Hebrews 10

The all-merciful and beneficent Father has bowels [of compassion] towards those that fear Him, and kindly and lovingly bestows His favours upon those who come to Him with a simple mind. Wherefore let us not be double-minded; neither let our soul be lifted up on account of His exceedingly great and glorious gifts. Far from us be that which is written, "Wretched are they who are of a double mind, and of a doubting heart; who say, These things we have heard even in the times of our fathers; but, behold, we have grown old, and none of them has happened unto us." Ye foolish ones! compare yourselves to a tree: take [for instance] the vine. First of all, it sheds its leaves, then it buds, next it puts forth leaves, and then it flowers; after that comes the sour grape, and then follows the ripened fruit. Ye perceive how in a little time the fruit of a tree comes to maturity. Of a truth, soon and suddenly shall His will be accomplished, as the Scripture also bears witness, saying, "Speedily will He come, and will not tarry;" [Hebrews 10:37] and, "The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Holy One, for whom ye look." [Malachi 3:1]

He who honours the bishop shall be honoured by God, even as he that dishonours him shall be punished by God. For if he that rises up against kings is justly held worthy of punishment, inasmuch as he dissolves public order, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who presumes to do anything without the bishop, thus both destroying the [Church's] unity, and throwing its order into confusion? For the priesthood is the very highest point of all good things among men, against which whosoever is mad enough to strive, dishonours not man, but God, and Christ Jesus, the First-born, and the only High Priest, by nature, of the Father.

Stop your ears, therefore, when any one speaks to you at variance with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was descended from David, and was also of Mary; who was truly begotten of God and of the Virgin, but not after the same manner. For indeed God and man are not the same. He truly assumed a body; for "the Word was made flesh," and lived upon earth without sin. For says He, "Which of you convicteth me of sin? " He did in reality both eat and drink. He was crucified and died under Pontius Pilate. He really, and not merely in appearance, was crucified, and died, in the sight of beings in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth. By those in heaven I mean such as are possessed of incorporeal natures; by those on earth, the Jews and Romans, and such persons as were present at that time when the Lord was crucified; and by those under the earth, the multitude that arose along with the Lord. For says the Scripture, "Many bodies of the saints that slept arose," their graves being opened. He descended, indeed, into Hades alone, but He arose accompanied by a multitude; and rent asunder that means of separation which had existed from the beginning of the world, and cast down its partition-wall. He also rose again in three days, the Father raising Him up; and after spending forty days with the apostles, He was received up to the Father, and "sat down at His right hand, expecting till His enemies are placed under His feet." On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathaea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord's day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord's Day contains the resurrection.

And not only now let us seem to believe and give heed, when we are admonished by the elders; but also when we take our departure home, let us remember the commandments of the Lord, and not be allured back by worldly lusts, but let us often and often draw near and try to make progress in the Lord's commands, that we all having the same mind may be gathered together for life.

Those which are rough are those who have known the truth and not remained in it, nor have they been joined to the saints. On this account are they unfit for use.

And you see that not a single one of them repented, although they heard the words which I spake to them, which I enjoined upon you. From such life departed.

And therefore I say to you, that if any one is tempted by the devil, and sins after that great and holy calling in which the Lord has called His people to everlasting life, he has opportunity to repent but once. But if he should sin frequently after this, and then repent, to such a man his repentance will be of no avail; for with difficulty will he live.

Moreover, the prophets indicate in the fullest manner that God stood in no need of their slavish obedience, but that it was upon their own account that He enjoined certain observances in the law. And again, that God needed not their oblation, but [merely demanded it], on account of man himself who offers it, the Lord taught distinctly, as I have pointed out. For when He perceived them neglecting righteousness, and abstaining from the love of God, and imagining that God was to be propitiated by sacrifices and the other typical observances, Samuel did even thus speak to them: "God does not desire whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices, but He will have His voice to be hearkened to. Behold, a ready obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams." David also says: "Sacrifice and oblation Thou didst not desire, but mine ears hast Thou perfected; burnt-offerings also for sin Thou hast not required." He thus teaches them that God desires obedience, which renders them secure, rather than sacrifices and holocausts, which avail them nothing towards righteousness; and [by this declaration] he prophesies the new covenant at the same time.

So a person who has received pardon for sins must refrain from future sin. For in the light of the first and only repentance of sins—sins committed earlier in a person's first, pagan life, I mean, a life led in ignorance—repentance is immediately available to those who are called, and it cleanses the region of the soul from anything discordant to provide a foundation for faith. The Lord, "who knows the heart," and foreknowing all that is going to happen, has a foreknowledge from the very first of human instability and the devil's crooked villainy. [The Lord has knowledge] of how the latter is jealous of the forgiveness of human sins and, by his mischievous calculations to induce them to share in his fall, will introduce other occasions for God's servants to sin.So in his great mercy he gave yet another chance of repentance to those who, despite their faith, fall into some form of disharmony, so that if anyone should, after their calling, fall into temptation and be forced or tricked into sin, they may have one more chance of "a repentance that brings no regret." "For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect of judgment and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries." Continual and repeated repentance for sins is no different from those who have once and for all turned away from faith, except alone in the consciousness of sin. I do not know which is worse: deliberate sin, or, after repentance for sin, offending again.… To repeat an action repented is a deliberate accomplishment of an action already condemned.

And also when discussing with others in order to put them to shame, he does not shrink from saying, "But call to mind the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazing-stock, both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took with joy the spoiling of your goods, knowing that you have a better and enduring substance. Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after doing the will of God, ye may obtain the promise. For yet a little while, and He that cometh will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: and if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

These things I cannot ask from any but the God from whom I know I shall obtain them, both because He alone bestows them and because I have claims upon Him for their gift, as being a servant of His, rendering homage to Him alone, persecuted for His doctrine, offering to Him, at His own requirement, that costly and noble sacrifice of prayer despatched from the chaste body, an unstained soul, a sanctified spirit, not the few grains of incense a farthing buys -tears of an Arabian tree,-not a few drops of wine,-not the blood of some worthless ox to which death is a relief, and, in addition to other offensive things, a polluted conscience, so that one wonders, when your victims are examined by these vile priests, why the examination is not rather of the sacrificers than the sacrifices.

He is seen by Stephen, at his martyrdom by stoning, still sitting at the right hand of God [Acts 7:55] where He will continue to sit, until the Father shall make His enemies His footstool. [Hebrews 10:12-13] He will come again on the clouds of heaven, just as He appeared when He ascended into heaven. [Acts 1:11]

There is, too, that will of God which the Lord accomplished in preaching, in working, in enduring: for if He Himself proclaimed that He did not His own, but the Father's will, without doubt those things which He used to do were the Father's will; unto which things, as unto exemplars, we are now provoked; to preach, to work, to endure even unto death.

But where three are, a church is, albeit they be laics. For each individual lives by his own faith, nor is there exception of persons with God; since it is not hearers of the law who are justified by the Lord, but doers, according to what the apostle withal says.

But the world returned unto sin; in which point baptism would ill be compared to the deluge. And so it is destined to fire; just as the man too is, who after baptism renews his sins: so that this also ought to be accepted as a sign for our admonition.

He who counselled that an injury should be forgotten, was still more likely to counsel the patient endurance of it. But then, when He said, "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay," He thereby teaches that patience calmly waits for the infliction of vengeance.

Is there any risk of a different result in the case of a Lord so just in estimating, so potent in executing? Why, then, do we believe Him a Judge, if not an Avenger too? This He promises that He will be to us in return, saying, "Vengeance belongeth to me, and I will avenge; " that is, Leave patience to me, and I will reward patience.

But if you sin again, the old reproaches return again against you and all the more so, since it is a much greater crime "to spurn the Son of God and to profane the blood of the covenant" than to neglect the law of Moses.

The way which seems right to us for understanding the Scriptures and the investigation of their meaning, we consider to be the following: we are instructed by Scripture itself regarding the ideas that we ought to form of it. In the Proverbs of Solomon we find just such instruction for the examination of holy Scripture. "For your part," he says, "describe these things to yourself in a threefold manner in counsel and knowledge, that you may answer words of truth to those who question you." Each one, then, ought to describe in his own mind, in a threefold manner, the understanding of the divine letters, that is, so that the simple may be edified, so to speak, by the very body of Scripture; for that is what we call the common and historical meaning. But if some have begun to make considerable progress and are able to see something more than that, they may be edified by the very soul of Scripture. And those who are perfect and resemble those of whom the apostle says, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect, but not the wisdom of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are doomed to pass away. But we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, which God has decreed before the ages for our glorification." Such people may be edified by the spiritual law which has a shadow of the good things to come, edified as if by the Spirit. For just as man is said to consist of body, and soul and spirit, so also does sacred Scripture, which has been granted by God's gracious dispensation for the salvation of man.

