ACC ~ Hebrews 12 v1 - 13

OVERVIEW:

Appealing to this great cloud of witnesses, that is, the heroes of the faith, the author of Hebrews now turns to the present persecutions and sufferings of contemporary Christians and calls for a patient striving in the Lord that is active in faith and long in endurance (THEODORE, EPHREM, CHRYSOSTOM). The early writers recognized the call for striving and holiness in this pericope while insisting on the priority of the gift of faith. “The author and finisher of our faith has put faith within us. … He put the beginning into us, he will also put on the end” (CHRYSOSTOM, OECUMENIUS). He is the beginning and completion of our faith (AUGUSTINE). It is his death and resurrection that give us faith and endurance to reach the glory of the eternal life (CHRYSOSTOM, GREGORY OF NYSSA). The life of faith and virtue is not unlike the contest in the arena in which we are to demonstrate strength, endurance (CHRYSOSTOM, JEROME, SEVERIAN), and discipline (CHRYSOSTOM, OECUMENIUS).

The early writers were conscious not only of the first coming of Christ but a second as well, far more glorious than the first. Suffering thus had meaning and value and it was not to be regretted; nor were people to lose confidence amid temptation (EPHREM). Augustine argues that power is handed over to the demons for a while in persecutions. Basil argues that tribulations are, for those well prepared, like certain foods and exercises for athletes that lead the contestant to glory. Origen points out that the compassion and the loyalty of the good God is experienced by us as God’s jealousy for our good and anger toward sin.

12:1 | So Great a Cloud of Witnesses

WITNESSES WHO TESTIFIED FOR OUR FAITH. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: He did not simply say that there is one time of repayment for all—for this was not his intention—but he said this to show that also those who had done such things and suffered such things through faith might still await the payment of the things promised. Not bearing it with ill grace, they are brought with us of the later generation. Thus he showed their even greater endurance, if indeed they still await after death those who ought to contend likewise with them so that with them we may obtain the enjoyment of all the good. And therefore he speaks of “witnesses,” not of the things suffered but of the things testified for our faith. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.1.

THE WEIGHT OF SIN. SEVERIAN OF GABALA: Let us lay aside every weight. “Weight” is a sin of the enjoyment of the flesh, a form in which the “sin which clings so closely” is born. It clings closely to us as it surrounds us with pleasure and subdues us to its own will. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.1.

SIN CLINGS. THEODORET OF CYR: The models of godliness are set before us on all sides, he is saying, in such vast numbers as to resemble a cloud in density and testify to the power of faith. Accordingly, let us keep our eyes on them, be light on our feet and rid ourselves of the burden of unnecessary worries, in this way being able also to avoid sin that is easy to contract. Before everything else we need perseverance to succeed in the course ahead of us. He said sin “clings” because it is easily contracted and committed: the eye is fascinated, the ear charmed, touch titillated, tongue easily loosened and thought quickly directed to the worst. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 12.

A CLOUD OF SAD AFFLICTIONS. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” about the weight of our life, that is, about the fact that we have ahead of us a cloud of sad afflictions, which lead many who trust in Christ and die for him to honor, “let us lay aside everything” from us. … And “let us run with perseverance the race that is set for us” not only by our persecutors but by the devil himself. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

12:2 | The Pioneer and Perfecter of Our Faith

THE SAVIOR’S JOY IS THE SALVATION OF HUMAN BEINGS. THEODORET OF CYR: He could have avoided suffering, he is saying, had he so chosen; but he put up with the suffering for the benefit of all. The Savior’s joy is the salvation of human beings; for it he endured the suffering, and after the suffering he is seated with the Father who begot him. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 12.

HE IS ABLE TO REWARD YOU. OECUMENIUS: “For the joy that was set before him” can be understood also as Gregory says: although it was possible for him to remain in his own personal glory and divinity, he not only humbled himself to the very point of the form of a slave, but he also endured the cross and despised its shame.

Therefore he says that he is able to reward you for all your afflictions for his sake. For not only was he crucified, but also he sat down at “the right hand of God,” the right hand and the throne giving him the same honor. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.2.

