ACC ~ Hebrews 12 v28 - 29

AWE OR ENCOURAGEMENT? OECUMENIUS: Either he wishes to scare them not to be ungrateful and not to grumble about their tribulations, lest somehow, he says, you chance upon God in his wrath and vengeance; or he wishes to encourage them, as if he had said, “We will give thanks for our afflictions, for we have a Lord able to destroy those opposed to him.” FRAGMENTS ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 12.29.

OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE. ORIGEN: In sacred language God is called a fire, as when Scripture says, “Our God is a consuming fire.” Concerning the substance of the angels, it also speaks as follows: “Who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a burning fire.”And in another place, “The angel of the Lord appeared in a flame of fire in the bush.” In addition, we have received a command to be “fervent in spirit” by which expression undoubtedly the word of God is shown to be hot and fiery. The prophet Jeremiah also hears from him who gave him oracles, “Behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire.” As God, then, is a “fire” and the angels are “flames of fire” and all the saints are “fervent in spirit,” so, on the contrary, those who have fallen away from the love of God are undoubtedly said to have cooled in their affection for God and to have become cold. ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.8.3.

GOD’S JUDGMENT AS A FIRE. THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The apostle did not think it possible to describe God’s judgment sufficiently in any other way than through an analogy from our experience, and for this reason he did not hesitate to call God “fire.” COMMENTARY ON JOHN 1.1.1.

GOD’S ESSENCE. ORIGEN: Many have produced lengthy discussions of God and God’s essence. Some have even said that God has a bodily nature that is composed of fine particles and is like ether. Others have said that God is incorporeal and is of a different essence that transcends bodies in dignity and power. For this reason it is worthwhile for us to see if we have resources from the divine Scriptures to say something about God’s essence. In John 4:24 it is stated as if God’s essence were spirit, for it says, “God is spirit.” But in the law, it is instead as if God’s essence were fire, for it is written, “Our God is a consuming fire.” In John, however, it is stated as if God were light, for John says, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” If, then, we should listen to these words literally, making no inquiry beyond the letter, we would have to say that God is a body. … But because we do not see the consequences if we attribute a body to God when we say, even on the basis of Scripture, that God is some such body as spirit, or consuming fire, or light, unless we accept the conclusions that necessarily follow these assertions, we will disgrace ourselves as foolish and contradicting the obvious. For every fire is subject to extinction because it needs fuel; and every spirit, even if we take the spirit to be simple, because it is a body, admits of change to what is coarser in its own nature. In these matters, then, we must either accept so many absurd and blasphemous things about God in preserving the literal meanings, or, as we also do in many other cases, examine and inquire what can be meant when it is said that God is spirit or fire or light. First we must say that just as when we find it written that God has eyes, eyelids, ears, hands, arms, feet, and even wings, we change what is written into an allegory, despising those who bestow on God a form resembling humans; and we do this with good reason. So also must we act consistently with our practice in the case of the names mentioned above. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 13.123-131.