That the first "sense," which we have called the literal one, is profitable in that it is capable of imparting edification is witnessed by the multitude of those believers who accept the faith genuinely and simply. But of that interpretation which is referred back to the "soul," there is an illustration in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians. He says, "You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the grain." Then he adds, "Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was for our sake, no doubt, that this was written: that the plowman should plough in hope, and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop." And there are numerous interpretations adapted to the multitude which are in circulation, and which edify those who are unable to understand the higher meanings, which have something of the same character. But the interpretation is "spiritual" when one is able to show of what heavenly things the Jews "according to the flesh" served as a copy and a shadow, and of what future blessings the law has a shadow. And, speaking generally, we must investigate, according to the apostolic promise, "the wisdom in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world for the glory" of the righteous, which "none of the rulers of this world knew." And the same apostle says somewhere, after mentioning certain events from Exodus and Numbers, "that these things happened to them as a warning, but that they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come." He also gives hints to show what things these were figures of, when he says, "For they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ."11And in another epistle, when outlining the various matters relating to the tabernacle, he used the words: "You shall make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain." Further, in the epistle to the Galatians, as if reproaching those who think that they are reading the law and yet do not understand it, judging that those do not understand it who do not believe that allegories are contained under what is written, he says: "Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written, Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, the son of the free woman through promise. Now this is an allegory: for these women are the two covenants," and so on. Now we must carefully mark each word spoken by him. He says: "You who desire to be under the law" (not "You that are under the law"), "do you not hear the law?"—"hearing" being understood to mean "understanding" and "knowing."
And in the epistle to the Colossians, briefly epitomizing the meaning of the entire system of the law, he says, "Therefore let no man judge you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath. These are only a shadow of things to come." Further, in the epistle to the Hebrews, when discoursing about those who belong to the circumcision, he writes, "They serve a copy and shadow of heavenly things." Now it is probable, from these illustrations, that those who have once admitted that the apostle is divinely inspired will entertain no doubt with respect to the five books of Moses; but they wish to know if the rest of the history also "happened figuratively." We must note, then, the expression in the epistle to the Romans, "I have left to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal," quoted from the third book of Kings. Paul has understood this to stand for those who are Israelites according to election, for not only are the Gentiles benefited by the coming of Christ, but also some who belong to the divine race.

But if in every detail of this outer covering, that is, the actual history, the sequence of the law had been preserved and its order maintained, we should have understood the Scriptures in an unbroken course and should certainly not have believed that there was anything else buried within them beyond what was indicated at a first glance. Consequently the divine wisdom has arranged for certain stumbling blocks and interruptions of the historical sense to be found therein, by inserting in the midst a number of impossibilities and incongruities. [This was done] in order that the very interruption of the narrative might as it were present a barrier to the reader and lead him to refuse to proceed along the pathway of the ordinary meaning. And so, by shutting us out and debarring us from that, [the writers] might recall us to the beginning of another way, and might thereby bring us, through the entrance of a narrow footpath, to a higher and loftier road and lay open the immense breadth of the divine wisdom.… The aim of the Holy Spirit was chiefly to preserve the connection of the spiritual, meaning, both in the things that are yet to be done and in those which have already been accomplished. [Thus] whenever he found that things which had been done in history could be harmonized with the spiritual meaning, he composed in a single narrative a texture comprising both kinds of meaning, always, however, concealing the secret sense more deeply. But wherever the record of deeds that had been done could not be made to correspond with the sequence of the spiritual truths, he inserted occasionally some deeds of a less probable character or which could not have happened at all, and occasionally some that might have happened but in fact did not. Sometimes he does this by a few words, which in their bodily sense do not appear capable of containing truth and at other times by inserting a large number.This is found to happen particularly in the law, where there are many things that as literal precepts are clearly useful, but also a considerable number in which no principle of utility whatever is disclosed, while sometimes even impossibilities are detected. All this, as we have said, the Holy Spirit supervised, in order that in cases where that which appeared at the first glance could neither be true nor useful we should be led on to search for a truth deeper down and needing more careful examination. And [we] should try to discover in the Scriptures which we believe to be inspired by God a meaning worthy of God.
And not only did the Holy Spirit supervise the writings which were previous to the coming of Christ, but because he is one and the same Spirit and proceeds from the one God, he has acted similarly in regard to the Gospels and the writings of the apostles. For even the narratives that he inspired through them were not woven together without the spell of that wisdom of his, the nature of which we explained above. And so it happens that even in them the Spirit has mingled not a few things by which the historical order of the narrative is interrupted and broken, with the object of turning and calling the attention of the reader, by the impossibility of the literal sense, to an examination of the inner meaning.

It is a great thing to have passed from the law to the shadow of Christ. For Christ is the way, Christ is truth and life; and when we come under his shadow we have the shade of the way, are overshadowed by the truth and live in life's shadow. And whereas we have only glimpses of knowledge, like a confused reflection in a mirror, if we follow this way we shall eventually come to see face to face what at first we saw confusedly as a shadow.

The law, then, and everything in the law, being inspired, as the apostle says, until the time of amendment, is like those people whose job it is to make statues and cast them in metal. Before they tackle the statue itself, the one they are going to cast in bronze, silver or gold, they first make a clay model to show what they are aiming at. The model is a necessity, but only until the real statue is finished. The model is made for the sake of the statue, and when the statue is ready the sculptor has no further use for the model. Well, it is rather like that with the law and the prophets. The things written in the law and the prophets were meant as types or figures of things to come. But now the artist himself has come, the author of it all, and he has transferred the law, which had only the shadow of the good things to come, to the very image of the things.

We must also know that just as there is a "law" which contains a "shadow of the good things to come," which have been revealed by the law proclaimed in accordance with truth, so also the gospel, which is thought to be understood by all who read it, teaches a shadow of the mysteries of Christ.And that which John calls an eternal gospel, which would properly be called a spiritual gospel, clearly presents both the mysteries presented by Christ's words and the things of which his acts were symbols, to those who consider "all things face to face" concerning the son of God himself.

Paul distinguishes three levels in the law: the shadow, the image and the truth.… The law contains the shadow of future good things but not the very image of the realities, and this clearly shows that the image of the realities is different from what is designated as the shadow of the law. If anyone can describe the ceremonies of the Jewish worship, let him view the temple as not having had the image of realities but only their shadow. Let him see the altar as a mere shadow, and the rams and the calves brought to sacrifice also as a shadow. According to the Scripture, "our days on the earth are like a shadow."If someone wishes to go beyond this shadow, let him come to the image of the realities, and let him behold the coming of Christ made flesh. Let him contemplate him in his role as high priest, offering victims to the Father henceforth and in the future; let him understand that all this is an image of spiritual realities and that heavenly functions are denoted by corporeal functions. We employ the term image to refer to that which is intelligible at present and which human nature can observe.
If you can penetrate the heavens with your understanding and your mind and follow Jesus, who has penetrated the heavens and who stands as our intercessor before the face of God, you will find there those good things whose shadow the law contained and whose image Christ revealed through his incarnation. Those good things … have been prepared for the blessed, which neither eye has seen nor ear heard, and which no person has ever even imagined or thought of.

According to the law, "the adulterer and the adulteress were put to death." They could not say, "We seek repentance and we pray for mercy." There was no place for tears, and no opportunity was granted for any correction, but in every way it was necessary for those who had contravened the law to be punished. This was observed in certain individual offenses for which the death penalty was ascribed. But among Christians, if adultery has been committed, the precept is not that "the adulterer and adulteress" be punished by the destruction of the body. No power was given to episcopal authority to sentence an adulterer to immediate death, as had happened earlier according to the levitical law who gave this power to elders. What does this mean? That while the law of Moses takes adultery seriously enough to punish it unmercifully, the gospel of Christ through gentleness frees the adulterer to go from bad to worse? It is not so. For this reason, we brought forth the word of Paul, saying above, "How much worse punishment will be deserved by one who has spurned the Son of God," etc. Hear, therefore, how neither was the law cruel then, nor does the gospel now appear dissolute because of the abundance of mercy, but in both instances the benevolence of God is held in a different dispensation.

First, then, they seized an old man of the name of Metras, and commanded him to utter words of impiety; and as he refused, they beat his body with clubs, and lacerated his face and eyes with sharp reeds, and then dragged him off to the suburbs and stoned him there. Next they carried off a woman named Quinta, who was a believer, to an idol temple, and compelled her to worship the idol; and when she turned away from it, and showed how she detested it, they bound her feet and dragged her through the whole city along the rough stone-paved streets, knocking her at the same time against the millstones, and scourging her, until they brought her to the same place, and stoned her also there. Then with one impulse they all rushed upon the houses of the God-fearing, and whatever pious persons any of them knew individually as neighbours, after these they hurried and bore them with them, and robbed and plundered them, setting aside the more valuable portions of their property for themselves, and scattering about the commoner articles, and such as were made of wood, and burning them on the roads, so that they made these parts present the spectacle of a city taken by the enemy. The brethren, however, simply gave way and withdrew, and, like those to whom Paul bears witness, they took the spoiling of their goods with joy. And I know not that any of them-except possibly some solitary individual who may have chanced to fall into their hands-thus far has denied the Lord.