LEARN TO RUN WELL. CHRYSOSTOM: As in all arts and games, we impress the art upon our mind by looking to our masters, receiving certain rules through our sight, so here also, if we wish to run and to learn to run well, let us look to Christ, even to Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith.” What is this? He has put the faith within us. For he said to his disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you”; and Paul too says, “But then shall I understand, even as I have been fully understood.” He put the beginning into us; he will also put on the end. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 28.4.

AN ARENA OF STRUGGLE AND ENDURANCE. JEROME: God has entered us as contestants in a racecourse where it is our lot to be always striving. This place, then, a valley of tears, is not a condition of peace, not a state of security, but an arena of struggle and of endurance. HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 16 (PSALM 83).

ALL THINGS ARE TWOFOLD IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: We preach not one coming of Christ but a second as well, far more glorious than the first. The first gave us a spectacle of his patience; the second will bring with it the crown of the kingdom of God. In general all things are twofold in our Lord Jesus Christ. His birth is twofold, one of God before the ages and one of a virgin in the consummation of the ages. His descent is twofold, one lowly, “like the rain upon the fleece,” and a second, his manifest coming, which is yet to be. In his first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in the manger; in his second he will be “robed in light as with a cloak.” In his first coming he “endured the cross, despising the shame”; in his second he will come in glory, attended by a host of angels. We do not rest, therefore, in his first coming, but we look also for his second. Just as we said of his first coming, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,” so we shall repeat the same at his second. CATECHETICAL LECTURES 15.1.

GIVEN FAITH BY THE ONE WHO MADE CHRIST. AUGUSTINE: Our being born again by water and the Spirit is not a recompense for any merit but is freely given. And if faith has led us to the bath of regeneration, we ought not for that reason to think that we have first given something, so that our saving regeneration might be given us in return. For that one has made us believe in Christ who made for us the Christ in whom we believe. That one made in humans the beginning and the completion of their faith in Jesus who made the human Jesus “the author and finisher of the faith,” for this is what he is called, as you know, in the Epistle to the Hebrews. PREDESTINATION OF THE SAINTS 31.

HE FINISHED IT THROUGH THE CROSS. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: Let us look not toward human beings for the perfection of our faith. In fact, among them one is good for something, but the other is not. Rather let us look into “Jesus Christ, the pioneer of faith,” who was made our leader and “the perfecter” of our faith, because he began from the Jordan the fight against the enemy, then continued it in the desert, and finished it in Jerusalem through the cross, which was erected by the persecutors on Golgotha. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HE-BREWS.

UNDER NO NECESSITY OF BEING CRUCIFIED. CHRYSOSTOM: “Who,” he says, “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.” That is, it was in his power not to suffer at all, if he so willed. For “he committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips”; as he also says in the Gospels, “the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no power over me.” It lay then in his power, if so he willed, not to come to the cross. For “I have power,” he says, “to lay down my life; and I have power to take it again.” If then he who was under no necessity of being crucified was crucified for our sake, how much more is it right that we should endure all things nobly! “Who for the joy that was set before him,” he says, “endured the cross, despising the shame.” But what is “despising the shame”? He chose, he means, that ignominious death. For suppose that he died. Some wonder why he should die so ignominiously. For no other reason than to teach us to make no account of glory from the human sphere. Therefore, though under no obligation, he chose death, teaching us to be bold against it and to make it as nothing. Why did the apostle say not “pain” but “shame”? Because it was not with pain that he bore these things. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 28.4.

THE FLAME OF HIS LIFE. GREGORY OF NYSSA: A fire that lies in wood hidden below the surface is often unobserved by the senses of those who see or even touch it but is manifest when it blazes up. So too, at his death (which he brought about at his will, who separated his soul from his body; who said to his own Father, “Into your hands I commit my spirit”; who, as he says, “had power to lay it down and had power to take it again”) he—who, because he is the lord of glory, despised that which is shame among men—having concealed, as it were, the flame of his life in his bodily nature, by the dispensation of his death, kindled and inflamed it once more by the power of his own Godhead, fostering into life that which had been brought to death. Having infused with the infinity of his divine power that humble firstfruits of our nature, he made it also to be that which he himself was—making the servile form to be Lord, and the human born of Mary to be Christ, and him who was crucified through weakness to be life and power, and making all that is piously conceived to be in God the Word to be also in that which the Word assumed. Thus these attributes no longer seem to be in either nature by way of division, but the perishable nature, being, by its commixture with the divine, made anew in conformity with the nature that overwhelms it, participates in the power of the Godhead, as if one were to say that mixture makes a drop of vinegar mingled in the deep to be sea, by reason that the natural quality of this liquid does not continue in the infinity of that which overwhelms it. This is our doctrine. AGAINST EUNOMIUS 5.5.

