ACC ~ Hebrews 5 v14

SOLID FOOD OF THE PASSION. EPHREM THE SYRIAN: “Solid food is for the mature,” that is, the passion written in the new gospel, and about them it was written, “make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” In their own taste, thanks to the right measure of their faith, “they have been trained to distinguish good from evil,” that is, by themselves and not by the law. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.

FAITH ENGAGED IN LEARNING. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Just as we say that it is possible to have faith without being literate, so we assert that it is not possible to understand the statements contained in the faith without study. To assimilate the right affirmations and reject the rest is not the product of simple faith but of faith engaged in learning. Ignorance involves a lack of education and learning. It is teaching that implants in us the scientific knowledge of things divine and human. It is possible to live uprightly in poverty. It is also possible in wealth. We admit that it is easier and quicker to track down virtue if we have a preliminary education. It can be hunted down without these aids, although even then those with learning, “with their faculties trained by practice,” have an advantage. STROMATEIS 1.6.35.

SONG OF SONGS. ORIGEN: In the words of Song of Songs may be found that food of which the apostle says, “But solid food is for the mature” and requires such people as listeners who “have their faculties trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.” Thus, if those we have called “little ones” come to these places in Scripture, it can happen that they receive no profit at all from this book or even that they are badly injured either by reading what has been written or by examining what has been said to interpret it. But for one who is mature according to the flesh, no little risk and danger arises from this book of Scripture [Song of Songs]. For if he does not know how to listen to the names of love purely and with chaste ears, he may twist everything he has heard from the inner man to the outer, fleshly man and be turned away from the Spirit to the flesh. Then he will nourish in himself fleshly desires, and it will seem because of the divine Scriptures that he is impelled and moved to the lusts of the flesh. For this reason I give warning and advice to everyone who is not yet free of the vexations of flesh and blood and who has not withdrawn from the desire for corporeal nature that he completely abstain from reading this book and what is said about it. Indeed, they say that the Hebrews observe the rule that, unless someone has attained a perfect and mature age, he is not even permitted to hold this book in his hands. Moreover, we also accept the observance of the following rule from them—it is their custom that all the Scriptures should be given to children by the teachers and the wise, and that at the same time those passages which they call deuterōseis should be held back to the last. There are four of them: the beginning of Genesis, in which the creation of the world is described; the first chapters of Ezekiel the prophet, in which mention is made of the cherubim; the end of Ezekiel, which includes the building of the temple; and this book, Song of Songs. COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE.

THE HELP OF HIM WHO URGES US TO ASK, SEEK AND KNOCK. AUGUSTINE: If anyone wanted to take everything that was said according to the letter … and could avoid blasphemies and explain everything in harmony with the Catholic faith, we should not only bear him no hostility but also regard him as a leading and highly praiseworthy interpreter. But if there is no way in which we can understand what has been written in a manner that is pious and worthy of God without believing that these things have been set before us in figures and in enigmas, we have the apostolic authority by which so many enigmas from the books of the Old Testament are solved. So let us hold on to the manner of exposition that we have taken up, with the help of him who urges us to ask, to seek and to knock, in order to explain all those figures of things according to the Catholic faith, both those that pertain to history and those that pertain to prophecy. We do this without prejudice to a better and more careful treatment, whether God should deign to make it known through us or through others. ON GENESIS, AGAINST THE MANICHEANS 2.2.3.

PRONE TO SAVING US. SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN: We ought to evaluate well all the thoughts that come upon us and compare and contrast them to the testimonies from the divinely inspired Scriptures and from the teaching of the spiritual and holy fathers. If we find that our thoughts are in tune with these testimonies and have an equivalent meaning, then we ought to hold fast to them with all our might and confidently carry them out in action. But if they are not in harmony with “the word of truth,”then we ought to put them away from ourselves with great anger, just as it is written, “Be angry and do not sin.” For we must flee the attack which springs up from passionate thoughts, as something defiled and bearing the sting of death. Accordingly, we have need of great sober-mindedness, great zeal, much searching of the divine Scriptures. For the Savior used to say, “Search the Scriptures,” indicating to us their usefulness. Search and hold fast with great precision and faith the things that are said, so that, understanding the will of God accurately from the divine Scriptures, you may be able without stumbling to distinguish the noble from the inferior, and not obey every spirit, nor be carried about by harmful thoughts.Be fully convinced, my brothers, that there is nothing so prone to save us as closely following the divine commands of our Savior. All the same, we need many tears, much fear, much perseverance and continual prayer, that the force of even one of the Master’s sayings might be revealed to us, so that we may know the great mystery hidden in little words and lay down our lives unto death even for a single stroke of a letter of the commandments of God. For the word of God is “like a two-edged sword,” cutting off and separating the soul from every bodily craving and sensation. And not only that, it also becomes like a burning fire, arousing our soul’s eagerness and causing us to despise all of life’s painful experiences, and to consider all joy trial when it comes upon us, and to desire and greet death, which is fearful to other people, as life and that which produces life. DISCOURSE 3.8.

FACULTIES BECOME EXERCISED BY EXPERIENCE OF THE SCRIPTURES. CHRYSOSTOM: He is not speaking now concerning life conduct when he says “to distinguish good from evil,” for this is possible and easy for every person to know, but concerning doctrines that are wholesome and sublime and those that are corrupted and low. The babe knows not how to distinguish bad and good food. Oftentimes, at least, it even puts dirt into its mouth and takes what is hurtful, and it does all things without judgment; but not so the full-grown person. Such babes are they who lightly listen to everything and give up their ears indiscriminately, which seems to me to blame these Hebrews also, as being lightly “carried away” and giving themselves now to these, now to those. This he also hinted near the end of the epistle, saying, “Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings.” This is the meaning of “to distinguish good from evil.” “For the mouth tastes meat, but the soul tries words.”

Let us then learn this lesson. Do not, when you hear that someone is not a heathen or a Jew, straightway believe him to be a Christian, but examine also all the other points; for even Manichaeans and all the heresies have put on this mask in order to deceive the more simple. But if we “have the faculties” of the soul “trained to distinguish good from evil,” we are able to discern such teachers.

But how do our “faculties” become “trained”? By continual hearing and by experience of the Scriptures. For when we set forth the error of those heretics and you hear today and tomorrow and prove that it is not right, you have learned the whole, you have known the whole; and even if you should not comprehend today, you will comprehend tomorrow. “Who have,” he says, their “faculties trained.” You see that it is needful to exercise our hearing by divine studies, so that they may not sound strangely. “Trained,” says he, “to distinguish,” that is, to be skilled. One person says that there is no resurrection, and another looks for none of the things to come; another says there is a different God; another that he has his beginning from Mary. And see at once how they have all fallen away from want of moderation, some by excess, others by defect. ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS 8.7-8.