If the law, according to the apostle, is spiritual, containing the images "of future good things"

Is the Spirit of truth, the Paraclete, of whom the illuminated

Moreover, he must also diligently take care, lest by any fault of his he should at any time make an enemy; and if any one should be so shameless as to inflict injury on a good and just man, he must bear it with calmness and moderation, and not take upon himself his revenge, but reserve it for the judgment of God.

And here it is clearly foretold that that one will come whom prophecy says will come. Who could this be but he who is referred to in the words, "Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord, the Lord God also has shone upon us"? With which also Zechariah agrees, when he says, "Behold a man, the Dawn is his name, and he shall rise from below." The same prophet too, noting the time, adds, "At eventide it shall be light. If he delays, wait for him." Instead of this, Aquila reads, "If he tarry expect him, for he that comes will come and will not tarry." And the epistle to the Hebrews has this in mind.… But note how clearly the epistle arranges what was obscure in the prophetic writing, because of the inversion of the clauses. For the prophecy says, "He that comes will come and will not tarry," and then adds, "If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." Without what follows, this addition would seem absurd. For how could it be said of the just that God takes no pleasure in him? But the placing side by side of the divided clauses by a change in the arrangement of them preserves the sense. For after "Yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry," it adds next, "but my righteous one shall live by faith." Then what was first in the prophecy it places second, "and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."For as Scripture has already once foretold through the prophecy that the light promised to all nations by Christ's coming "shall rise late and in the evening, and shall not deceive" (for so Aquila interprets instead of "come to nothing"), it next exhorts to patience, because the coming of the subject of the prophecy is to be late and in the evening, as seen in the words, "If he tarry await him, or if he delay expect him, for he that comes will come and will not tarry." Thus he encourages the hearer to trust the prediction, saying that he that trusts it, shown by his very faith to be just, shall live the life according to God. On the other hand, he that does not trust, drawing back through lack of boldness, and putting no faith in the words "My soul has no pleasure in him." So, then, if we follow this course and place the first clause last and the last first, we shall preserve the sense of the passage, putting "The just shall live by faith" after "For he that comes will come and will not tarry," by transposing the clauses and adding to this, "If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." And Aquila agrees with this interpretation, saying, "If he delay, expect him, for he that comes will come and will not tarry. Lo, if he be sluggish, my soul is not true in him, and the just shall live by faith."

If any of our own people inquire, not from love of debate but from love of learning, why he suffered death in no other way save on the cross, let them also be told that no other way than this was good for us, and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he came himself to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have "become a curse" unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross. For this is exactly what is written: "Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree." Again, if the Lord's death is the ransom of all, and by his death "the dividing wall of hostility" is broken down, and the calling of the nations is brought about, how would he have called us to him had he not been crucified? For it is only on the cross that a man dies with his hands spread out. Thus it was fitting for the Lord to bear this also and to spread out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles and unite both in himself. For this is what he himself has said, signifying by what manner of death he was ransom to all: "I, when I am lifted up," he says, "will draw all men to myself." For the devil, the enemy of our race, having fallen from heaven, wanders about our lower atmosphere and there, bearing rule over his fellow spirits, as the devil's peers in disobedience, not only works illusions by their means in them that are deceived but tries to hinder them that are going up. About this the apostle says, "Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience," while the Lord came to cast down the devil and clear the air and prepare the way for us up into heaven, as said the apostle, "Through the curtain, that is to say, his flesh"—and this must be by death. Well, by what other kind of death could this have come to pass than by one which took place in the air, I mean, the cross? For only he that is perfected on the cross dies in the air. Therefore, it was quite fitting that the Lord suffered this death. For thus being lifted up, he cleared the air of the malignity both of the devil and of demons of all kinds, as he says, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven," and made a new opening of the way up into heaven, as he says once more, "Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors!" For it was not the Word himself that needed an opening of the gates, being Lord of all; nor were any of his works closed to their maker; but it was we who needed it, whom he carried up by his own body. For as he offered it to death on behalf of all, so by it he once more made ready the way up into the heavens.

If they had become perfect, their priesthood would have ceased, because they should have abstained from their sacrifices. And if their conscience was cleansed from sin, at the same time they would have been cleansed from the impurity of flesh. But "in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin" every day. "For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin." Therefore our Lord, who came to this world, said through the mouth of David, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me," so that the victims of sacrifices might be abolished through his sacrifice.

Now "exposures to abuse and persecutions" they had to endure, because the law imposed on them the requirement to reveal their sins over their offerings. However, these exposures to abuse discouraged people from revealing their sins. These difficulties, he says, that you had in revealing your sins, and the shames that prevented you from revealing them, these fumes of the consciousness, which were like fierce pains and great sufferings of bitterness—all these have been taken away from you through the baptism of the waters and with the single expiation that you received.

And who have "outraged the Spirit of grace," which is in us? These are the people who consider the gospel to be equal to the law of Moses.

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."

Then, after he discouraged them from sinning, Paul returned to talk to them about the first topic, that is, that of the joy which was at the beginning of their discipleship. "Recall," he says, "the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings."

"Therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the sanctuary," which is faith. In his blood he renewed for us the way of faith that the former priests had already. But since it had become obsolete among them, he renewed it for us at that time "through the curtain, that is, through his flesh."

Each one should conciliate, as far as he is able, anyone at variance with him. He should not hold past wrongs against the repentant sinner but from his heart should pardon him. He who says that he repents of his sin should not only feel remorse for the sin which he has committed but should also bring forth fruits befitting repentance. If he who has been corrected for his first sins and has been deemed worthy of pardon again falls, he prepares for himself a more wrathful judgment.

Therefore, God has opened an entrance to all the sons of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in order that they may be in the faith of profession towards Him.

For since a person's nature is twofold, compounded of soul and body, the purification is also twofold, incorporeal for the incorporeal part, bodily for the body. For as the water purifies the body, so the Spirit seals the soul, that having our hearts sprinkled and our bodies washed with clean water, we may draw near to God. Therefore, when about to enter the water, do not regard it as mere water, but look for its saving power by the efficacy of the Holy Spirit, for without both you cannot be made perfect. It is not I who say this, but the Lord Jesus, who has the power in this matter, says, "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Neither does he who is baptized but has not been deemed worthy of the Spirit possess perfect grace; nor will one who acts virtuously, but does not receive the seal by water, enter into the kingdom of heaven. This may appear a bold saying, but it is not mine, for it was Jesus who pronounced it.

Taking a hint from what has been said by Paul, who partially uncovered the mystery of these things, we say that Moses was earlier instructed by a type in the mystery of the tabernacle that encompasses the universe. This tabernacle would be "Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God," who in his own nature was not made with hands, yet capable of being made when it became necessary for this tabernacle to be erected among us. Thus, the same tabernacle is in a way both unfashioned and fashioned, uncreated in preexistence but created in having received this material composition.

"Let us draw near" (he says) "with a true heart." To what should we "draw near"? To the holy things, the faith, the spiritual service. "With a true heart, in full assurance of faith," since nothing is seen; neither the priest henceforth, nor the sacrifice, nor the altar. And yet neither was that priest visible, but stood within, and they all without, the whole people. But here not only has this taken place, that the priest has entered into the holy of holies, but that we also enter in. Therefore he says, "in full assurance of faith." For it is possible for the doubter to believe in one way, as there are even now many who say, that of some there is a resurrection and of others not. But this is not faith. "In full assurance of faith" (he says); for we ought to believe as concerning things that we see, nay, even much more; for "here" it is possible to be deceived in the things that are seen, but there not: "here" we trust to the senses, but there to the Spirit.

"Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." He shows that not faith only, but a virtuous life also is required, and the consciousness to ourselves of nothing evil. Since the holy of holies does not receive "with full assurance" those who are not thus disposed. For they are holy, and the holy of holies; but here no profane person enters. They were sprinkled as to the body, we as to the conscience, so that we may even now be sprinkled over with virtue itself. "And having our body washed with pure water." Here he speaks of the Washing, which no longer cleanses the bodies, but the soul.

What is "let us draw near with a true heart"? That is, without hypocrisy; for "woe be to a fearful heart, and faint hands": let there be (he means) no falsehood among us; let us not say one thing and think another; for this is falsehood; neither let us be fainthearted, for this is not [a mark] of a "true heart." Faintheartedness comes from not believing. But how shall this be? If we fully assure ourselves through faith.