WHAT IS SUPERFLUOUS, DO WITHOUT. CHRYSOSTOM: Why do I trifle in saying these things to people who do not even choose to disregard riches but hold fast to them as though they were immortal, and, if they give a little out of much, think they have done all? This is not almsgiving, for almsgiving is that of the widow, who emptied out “her whole living.” But if you do not go on to contribute so much as the widow, at least contribute the whole of your superfluity. Keep what is sufficient, not what is superfluous. But there are none who contribute even their superabundance. For so long as you have many servants and garments of silk, these things are all superfluities. Nothing is indispensable or necessary, without which we are able to live. These things are superfluous and are simply superadded. Let us then see, if you please, what we cannot live without. If we have only two servants, we can live. For, whereas some live without servants, what excuse have we, if we are not content with two? We can also have a house built of brick of three rooms, and this is sufficient for us. For are there not some with children and wife who have but one room? Let there be also, if you will, two serving boys.

And how is it not a shame, you say, that a gentlewoman should walk out with only two servants? It is no shame that a gentlewoman should walk along with two servants, but it is a shame that she should go forth with many. Perhaps you laugh when you hear this. Believe me, it is a shame. Do you think it a great matter to go out with many servants, like dealers in sheep or dealers in slaves? This is pride and vainglory; the other is love of wisdom and respectability. For a gentlewoman ought not to be known from the multitude of her attendants. For what virtue is it to have many servants? This belongs not to the soul, and whatever is not of the soul does not show gentility. When she is content with a few things, then is she a gentlewoman indeed; but when she needs many, she is a servant and inferior to slaves.

Tell me, do not the angels go to and fro about the world alone and need not anyone to follow them? Are they then on this account inferior to us? Are they who need no attendants inferior to us, who need them? If, then, not needing an attendant at all is angelic, who comes nearer to the angelic life—she who needs many, or she who needs few? Is not this a shame? For a shame it is to do anything out of place. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 28.9-10.

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION. CHRYSOSTOM: Tell me, who attracts the attention of those who are in the public places, she who brings many in her train or she who brings but few? And is not she who is alone less conspicuous even than she who is attended by few? Do you see that this is a shame? Who attracts the attention of those in the public places, she who wears beautiful garments or she who is dressed simply and artlessly? Again, who attracts those in the public places, she who is borne on mules and with trappings ornamented with gold, or she who walks out simply and, as it may be, with propriety? Perhaps we do not even look at this latter, if we even see her; but the multitudes not only force their way to see the other but ask, “Who is she, and where from?” And I do not say what great envy is hereby produced. Tell me, then, is it disgraceful to be looked at or not to be looked at? When is the shame greater, when all stare at her, or when no one does? When they inform themselves about her, or when they do not even care? Do you see that we do everything, not for modesty’s sake, but for vainglory?

However, since it is impossible to draw you away from that, I am content for the present that you should learn that this is no disgrace. Sin alone is a disgrace, which no one thinks to be a disgrace, but everything rather than this. . . .

But my discourse is not addressed to women only but also to men. For the rest of the things that we have are all superfluous; only the poor possess no superfluities, and perhaps they from necessity, since, if it had been in their power, even they would not have abstained from them. Nevertheless, “whether in pretense or in truth,” so far they have no superfluities. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 28.10-11.

12:3 | He Endured Such Hostility

TENSION WITHIN THE SOUL. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “Consider him who,” for our love, “showed such” patience toward sinners, not toward those with whom he was in hostility but toward those who, because of their disbelief, appeared to be in tension within their own souls. Do not regret your afflictions, and do not lose your confidence amid the hour of your temptation. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

12:4 | Your Struggle Against Sin

YOU HAVE SUFFERED NO GREAT THING. CHRYSOSTOM: There are two kinds of consolation, apparently opposed to one another but yet contributing great strength each to the other, both of which the apostle has here put forward. The one is when we say that persons have suffered much. For the soul is refreshed when it has many witnesses of its own sufferings, and this he introduced above, saying, “Recall the former days, when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.”

