mean, you do not have your hands on anything when you have them on faith, nor are they empty if they are full of faith. The reason faith is greatly rewarded is that it does not see and yet believes. I mean, if it could see, what reward would there be? … But faith does not falter, because it is supported by hope. Take away hope, and faith falters. How, after all, when you are walking somewhere, will you even move your feet, if you have no hope of ever getting there? If, though, from each of them, that is 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. Love, you see, kindles hope; hope shines through love. But when we attain the things that we have been hoping for while believing in and not seeing them, what faith will there be then to be praised? Considering that “faith is the conviction of things not seen,” when we do see, it will not be called faith. After all, you will be seeing, not believing. SERMON 359A.3-4.

FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE. CHRYSOSTOM: Oh, what an expression has he used in saying “an evidence of things not seen.” For we say there is “evidence” in the case of things that are very plain. Faith then is seeing things not plain, he means, and brings what are not seen to the same full assurance with what are seen. So then neither is it possible to disbelieve in things which are seen, nor, on the other hand, can there be faith unless a person is more fully assured with respect to things invisible than he is with respect to things that are most clearly seen. For since the objects of hope seem to be unsubstantial, faith gives them substantiality or, rather, does not give it, but is itself their substance. For instance, the resurrection has not come, nor does it exist substantially, but hope makes it substantial in our soul. This is the meaning of “the substance of things.”

If therefore it is an “evidence of things not seen,” why do you wish to see them, so as to fall away from faith and from being just? Since “the just shall live by faith,” you, if you wish to see these things, are no longer faithful. You have labored, he says; you have struggled. I too allow this; nevertheless, wait, for this is faith. Do not seek the whole “here.” ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 21.4.

OUR MUTUAL FAITH. CHRYSOSTOM: Faith needs a generous and vigorous soul, one rising above all things of sense and passing beyond the weakness of human reasonings. For it is not possible to become a believer otherwise than by raising one’s self above the common customs of the world.

Inasmuch then as the souls of the Hebrews were thoroughly weakened—though they had begun from faith, yet from circumstances, I mean sufferings, afflictions, they had afterwards become faint-hearted and of little spirit and were shaken from their position—he encouraged them first indeed from these very things, saying, “Recall the former days”;next from the Scripture, saying, “But the righteous shall live by faith”; afterwards from arguments, saying, “But faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And now again from their forefathers, those great and admirable people, as much as saying, “If, where the good things were close at hand, all were saved by faith, much more are we.”

For when a soul finds one that shares its same sufferings, it is refreshed and recovers breath. This we may see both in the case of faith and in the case of affliction, “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” For people are very distrustful, cannot place confidence in themselves, are fearful about whatever things they think they possess and have great regard for the opinion of the many.

What then does Paul do? He encourages them by the patriarchs. … Since faith is slandered as being a thing that cannot be demonstrated and rather a matter of deceit, he shows that the greatest things are attained through faith and not through reasonings. And how does he show this, tell me? It is manifest, he says, that God made the things which are out of things which are not, things which appear out of things which appear not, things which subsist out of things which subsist not. But where is it shown that he did this even “by a Word”? For reason suggests nothing of this kind, but, on the contrary, suggests that the things that appear are formed out of things that appear.

Therefore the philosophers expressly say that “nothing comes out of things that are not being sensual” and trusting nothing to faith. And yet these same people, when they happen to say anything great and noble, are caught entrusting it to faith. For instance: They say that “God is without beginning and unborn”—yet reason does not suggest this, but the contrary. Consider how great their folly, I ask you. They say that God is without beginning, and yet this is far more wonderful than the creation out of things that are not. For to say that he is without beginning, that he is unborn, neither begotten by himself nor by another is more full of difficulties than to say that God made the things which are out of things which are not. For here there are many things uncertain, as that some one made it, that what was made had a beginning, that, in a word, it was made. But in the other case, what? He is self-existing, unborn; he neither had beginning nor time. Tell me, do not these things require faith? But he did not assert this, which was far greater, but the lesser. How does it appear, he would say, that God made these things? Reason does not suggest it. No one was present when it was done. How is it shown? It is plainly the result of faith. “By faith we understand that the world was created.” Why “by faith”? Because “the things that are seen were not made of things which do appear.” For this is faith. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 22.1-2.

CREATED BY GOD. THEODORET OF CYR: The body’s eye did not recognize the God of all as creator; instead faith instructed us that God, who has always existed, created what did not exist. There is, after all, no example of this among human beings; yet though learning nothing of the kind from nature, we have in faith a teacher of the unexpected. Human beings, of course, make something out of something, whereas the God of all produced what exists out of nothing. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11.

Heb