"Having our hearts sprinkled": why did he not say "having been purified"? Because he wished to point out the difference of the sprinklings: the one he says is of God, the other our own. For the washing and sprinkling the conscience is of God; but "the drawing near with" truth and "in full assurance of faith" is our own.

What is "and having our bodies washed with pure water"? With water which makes pure; or which has no blood.

Next he adds testimony, saying, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God." "For" it is written: "Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people." "Let us fall," it is said, "into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men." (Ecclus. ii. 18.) But if ye repent not, ye shall "fall into the hands of" God: that is fearful: it is nothing, to "fall into the hands of men." When, he means, we see any man punished here, let us not be terrified at the things present, but shudder at the things to come. "For according to His mercy, so is His wrath." And, "His indignation will rest upon sinners." (Ecclus. v. 6.)

At the same time too he hints at something else. For "Vengeance belongeth unto Me," he says, "I will recompense." This is said in regard to their enemies, who are doing evil, not to those who are suffering evil. Here he is consoling them too, all but saying, God abideth for ever and liveth, so that even if they receive not their reward now, they will receive it hereafter. They ought to groan, not we: for we indeed shall fall into their hands, but they into the hands of God. For neither is it the sufferer who suffers the ill, but he that does it; nor is it he who receives a benefit that is benefited, but the benefactor.

If then under the Old Covenant, when the law of Moses is set at nought, there is so great punishment, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant an unholy [a common] thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

And how does a man "tread under foot the Son of God"? When partaking of Him in the mysteries (he would say) he has wrought sin, has he not trodden Him under foot? Has he not despised Him? For just as we make no account of those who are trodden under foot so also, they who sin have made no account of Christ; and so they have sinned. Thou art become the Body of Christ, and givest thou thyself to the devil, so that he treads thee under foot.

"And accounted the blood a common thing," he says. What is "common"? It is "unclean," or the having nothing beyond other things.

"And done despite unto the Spirit of grace." For he that accepts not a benefit, does despite to the benefactor. He made thee a son: and thou wishest to become a slave. He came to dwell with thee, and thou bringest in wicked imaginations to Him. Christ wished to stay with thee: and thou treadest Him down by surfeiting, by drunkenness.

Let us listen, whoever partake of the mysteries unworthily: let us listen, whoever approach that Table unworthily. "Give not" (He says) "that which is holy unto the dogs, lest in time they trample them under their feet" (Matt. vii. 6), that is, lest they despise, lest they repudiate them. Yet he did not say this, but what was more fearful than this. For he constrains their souls by what is fearful. For this also is adapted to convert, no less than consolation. And at the same time he shows both the difference, and the chastisement, and sets forth the judgment upon them, as though it were an evident matter. "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy?" Here also he appears to me to hint at the mysteries.

"And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifice." To stand therefore is a sign of ministering; accordingly to sit, is a sign of being ministered unto. "But this man after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool." "For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." He had said that those sacrifices are not offered; he reasoned from what is written, and from what is not written; moreover also he put forward the prophetic word which says, "sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not." He had said that He had forgiven their sins. Again this also He proves from the testimony of what is written, for "the Holy Ghost" (he says) "is a witness to us: for after that He had said, This is the covenant, that I will make with them, after those days, saith the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin." So then He forgave their sins, when He gave the Covenant, and He gave the Covenant by sacrifice. If therefore He forgave the sins through the one sacrifice, there is no longer need of a second.

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." Having shown the difference of the High Priest, and of the sacrifices, and of the tabernacle, and of the Covenant, and of the promise, and that the difference is great, since those are temporal, but these eternal, those "near to vanishing away," these permanent, those powerless, these perfect, those figures, these reality. For (he says) "not according to the law of a carnal commandment, but according to the power of an endless life." And "Thou art a Priest for ever." Behold the continuance of the Priest. And concerning the Covenant, That (he says) is old (for "that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away"), but this is new; and has remission of sins, while that has nothing of the kind: for (he says) "the Law made nothing perfect." And again, "sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not." That is made with hands, while this is "not made with hands": that "has the blood of goats," this of the Lord; that has the Priest "standing," this "sitting." Since therefore all those are inferior and these greater, therefore he says, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness."

"Boldness": from whence? As sins (he means) produce shame, so the having all things forgiven us, and being made fellow-heirs, and enjoying so great Love, produces boldness.

"For the entrance into the holiest." What does he mean here by "entrance"? Heaven, and the access to spiritual things.

"For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshipers once purged, should have had no more conscience of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year."

What then? do not we offer every day? We offer indeed, but making a remembrance of His death, and this remembrance is one and not many. How is it one, and not many? Inasmuch as that Sacrifice was once for all offered, and carried into the Holy of Holies. This is a figure of that sacrifice and this remembrance of that. For we always offer the same, not one sheep now and to-morrow another, but always the same thing: so that the sacrifice is one. And yet by this reasoning, since the offering is made in many places, are there many Christs? but Christ is one everywhere, being complete here and complete there also, one Body. As then while offered in many places, He is one body and not many bodies; so also He is one sacrifice. He is our High Priest, who offered the sacrifice that cleanses us. That we offer now also, which was then offered, which cannot be exhausted. This is done in remembrance of what was then done. For (saith He) "do this in remembrance of Me." (Luke xxii. 19.) It is not another sacrifice, as the High Priest, but we offer always the same, or rather we perform a remembrance of a Sacrifice.

"He sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting." Why the delay? "that His enemies be put under His feet. For by one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." But perhaps some one might say; Wherefore did He not put them under at once? For the sake of the faithful who should afterwards be brought forth and born. Whence then does it appear that they shall be put under? By the saying "He sat down." He called to mind again that testimony which saith, "until I put the enemies under His feet." But His enemies are the Jews. Then since he had said, "Till His enemies be put under His feet," and they were vehemently urgent, therefore he introduces all his discourse concerning faith after this. But who are the enemies? All unbelievers: the daemons. And intimating the greatness of their subjection, he said not "are subjected," but "are put under His feet."

"For ye have need of patience," not of any addition to your labors, that ye may continue in the same state, that ye may not cast away what has been put into your hands. Ye need nothing else, but so to stand as ye have stood, that when ye come to the end, ye may receive the promise.

"For" (he says) "ye have need of patience, that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise." Ye have need of one thing only, to bear with the delay; not that ye should fight again. Ye are at the very crown (he means); ye have borne all the combats of bonds, of afflictions; your goods have been spoiled. What then? Henceforward ye are standing to be crowned: endure this only, the delay of the crown. O the greatness of the consolation! It is as if one should speak to an athlete who had overthrown all, and had no antagonist, and then was to be crowned, and yet endured not that time, during which the president of the games comes, and places the crown upon him; and he impatient, should wish to go out, and escape as though he could not bear the thirst and the heat.

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works." He knew that this also arises from "gathering together." For as "iron sharpeneth iron," so also association increases love. For if a stone rubbed against a stone sends forth fire, how much more soul mingled with soul! But not unto emulation (he says) but "unto the sharpening of love." What is "unto the sharpening of love"? Unto the loving and being loved more. "And of good works"; that so they might acquire zeal. For if doing has greater force for instruction than speaking, ye also have in your number many teachers, who effect this by their deeds.

"But let us consider one another to provoke unto love." What is, "let us consider one another"? For instance if any be virtuous, let us imitate him, let us look on him so as to love and to be loved. For from Love good works proceed. For the assembling is a great good: since it makes love more warm; and out of love all good things arise. For nothing is good which is not done through love.

"Which He hath inaugurated," that is, which He prepared, and which He began; for the beginning of using is thenceforth called the inaugurating; which He prepared (he means) and by which He Himself passed.

"A new and living way." Here He expresses "the full assurance of hope." "New," he says. He is anxious to show that we have all things greater; since now the gates of Heaven have been opened, which was not done even for Abraham. "A new and living way," he says, for the first was a way of death, leading to Hades, but this of life. And yet he did not say, "of life," but called it "living," (the ordinances, that is,) that which abideth.

"Through the veil" (he says) "of His flesh." For this flesh first cut that way, by this He inaugurated it [the way] by which He walked. And with good reason did he call [the flesh] "a veil." For when it was lifted up on high, then the things in heaven appeared.

"For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins."

So that their being many, and offered "continually," proves that they (the worshipers) were never made clean. For as a medicine, when it is powerful and productive of health, and able to remove the disease entirely, effects all after one application; as, therefore, if being once applied it accomplishes the whole, it proves its own strength in being no more applied, and this is its business, to be no more applied; whereas if it is applied continually, this is a plain proof of its not having strength.

What is "To do Thy will"? To give up, Myself, He means: This is the will of God. "By which Will we are sanctified." Or he even means something still further, that the sacrifices do not make men clean, but the Will of God. Therefore to offer sacrifice is not the will of God.