The other is when we say, “You have suffered no great thing.” The former, when the soul has been exhausted, refreshes it and makes it recover breath; the latter, when it has become indolent and supine, turns it again and pulls down pride. Thus, so that no pride may spring up in them from that testimony, see what he does. “In your struggle against sin,” he says, “you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” … This he says also in writing to the Corinthians, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man,” that is, small. For this is enough to arouse and set right the soul, when it considers that it has not risen to the whole trial and encourages itself from what has already befallen it. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 29.1.

ILLUSTRIOUS AND HONORED CITIZENS. AUGUSTINE: For short periods and at prescribed times, power has been given to the demons to incite people whom they control to exercise a tyrannical hostility to the City of God. Thus, they are able not only to receive sacrifice from those who offer it and to seek it from those who are well disposed but also to extort it violently from the unwilling by means of persecutions. However, this power is not a menace to the church but rather an advantage, since it helps to fill up the number of its martyrs. And these the City of God esteems as its most illustrious and honored citizens, just because they have resisted the impious so valiantly, even “to the shedding of blood, striving against sin.” CITY OF GOD 10.21.

RESIST SIN EVEN TO DEATH. EVAGRIUS PONTICUS: Do not think you have attained to virtue until first you have fought to the shedding of blood. One must resist sin even to death—manfully and irreproachably, as the divine apostle tells us. CHAPTERS ON PRAYER 136.

12:5-6 | The Discipline of the Lord

TRIBULATIONS LEADING US ON TO GLORY. BASIL THE GREAT: In truth, tribulations are, for those well prepared, like certain foods and exercises for athletes which lead the contestant on to the hereditary glory, if, when reviled, we bless; if when maligned, we entreat; if ill-treated, we give thanks; if afflicted, we glory in our afflictions. It is indeed shameful for us to bless on propitious occasions but be silent on dark and difficult ones. On the contrary, we must bless even more at that time, knowing that “the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.” HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 16.1 (PSALM 33).

WHIPPING THE SINS. ORIGEN: “I will punish with the rod” your saints; “I will visit with a whip their sins.” Why? So that “I may not take my mercy from them.” For when he leaves someone, he no longer punishes or whips them, since he does not whip everyone, but “every son the Lord receives.” SELECTIONS FROM EXODUS 127.

WE MUST PASS THROUGH AFFLICTION. CHRYSOSTOM: “The Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.” You cannot say that any righteous person is without affliction; even if that one appears to be so, we do not know that person’s other afflictions. Of necessity every righteous person must pass through affliction. For it is a declaration of Christ that the wide and broad way leads to destruction but the straight and narrow one to life. If then it is possible to enter into life by that means and no other, then all have entered in by the narrow way, as many as have departed unto life. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 29.2.

THE MERCY OF THE GOOD GOD. ORIGEN: Therefore, if this “jealous God” asks for you and wishes your soul to cleave to him, if he keeps you from sin, if he corrects and chastises you, if he is indignant, if he is angry and uses a kind of jealousy against you, know that this is your hope of salvation. … See the compassion and loyalty of the good God. When he wishes to have mercy, he says he is indignant and angry. HOMILIES ON EXODUS 8.5.

LED TO HOPE THAT DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. BASIL THE GREAT: Not in the amount of money, not in the pride of power, not in the height of glory is victory gained, but the Lord freely gives his help to those who seek him through excessive affliction. Such was Paul, who made his afflictions his boast. Therefore he was able to say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” “Give us therefore, O Lord, help from trouble,” since “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint.” Do you see where affliction leads you? To hope that does not disappoint. Are you ill? Be of good cheer, because “the Lord disciplines him whom he loves.” HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 20.5 (PSALM 59).

COMPLETE JOY. BEDE: At this point we might consider and commit more actively to memory how almighty God allows God’s chosen ones and beloved servants—those God has predestined to life and the eternal kingdom—to be so stricken in this life by the persecution of the wicked and to be wasted by so many kinds and such fierce punishments and deaths. This is so that when we have viewed the sufferings of the maturely faithful, we may grieve less over the adversities that perhaps have happened to us and learn instead to esteem it complete joy when we fall into various kinds of struggles, keeping in mind that “the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.” HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.23.

THE WRONG SENSE IS INFERRED FROM HUMAN HABITS. CASSIODORUS: The anger of the Lord is spoken of in two senses. First, when the Lord punishes in order to save, as in the following verse: “For he scourges every son whom he accepts.” Second, when he sends to eternal fire about which another psalm speaks: “O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor reproach me in your wrath.” An improper meaning is surely drawn from the realm of human experiences. For when we punish some guilt, we go astray by getting upset at the deeds. But God executes judgment while in a state of tranquility, for he is unacquainted with the confusing experiences of emotion. EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 58.14.

12:7-10 | God Treats You as Offspring

FATHERS DESPISE ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN. THEODORET OF CYR: Fathers are in the habit of disciplining their true children, and if they see them caned by the teachers, they do not worry; they see the fruit coming from the discipline. But they despise illegitimate children and do not accord them equal attention. So if you also avoid discipline, you are of the number of the illegitimate. INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 12.

FROM THIS SUFFERING YOU MAY BE CONFIDENT. CHRYSOSTOM: “You endure discipline,” he says, not for punishment or for vengeance or suffering. See, it is from these sufferings from which they supposed they had been deserted, he says, that they may be confident that they have not been deserted. It is as if he had said, “Because you have suffered so many evils, do you suppose that God has left you and hates you?” If you did not suffer, then it would be right to suppose this. For if “he chastises every son whom he receives,” then he who is not chastised perhaps is not a son. What then, you say, do not bad men suffer distress? They suffer indeed. How then? He did not say, “Every one who is chastised is a son” but “every son is chastised.” ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 29.2.

CORRECTED FROM SIN. AUGUSTINE: Here discipline is spoken of in reference to those evils that anyone suffers for his sins in order that he may be corrected. ON THE TRINITY 14.1.1.

DISCIPLINE THAT MAKES US PERFECT. OECUMENIUS: For human fathers do not always prevail to discipline us so that they can render us perfect, but God always disciplines us and makes us perfect. For the process of discipline stops when the father dies or the child comes of age. FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.9.

NOT FOR THEIR OWN INTERESTS. CHRYSOSTOM: He reasons from their own experiences, from what they themselves suffered. For, as he says above, “Recall the former days,” he says here also, “God is treating you as sons,” and you could not say, “We cannot bear it.” Yes, “as sons” tenderly beloved. For if they reverence their “fathers of the flesh,” how shall you not reverence your heavenly Father? However, the difference arises not from this alone, nor from the persons, but also from the cause itself, and from the fact. For it is not on the same grounds that he and they impose discipline. They did it with a view to “what seemed good to them,” that is, fulfilling their own pleasure oftentimes and not always looking to what was expedient. But here that cannot be said, for the Lord does this not for any interest of the Lord’s own but for you and for your benefit alone. They did it that you might be useful to themselves, often without reason; but here there is nothing of this kind. Do you see that this also brings consolation? For we are most closely attached to those when we see that they either command or advise us not for any interests of their own, when their earnestness is, wholly and solely, on our account. For this is genuine love, and love in reality, when we are beloved though we be of no use to the one who loves us—not so that one may receive but so that one may impart. God chastens, God does everything, God uses all diligence, that we may become capable of receiving God’s benefits. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 29.3.

TAKE AWAY WHAT IS SUPERFLUOUS. CHRYSOSTOM: Do you wish to nourish the body? Take away what is superfluous, and give what is sufficient, as much as can be digested. Do not load it, lest you overwhelm it. A sufficiency is both nourishment and pleasure. For nothing is so productive of pleasure as food well digested, nothing so productive of health, nothing so productive of acuteness of the faculties, nothing tends so much to keep away disease. For a sufficiency is nourishment, pleasure and health, but excess is injury, unpleasantness and disease. For what famine does, satiety does also—or rather more grievous evils. For the former indeed within a few days carries a person off and sets that one free; but the other, eating into and putrefying the body, gives it over to long disease and then to a most painful death. But we, while we account famine a thing greatly to be dreaded, yet run after satisfaction, which may be more distressing than famine. What is this disease? What this madness? I do not say that we should waste ourselves away but that we should eat as much food as also gives us pleasure that is really pleasure and can nourish the body and furnish it to us well ordered and adapted for the energies of the soul, well joined and fitted together. But when it comes to be waterlogged by luxury, it cannot in the flood wave keep fast the bolts themselves, one might say, and the joints which hold the frame together. For when the flood wave comes in, the whole breaks up and scatters. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 29.7.