And why dost thou wonder that it is not the will of God now, when it was not His will even from the beginning? For "who," saith He, "hath required this at your hands?" (Isa. i. 12.)

How then did He Himself enjoin it? In condescension. For as Paul says, "I would that all men were even as I myself" (1 Cor. vii. 7), in respect of continence, and again says, "I will that the younger women marry, bear children" (1 Tim. v. 14); and lays down two wills, yet the two are not his own, although he commands; but the one indeed is his own, and therefore he lays it down without reasons; while the other is not his own, though he wishes it, and therefore it is added with a reason. For having previously accused them, because "they had waxed wanton against Christ" (1 Tim. v. 11), he then says, "I will that the younger women marry, bear children." (1 Tim. v. 14.) So in this place also it was not His leading will that the sacrifices should be offered. For, as He says, "I wish not the death of the sinner, as that he should turn unto [Me] and live" (Ezek. xxxiii. 11): and in another place He says that He not only wished, but even desired this: and yet these are contrary to each other: for intense wishing is desire. How then dost Thou "not wish"? how dost Thou in another place "desire," which is a sign of vehement wishing? So is it in this case also.

"By the which will we are sanctified," he says. How sanctified? "by the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all."

He then also hinting this, what does he say? "Yet a little while and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." For lest they should say, And when will He come? He comforts them from the Scriptures. For thus also when he says in another place, "Now is our salvation nearer," he comforts them because the remaining time is short. And this he says not of himself but from the Scriptures. But if from that time it was said, "Yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry," it is plain that now He is nearer. Wherefore also waiting is no small reward.

"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day approaching."

What is, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together"? He knew that much strength arises from being together and assembling together. "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them"; and again, "That they may be One, as we also are"; and, "They had all one heart and one soul." And not this only, but also because love is increased by the gathering of ourselves together; and love being increased, of necessity the things of God must follow also. "And earnest prayer was made by the people." "As the manner of some is." Here he not only exhorted, but also blamed them.

Then he adds the perfect thing, love. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together," which some (he says) do, and divide the assemblies. For "a brother helped by a brother is as a strong city."

Next he adds also the reason of the threat, that it is on good grounds, that it is just; for this contributes to confidence, when we show that it is just.

For, he says, "He that hath despised Moses' law dies without mercy, under two or three witnesses." "Without mercy," he says; so that there is no pardon, no pity there although the law is of Moses; for he ordained the most of it.

What is "under two or three"? If two or three bore witness, he means, they immediately suffered punishment.

"Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." He had said that those sacrifices are not offered; he reasoned from what is written, and from what is not written; moreover also he put forward the prophetic word which says, "sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not." He had said that He had forgiven their sins. Again this also He proves from the testimony of what is written, for "the Holy Ghost" (he says) "is a witness to us: for after that He had said, This is the covenant, that I will make with them, after those days, saith the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin." So then He forgave their sins, when He gave the Covenant, and He gave the Covenant by sacrifice. If therefore He forgave the sins through the one sacrifice, there is no longer need of a second.

"For" (he says) "the Law having a shadow of the good things to come not the very image of the things"; i.e. not the very reality. For as in painting, so long as one only draws the outlines, it is a sort of "shadow" but when one has added the bright paints and laid in the colors, then it becomes "an image." Something of this kind also was the Law.

"For" (he says) "the Law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things," i.e. of the sacrifice, of the remission: "can never by those sacrifices with which they offered continually make the comers thereunto perfect."

Thou seest again the superabundance of his proofs? This sacrifice (he says) is one; whereas the others were many: therefore they had no strength, because they were many. For, tell me, what need of many, if one had been sufficient? so that their being many, and offered "continually," proves that they (the worshipers) were never made clean. For as a medicine, when it is powerful and productive of health, and able to remove the disease entirely, effects all after one application; as, therefore, if being once applied it accomplishes the whole, it proves its own strength in being no more applied, and this is its business, to be no more applied; whereas if it is applied continually, this is a plain proof of its not having strength. For it is the excellence of a medicine to be applied once, and not often. So is it in this case also. Why forsooth are they continually cured with the "same sacrifices"? For if they were set free from all their sins, the sacrifices would not have gone on being offered every day. For they had been appointed to be continually offered in behalf of the whole people, both in the evening and in the day. So that there was an arraignment of sins, and not a release from sins; an arraignment of weakness, not an exhibition of strength. For because the first had no strength, another also was offered: and since this effected nothing, again another; so that it was an evidence of sins. The "offering" indeed then, was an evidence of sins, the "continually," an evidence of weakness. But with regard to Christ, it was the contrary: He was "once offered." The types therefore contain the figure only, not the power; just as in images, the image has the figure of the man, not the power. So that the reality and the type have somewhat in common with one another. For the figure exists equally in both, but not the power. So too also is it in respect of Heaven and of the tabernacle, for the figure was equal: for there was the Holy of Holies, but the power and the other things were not the same.

What is "To do Thy will"? To give up, Myself, He means: This is the will of God. "By which Will we are sanctified." Or he even means something still further, that the sacrifices do not make men clean, but the Will of God. Therefore to offer sacrifice is not the will of God.

And why dost thou wonder that it is not the will of God now, when it was not His will even from the beginning? For "who," saith He, "hath required this at your hands?"

How then did He Himself enjoin it? In condescension. For as Paul says, "I would that all men were even as I myself" in respect of continence, and again says, "I will that the younger women marry, bear children"; and lays down two wills, yet the two are not his own, although he commands; but the one indeed is his own, and therefore he lays it down without reasons; while the other is not his own, though he wishes it, and therefore it is added with a reason. For having previously accused them, because "they had waxed wanton against Christ," he then says, "I will that the younger women marry, bear children." So in this place also it was not His leading will that the sacrifices should be offered. For, as He says, "I wish not the death of the sinner, as that he should turn unto Me and live": and in another place He says that He not only wished, but even desired this: and yet these are contrary to each other: for intense wishing is desire. How then dost Thou "not wish"? how dost Thou in another place "desire," which is a sign of vehement wishing? So is it in this case also.

"For by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us." He had said that those sacrifices are not offered; he reasoned from what is written, and from what is not written; moreover also he put forward the prophetic word which says, "sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not." He had said that He had forgiven their sins. Again this also He proves from the testimony of what is written, for "the Holy Ghost" (he says) "is a witness to us: for after that He had said," "This is the covenant, that I will make with them, after those days, saith the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin." So then He forgave their sins, when He gave the Covenant, and He gave the Covenant by sacrifice. If therefore He forgave the sins through the one sacrifice, there is no longer need of a second.

"Now the just" (he says) "shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him." This is a great encouragement when one shows that they have succeeded in the whole matter and are losing it through a little indolence.

In the next place, having praised them, he says, "Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward." What meanest thou? He did not say, "ye have cast it away, and recover it": but, which tended more to strengthen them, "ye have it," he says. For to recover again that which has been cast away, requires more labor: but not to lose that which is held fast does not. But to the Galatians he says the very opposite: "My children of whom I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you"; and with reason; for they were more supine, whence they needed a sharper word; but these were more faint-hearted, so that they rather needed what was more soothing.

"Cast not away therefore" (he says) "your confidence," so that they were in great confidence towards God. "Which hath" (he says) "great recompense of reward." "And when shall we receive them (some one might say)? Behold! All things on our part have been done." Therefore he anticipated them on their own supposition, saying in effect, If ye know that ye have in heaven a better substance, seek nothing here.

Then he also enumerates them particularly, amplifying his discourse, and multiplying his praise. How? "Partly" (he says) "whilst ye were made a gazing-stock by reproaches and afflictions"; for reproach is a great thing, and calculated to pervert the soul, and to darken the judgment. For hear what the prophet says: "While they daily say unto me, Where is thy God?" And again, "If the enemy had reproached me, I would have borne it." For since the human race is exceedingly vainglorious, therefore it is easily overcome by this.

And he did not simply say "by reproaches," but that even with great intensity, being "made a gazing-stock." For when a person is reproached alone, it is indeed painful, but far more so when in presence of all. For tell me how great the evil was when men who had left the meanness of Judaism, and gone over, as it were, to the best course of life, and despised the customs of their fathers, were ill treated by their own people, and had no help.

I cannot say (he says) that ye suffered these things indeed and were grieved, but ye even rejoiced exceedingly. And this he expressed by saying, "Whilst ye became companions of them that were so used," and he brings forward the Apostles themselves. Not only (he means) were ye not ashamed of your own sufferings, but ye even shared with others who were suffering the same things. This too is the language of one who is encouraging them. He said not, "Bear my afflictions, share with me," but respect your own.