12:11 | Painful Rather Than Pleasant

THEIR REWARD IS JUSTICE. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: They gain a profit from it: their reward is justice. Paul said this in order to prove that even though they gain a profit through discipline, their reward and grace is constituted by justice. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

A GREAT ABUNDANCE OF FRUITS. CHRYSOSTOM: They who drink bitter medicines first submit to some unpleasantness and afterwards feel the benefit. For such is virtue, such is vice. In the latter, there is first the pleasure, then the despondency; in the former, first the despondency, and then the pleasure. But there is no equality; for it is not the same to be first grieved and afterwards pleased and to be first pleased and afterwards grieved. How so? Because, in the latter case, the expectation of coming despondency makes the present pleasure less, but, in the former, the expectation of coming pleasure cuts away the violence of present despondency. The result is that, in the one instance, we never have pleasure; in the latter, we never have grief. . . .

From this Paul then undertakes to console them and again takes up the common judgment of people, which no one is able to stand against or to contend with the common decision, when one says what is acknowledged by all.

You are suffering, he says. For such is chastisement; such is its beginning. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.” He said well, “seems.” Discipline, he means, is not grievous but “seems” so. “All discipline” … means both human and spiritual. Do you see that he argues from our common notions? “Seems painful,” he says, so that it is not really so. For what sort of pain brings forth joy? So neither does pleasure bring forth despondency.

Nevertheless, “later it yields the peaceful fruits of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Not “fruit” but “fruits,” a great abundance.

“To those,” he says, “who have been trained by it.” That is, to those who have endured for a long while and been patient. And he uses an auspicious expression; so then, discipline is exercise, making the athlete strong and invincible in combats, irresistible in conflicts. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 30.1.

12:12-13 | What Is Lame May Be Healed

THE DISCIPLINE IS OF LOVE. CHRYSOSTOM: Do not wonder if discipline, being itself hard, has sweet fruits; since in trees also the bark is almost destitute of all quality and rough, but the fruits are sweet. … Why, after you have endured the painful, are you despondent as to the good? The distasteful things that you had to endure you endured. Do not then become despondent when you are rewarded. He speaks as to runners and boxers and warriors. Do you see how he arms them, how he encourages them? “Walk straight,” he says. Here he speaks with reference to their thoughts; that is to say, not doubting. For if the discipline be of love, if it begin from loving care, if it end with a good result (and this he proves both by facts and by words, and by all considerations), why are you dispirited? For such are they who despair, who are not strengthened by the hope of the future. “Walk straight,” he says, that your lameness may not be increased but brought back to its former condition. For he that runs when he is lame galls the sore place. Do you see that it is in our power to be thoroughly healed? ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 30.1.

REPENTANCE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE SINNED. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: Where are those who say that the apostle in this epistle precludes repentance by saying, “It is impossible to renew again thereafter to repentance those once enlightened”? How then do they understand these words: “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees”? What sort of healing of the lame does this apostle, who allegedly does not believe in a repentance for those who have sinned, wish to take place? It is clear he writes these things to believers in that he says to them: “Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings.” FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.12-13.

YOU WHO ARE CAST DOWN. ORIGEN: Nevertheless, since Jesus recites the law to you and reveals to your hearts its spiritual meaning, do not remain “proselytes,” that is, catechumens, any longer, but hurry to receive fully the grace of God. … And you “children,” “do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature.” As the apostle says to the Hebrews, “Let us leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity.” But you, too, who under the title women are weak, cast down and tired, you are exhorted to “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.” HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 9.9.

LAMENESS OF TRANSGRESSION. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,” that is, “make straight paths for your feet” throughout the afflictions caused by your persecutors, so that they may not slip. [Do this] “so that what is lame,” that is, those who transgressed through the denial of faith, “may not be put out of joint” and increase the power of sin “but rather be healed,” so that, through his healing, sin may be affected by sickness. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.