Trees which have been planted, and have had the advantage of all other care, and the hands and the labors of the cultivator, and yet yield no return for the labors, are pulled up by the roots, and handed over to the fire. So somewhat of this kind takes place also in the case of our Illumination [Baptism]. For when Christ has planted us, and we have enjoyed the watering of the Spirit, and then show no fruit; fire, even that of Hell, awaits us, and flame unquenchable.

Paul therefore having exhorted them to love and to bringing forth the fruit of good works, and having urged them from the kindlier considerations. (What are these? That we have an entrance into the holy of holies, "the new way which He hath inaugurated for us."-c. x. 20), does the same again from the more gloomy ones, speaking thus. For having said, "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (c. x. 25), this being sufficient for consolation, he added, "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth." There is need, he means, of good works, yea, very great need, "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins." Thou wast cleansed; thou wast set free from the charges against thee, thou hast become a son. If then thou return to thy former vomit, there awaits thee on the other hand excommunication and fire and whatever such things there are. For there is no second sacrifice.

At this place we are again assailed by those who take away repentance [the Novatians], and by those who delay to come to baptism. The one saying, that it is not safe for them to come to baptism, since there is no second remission: And the other asserting that it is not safe to impart the mysteries [the Holy Eucharist] to those who have sinned, if there is no second remission.

What shall we say then to them both? That he does not take away repentance, nor the propitiation through repentance, nor does he thrust away and cast down with despair the fallen. He is not thus an enemy of our salvation; but what? He takes away the second Washing. For he did not say, no more is there repentance, or no more is there remission, but "no more" is there a "sacrifice," that is, there is no more a second Cross. For this is what he means by sacrifice. "For by one sacrifice," he says, "He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified" (c. x. 14); not like the Jewish rites. For this reason he has treated so much throughout concerning the Sacrifice, that it is one, even one; not wishing to show this only, that herein it differed from the Jewish rites, but also to make men more steadfast, so that they might no longer expect another sacrifice according to the Jewish law.

"For," saith he, "if we sin willfully." See how he is disposed to pardon. He says, "if we sin willfully," so that there is pardon for those who sin not willfully. "After the knowledge of the truth": He either means, of Christ, or of all doctrines. "There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins," but what? "A certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." By "Adversaries" he means not the unbelievers, but those also who do what is against virtue; or else he means that the same fire shall receive them of the household also, which receives "the adversaries." Then expressing its devouring nature, he says, as if giving it life, "fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries." For as a wild beast when irritated and very fierce and savage, would not rest till it could lay hold on some one and eat him up; so also that fire, like one goaded by indignation, whatever it can lay hold of does not let go, but devours and tears it to pieces.

In what has gone before he had shown that the sacrifices were unavailing for perfect purification, and were a type, and greatly defective. Since then there was this objection to his argument, If they are types, how is it that, after the truth is come, they have not ceased, nor given place, but are still performed? he here accordingly labors at this very point, showing that they are no longer performed, even as a figure, for God does not accept them. And this again he shows not from the New Testament, but from the prophets, bringing forward from times of old the strongest testimony, that it comes to an end, and ceases, and that they do all in vain, "alway resisting the Holy Ghost."

And he shows over and above that they cease not now only, but at the very coming of the Messiah, nay rather, even before His coming: and how it was that Christ did not abolish them at the last, but they were abolished first, and then He came; first they were made to cease, and then He appeared. That they might not say, Even without this sacrifice, and by means of those, we could have been well pleasing unto God, He waited for these sacrifices to be convicted of weakness, and then He appeared; for (He says) "sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not." Hereby He took all away; and having spoken generally, He says also particularly, "In burnt-offerings and sacrifice for sin Thou hadst no pleasure." But "the offering" was everything except the sacrifice. "Then said I, Lo! I come." Of whom was this spoken? of none other than the Christ.

Here he does not blame those who offer, showing that it is not because of their wickednesses that He does not accept them, as He says elsewhere, but because the thing itself has been convicted for the future and shown to have no strength, nor any suitableness to the times. What then has this to do with the "sacrifices" being offered "oftentimes"? Not only from their being "oftentimes" offered (he means) is it manifest that they are weak, and that they effected nothing; but also from God's not accepting them, as being unprofitable and useless. And in another place it is said, "If Thou hadst desired sacrifice I would have given it." Therefore by this also he makes it plain that He does not desire it. Therefore sacrifices are not God's will, but the abolition of sacrifices. Wherefore they sacrifice contrary to His will.

"Above when He said, Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt-offerings, and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the Law, then He said, Lo! I come to do Thy will, O God! He taketh away the first that He may establish the second."

So that henceforward this is done in vain, although it is done; for what need is there of medicines where there are no wounds? On this account He ordained offerings "continually," because of their want of power, and that a remembrance of sins might be made.

"Now the just" (he says) "shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him." This is a great encouragement when one shows that they have succeeded in the whole matter and are losing it through a little indolence. "But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."

"Ye had compassion on them that were in bonds." Thou seest that he is speaking concerning himself and the rest who were in prison. Thus ye did not account "bonds" to be bonds: but as noble wrestlers so stood ye: for not only ye needed no consolation in your own distresses, but even became a consolation to others.

And "ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods." O! what "full assurance of faith"! Then he also sets forth the motive, not only consoling them for their struggles, but also that they might not be shaken from the Faith. When ye saw your property plundered (he means) ye endured; for already ye saw Him who is invisible, as visible: which was the effect of genuine faith, and ye showed it forth by your deeds themselves.

Well then, the plundering was perhaps from the force of the plunderers, and no man could prevent it; so that as yet it is not clear, that ye endured the plundering for the faith's sake. (Although this too is clear. For it was in your power if you chose, not to be plundered, by not believing.) But ye did what is far greater than this; the enduring such things even "with joy"; which was altogether apostolical, and worthy of those noble souls, who rejoiced when scourged. For, it says, "they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name." But he that endures "with joy," shows that he has some reward, and that the affair is no loss but a gain.

Moreover the expression "ye took" shows their willing endurance, because, he means, ye chose and accepted.

"Knowing" (he says) "that ye have for yourselves in heaven a better and an enduring substance"; instead of saying, firm, not perishing like this.

"Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me. In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo! I come, in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Thy will, O God."

The types therefore contain the figure only, not the power; just as in images, the image has the figure of the man, not the power. So that the reality and the type have somewhat in common with one another. For the figure exists equally in both, but not the power.

Do you see that the law takes its force from the place? And, since the city is gone, there can no longer be a priesthood. There can be no emperor if there are no armies, no crown, no purple robe, none of the other things that weld together an empire. So, too, there can be no priesthood if sacrifice has been destroyed, if offerings are forbidden, if the sanctuary has been trampled into the dust, if everything that constituted it has disappeared. For the priesthood depended on all these things.…That great and wonderful prophet, David … made it clear that the one kind of sacrifice would be abolished and another brought in to take its place when he said, "You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be numbered." See how wise the prophet is. He said, "You have multiplied your wondrous deeds," and he stood aghast at God's power to work miracles. But he did not go on to tell us about the creation of the things we see—of heaven, earth, and oceans, of water in Egypt or of any other miracles like those. What did he say were wondrous works? "Sacrifice and offering you do not desire." …
David went on to say, "But a body you have fitted to me." By this he meant the Lord's body which became the common sacrifice for the whole world, the sacrifice which cleansed our souls, canceled sin, put down death, opened heaven, gave us many great hopes and made ready all the other things which Paul knew well and spoke of when he exclaimed, "O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways."56
David, then, foresaw all this when he said, "Many are the wondrous works you have done, O Lord my God." He went on to say, speaking of the person of Christ, "In holocausts and sin offerings you had had no pleasure," and then continued, "Then I said, 'Lo, I come.' " When was "then"? When the time was ripe for more perfect instructions. We had to learn the less perfect lessons through his servants, but the loftier lessons which surpass the nature of humankind we had to learn from the lawgiver himself.

"For He is faithful that promised." "That promised" what? That we are to depart thither and enter into the kingdom. Be then in nothing over-curious, nor demand reasonings. Our religion needs faith.

The best Physicians after they have made a deep incision, and have increased the pains by the wound, soothing the afflicted part, and giving rest and refreshment to the disturbed soul, proceed not to make a second incision, but rather soothe that which has been made with gentle remedies, and such as are suited to remove the violence of the pain. This Paul also did after he had shaken their souls, and pierced them with the recollection of Hell, and convinced them, that he must certainly perish, who does despite to the grace of God, and after he had shown from the laws of Moses, that they also shall perish, and the more fearfully, and confirm it by other testimonies, and had said, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God": then, lest the soul desponding through excessive fear, should be swallowed up with grief, he soothes them by commendations and exhortation, and gives them zeal derived from their own conduct. For, he says, "call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye had been enlightened, ye endured a great fight of afflictions." Powerful is the exhortation from deeds already done: for he who begins a work ought to go forward and add to it. As if he had said, when ye were brought in to the Church, when ye were in the rank of learners, ye displayed so great readiness, so great nobleness; but now it is no longer so. And he who encourages, does thus especially encourage them from their own example.

And he did not simply say, "ye endured a fight" but a "great" fight. Moreover he did not say "temptations" but "fight," which is an expression of commendation and of very great praise.

These things have been spoken to those in Babylon who wanted to say to God, "You did not demand sacrifices from me but only to obey you and to do your will." And right away the things pertaining to the quotation have become unambiguous as far as I am concerned. Changing it he speaks in this way about the person of Christ, saying, "I will establish a body" instead of "I will establish ears."

Those who have changed from the better to the worse must in the end be handed over to punishment, when they rise from the dead, since they did not allow any repentance in this life. For not merely in the present life does such an individual abolish repentance, but by his inability to assent to repentance he remains content with his fall and takes no notice of his stumbling, accomplishing every sort of sin with much pleasure by a certain lack of reason.

"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."

A better simile, so far, at least, as illustration of spiritual things can be borrowed from material things, is that which compares vice or folly to darkness, and virtue or wisdom to light. The way to wisdom is therefore not like that of a man rising from the water into the air, in which, in the moment of rising above the surface of the water, he suddenly breathes freely, but, like that of a man proceeding from darkness into light, on whom more light gradually shines as he advances. So long, therefore, as this is not fully accomplished, we speak of the man as of one going from the dark recesses of a vast cavern towards its entrance, who is more and more influenced by the proximity of the light as he comes nearer to the entrance of the cavern; so that whatever light he has proceeds from the light to which he is advancing, and whatever darkness still remains in him proceeds from the darkness out of which he is emerging. Therefore it is true that in the sight of God "shall no man living be justified," and yet that "the just shall live by his faith." On the one hand, "the saints are clothed with righteousness," one more, another less; on the other hand, no one lives here wholly without sin—one sins more, another less, and the best is the man who sins least.

And to what end? That I and all who read the same may reflect out of what depths we are to cry unto Thee. For what cometh nearer to Thine ears than a confessing heart and a life of faith? For who did not extol and praise my father, in that he went even beyond his means to supply his son with all the necessaries for a far journey for the sake of his studies? For many far richer citizens did not the like for their children. But yet this same father did not trouble himself how I grew towards Thee, nor how chaste I was, so long as I was skilful in speaking—however barren I was to Thy tilling, O God, who art the sole true and good Lord of my heart, which is Thy field.

Will any of us dare to say: I am righteous? For I think that this is: I am righteous, which is: I am not a sinner. If you dare to say this, John confronts you: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." What then? Do we have nothing of righteousness? Or do we have something, but not all of it? Let us therefore seek this. For if we have something, and we do not have something; let what we have grow, and what we do not have will be fulfilled. See, men are baptized, all their sins are forgiven them, they are justified from their sins; we cannot deny this: yet there remains a struggle with the flesh, there remains a struggle with the world, there remains a struggle with the devil. But he who struggles, sometimes strikes, sometimes is struck; sometimes wins, sometimes is killed; it is considered how he leaves the stadium. For "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Likewise, if we say that we have nothing of righteousness, we lie against the gifts of God. For if we have nothing of righteousness, we do not have faith either; if we do not have faith, we are not Christians. But if we have faith, we already have something of righteousness. Do you want to know how much that something is? The righteous lives by faith; the righteous, I say, lives by faith; because he believes what he does not see.

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.

In the former case a multitude of priests, a multitude of victims, and no benefit, whereas in this case priest and victim are one and the same, he achieved abolition of sins and needs no further service; instead, he is seated with the Father who begot him, awaiting the end of the present life. At that time, in fact, all the adversaries will adore him as God and Lord. Among his foes will be, first, the devil and the mass of the demons, then those of the Jews and the Gentiles who did not accept the illumination of the faith, and along with them the bands of the heretics guilty of the blasphemies against him.

How could the blood of brute beasts declare guiltless some murderer or parricide? This is the reason blessed David also said, "Had you wanted it, I would have offered sacrifice; you will take no delight in burned offerings."

He brought out clearly that God's will is the salvation of humankind. The Lord also said as much, "This is the will of my Father, that everyone who believes in me may not be lost but may have eternal life."

It is not separation but assiduous effort at unity that is the work of love.

He showed both the law's limitations and its usefulness: while it cannot remove sins, it mounts an accusation against them, instills fear and obliges one to have recourse to grace.

By "first" he meant the sacrifice of brute beasts, by the "second" the rational one, offered by himself.

Now, it was not that he was ruling out repentance in these statements; rather, he was claiming there is no second sacrifice: our Lord was immolated for us once and for all. He used the term deliberately to emphasize that what is done against our free will enjoys a degree of pardon.

Now, this happened through the new covenant: we receive also in all-holy baptism the forgiveness of sins. In the life to come, when immortality is granted us, we shall live differently from everyone else, sin no longer capable of troubling those who have become immortal. May it be our good fortune to attain this life. We shall attain it if in the present life we embrace with enthusiasm the effort virtue involves and accept the struggles it requires. The Lord himself, who is the source of the future goods, will work with us.

Once more, note, he brings out the difference under the guise of exhortation, namely, the Son in one case and the slave in the other, those sacrifices of brute beasts in one case and in the other this rational and all-holy sacrifice. To the law he set in opposition not a law but the "blood" and the "Spirit." Through them salvation comes to us.

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.

For the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High overshadowed the Virgin. (Luke 1:35) And it was said, that I may do your will, O Father (Jn. 6:38); that those whom you have given me, I may not lose any of them. (Jn. 18:9) The title of the book, the Hebrews say, is the Law. Isaiah, teaching about the mystery of the Incarnation of the Only Begotten, heard; "Write for me in it with a man's pen." (Isa. 8:1) That it is a sacrifice and offering. Do you see that the sacrifices were cast aside even before the incarnation?
For after not wanting, he says, Burnt offerings and sacrifices, Then I said, "Behold, I have come. Who said, Behold, I come? Christ, obviously. I have come to do your will. But what is the will of the Father, but that the Son be crucified? And that I have come, he says, and I will do your will, it is written in the scroll of the book, he says, about me these things. Thus it is necessary to arrange. For being prophetic, it is a difficulty. The scroll of the book is the bundle of the law, that is, the book of the Old Testament. Therefore, in this Scripture it is written concerning my coming and that I am to be offered for the world.

"let us draw near with a true heart." In the faith of Christ with truth, having nothing false or deceitful.
"in full assurance of faith." For hereafter, nothing is visible, neither the temple, that is, the heaven, nor the high priest, that is, Christ, nor the sacrifice, that is, his body, but there is a need for faith. And since there is both believing and doubting, he says, "in full assurance of faith," that is, so that we may be fully informed about these things.
"having our hearts sprinkled." This shows that there is a need not only for faith but also for a righteous life.
"sprinkled." The Jews, he says, sprinkle their bodies; but let us sprinkle and purify our consciences, so that we may not have any evil consciousness of ourselves.
"with pure water," that is, with baptism. For the Jews, by washing, only cleanse the body; but we purify the soul with baptism. For the water we have is pure, that is, purifying.

"from that time onward." And for what reason were his enemies not immediately placed under his feet? For the sake of those who are to become and give birth to believers. For not only demons are enemies, but also unbelievers.But now Paul especially calls the unbelieving Hebrews enemies, comforting the faithful from the Jews who have suffered countless terrible things at their hands.
"until His enemies be made." He did not say "they will be subjected," but signifying the greatest of subjection, he said "they be made," a footstool for his feet. For their being made as a footstool is a proof of his sitting at the right hand of the Father.

"who has trampled the Son of God."How does one trample on the Son of God? When he does not listen to Him, when he who shares in Him commits sins: for that is to trample, namely to despise.
"in the blood of the covenant." He refers to the blood of Christ: for through it we have received the new covenant.
"and having shared." Having shared, as having nothing more excellent than the others, just as those who say that he is a naked man. For they say that he is nothing but blood, in which he differs from ours as far as honor is concerned. Then, showing their ingratitude, he says: by which he was sanctified.
"and insulted the Spirit of grace? " For he who has not received the benefit of the gift insulted the one who gave it. He made you a son of God, but you prefer to become a servant. He came to dwell in you, yet you introduce the Devil within yourself. Are these not injuries and insults against the Spirit?

Since he demonstrated the superiority of our high priest over the former ones, and the superiority of the new covenant over the old one, and the superiority of Christ's offering over the legal sacrifices; and that through it we have been freed from sins, he indeed refreshes the doctrinal discourse, giving the listener a breathing space; but he also very aptly moves on to the discourse concerning life. Pay close attention: for having been reminded of the forgiveness of sins, he subsequently exhorts us not to fall into the same sins again.
"Boldness to enter." Just as, he says, we were previously ashamed, full of sins, so now we have boldness to enter into heaven, because of the forgiveness granted to us.
"to enter the holy places." He speaks of heaven and the progress into the spiritual. By the blood of Jesus. "by the blood." For by the blood of the cross of Christ, we have forgiveness and boldness.

"And their sins." He added, he says, "And their sins I will remember no more." Do you see that he testified to the forgiveness of sins? Then he forgave when he established the new covenant. And the new covenant was given through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

"For you have need of endurance." I seek not increase, but patience, so that you may persevere in the same things.
"so that after you have done the will of God."The will of God is that you persevere in the same things until the end, and endure the delay of retribution and promise.

The will of God is that you sincerely believe in Him and perform good deeds, and moreover, when the time demands it, you should strive even to the point of shedding blood: for such ones receive the promise.

"which He inaugurated for us." It was the entrance of the holy places, and a path leading to it, recently cut. For this, it is said, was inaugurated.
"new." Which in our times, he says, took its beginning. And this is our claim, that in the times around Abraham, this road did not exist, but was established among us.
"and living." For the first way led to death and to disbelief; this one, however, truly brings to life, since it itself lives and endures.

Having said "recent," so that no one might say: "If recent, then it will cease"; for this one too will grow old and become obsolete just as the old covenant will be abolished. He says, however: "But being recent, it will always be new and living, never accepting death and dissolution."

"through the veil." For all these good things have come to us through the flesh of Christ and His sacrifice. This also recently prepared the way to heaven, having walked it first. And rightly is the flesh of Christ called the veil. For when He was lifted up, that is, on the cross, then the things in heaven were revealed, which belong to the veil, and that it concealed the Divinity within itself. And this is also the characteristic of a veil.

"a great priest." This, having, in common. He calls the Lord a priest.

"over the house of God." He speaks of the house of God as the faithful, according to, "I will dwell in them, and walk among them." (Lev. 26:12; 2 Cor. 6:16)

"Therefore, when he comes into the world." Christ, he says, entering the world in a body, speaks through David. If sacrifices are useless, he says, why were they made at all? Why? Because of the dispute of the Jews, and because they always oppose God. And he shows them, even before the incarnation of the Lord, as hated by God; for he did not say, When Christ enters, but, when he comes into, indicating that before he enters, they were hated.

when coming into the world, Christ said, but coming into. He was coming into, namely, when he promised to David, and he was extending, from the fruit of his womb, to sit him upon his throne forever. (Ps. 131:11) Therefore, entering the world through the covenants with David, and this he says through him, that "Since you did not desire sacrifice and offering," (Ps. 39:7) nor were you pleased with the things done in the law. And he did not say, "You do not take pleasure nor desire," but, "you did not desire, you did not take pleasure in," only saying, as if from the very foundation of them and the beginning of those things, that the whole sacrifices were not acceptable and pleasing to you. But even if something of theirs has been accepted by you, it has been accepted due to the weakness of those presenting it. Therefore, when I have also dismissed these things and have prepared a body for myself, then I come to do your will. For this has been said about me not simply and in passing, but as the main point and premise of the book concerning my proclamation. And the book speaks of the whole old one. For the chief point and the most esteemed hypothesis of the old covenant is the prophecies concerning Christ.

"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire." Those prescribed by the law, evidently. But offering here signifies something different from sacrifice; and I think the bloodless ones are indicated by the name. From here the person of Christ is introduced, saying to the Father, Since, He says, O Father, "Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you did not desire nor did you take pleasure in," which are offered according to the law."

"For it is impossible for the blood of bulls." Therefore, he shows the truth of what has been said, from the insignificance of the blood.

"we have been sanctified." By which will, he says, you are sanctified. Of which? Of the cross, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. For we have not only obtained forgiveness, but we have also been sanctified.
"the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." Behold, he has interpreted what the will of the Father is; the offering of the body of Christ. For since he was speaking above and below about the will, he then said what the will is.
"Once," he says, that is, not in the manner of the Jewish sacrifices, but once. "Once, indeed." The offering of the body of Jesus Christonce for all.That is, those who are sanctified through the once-for-all offering of the body of Jesus Christ.

"But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins." In them, he says, those sacrifices are only a reminder and a proof of sins, but there is no longer any forgiveness. And the proof that there is no forgiveness is the continual existence of sacrifices.

For, he says, not only are the sacrifices offered for the sins that arise, but rather for all, as they have not been forgiven, for the sins that have already occurred.

And when can we receive the promise? Do not become sluggish, he says: he who repays is near. "For yet a very little while, and he who is coming will come and will not delay." For what he says,"a very little while, [ὅσον ὅσον], signifies a very short time.

"And every priest stands." Therefore, to stand is a sign of serving. But to sit, just as Christ sat at the right hand of the Father, is a sign of being served, as being God.
— "Daily offering."

He says that the same sacrifices were offered for the same things, and since the sacrifices and offerings that had been made were no longer effective, they could not completely and perfectly take away sin.

"Anyone who has rejected Moses' law." A comparison is made from the lesser. For he wishes to show the destruction by fire justly inflicted against the adversaries. However, he speaks of the law to Moses (Lev. 4:26), because he commanded many things that are contained in the law.
"on the testimony of two or three witnesses."If two or three had testified, there was no longer a place for mercy or pardon, but he would die. Therefore, if someone who has transgressed the law of man, that is, of Moses, dies without pardon after a strong testimony, he says, what should happen to those who have trampled the law of Christ?

"you did not desire nor did you take pleasure in."Paul himself interprets the Davidic more clearly.
"which are offered according to the law," that is, the Jewish law, and they are offered by the Jews. Do you see that before the descent, the sacrifices were hated?

"And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us." What does it bear witness to? That our sins have been forgiven.

"For the law having a shadow." It is merely a type of the future good things, namely of the new covenant.Not the very image of the things themselves. These, not the very truth. Of what things? Of sacrifice, of forgiveness. For the old things were like a shadowy outline, being dim; but the new things are an image; these, in truth, as having been clearly manifested and accomplished.
It is also possible to understand in this way.

It is said by holy Gregory, who is among the saints, in the Apologeticus and in the Address to the Politicians, that the present laws are types of greater mysteries. And again in the Treatise on the Resurrection; "We will partake of the Passover," he says, "now in a typical manner, but later in a more perfect way." For I dare to say that the legal Passover was a type of a type.
Having said these things, in none of these does the Apostle refer to a shadow and an image, and the good things to come, which he also calls true things. For as concerning the presentation of a shadow and an image, the things indicate truth, and indeed they are truth. Therefore, he knows the things in the law as a shadow, the image as our own of the Christians, and the good things to come and true things that are in the coming age. For as much as the image departs from the truth, so much is the shadow of the image. For the image, even if it does not have the truth itself, is nevertheless a clear imitation of the truth, preserving the form through colors, and the proportion of the parts, and the color of the subject.
The shadow is a faint image of the reality, nothing of those things which the image reveals. And I suppose the theologian was led from these apostolic statements to speak about the topics at hand. And similar to Gregory, many other fathers have spoken likewise.

"of the things." He calls the future life things; the image of things, the evangelical life; and the shadow of the image of things, the Old Testament. For the image more clearly shows the archetypes. But the outline of the image reveals these things more faintly. For in this way, the weakness of the Old Testament is illustrated. For many, he says, offering sacrifices and the same ones year by year, can never makeperfect those who are governed by the law.

"year by year." What then? Do we not always bring forth unbloody sacrifices? But we also make memorials of one death of Christ and we always eat one body of Christ. For now we do not have one Christ, and at another time another, but always the same. The sacrifices of the Jews had various victims, such as sheep, oxen, goats. Therefore, there were many sacrifices. For ours, even if there are many in action, are one in power.
"with the same sacrifices."In the same way. For the offerings are various.
"continually." For they were offered annually without end.
"can never." The law, that is.
"make those who approach perfect." Why? Because it is a type. For the truth, that is Christ, did this, having accomplished purification through one sacrifice.

"to do your will, O God." What then? Were the sacrifices according to the law not the will of God? They were, but necessarily. For he did not say to them only this, that in general the sacrifices of animals are detestable to me, the incorporeal one. But since you desire to offer sacrifices, at least offer them to me and not to the idols, which was not of a pure and original will.
"the first in order to establish the second." What is the first? The sacrifices. What is the second? The cross. Therefore, the sacrifices are expelled, and the cross, that is, the sacrifice of Christ, is introduced.

"For by one offering," which Christ offered, he perfected, having made perfect, he completely freed from sins.
"those who are being sanctified."That is, the faithful. For they are sanctified by the aforementioned offering.

"And let us consider one another," he says, for we are brothers, as there is one flock under one shepherd. For this will increase the love among us.

But let us consider around these things, whose curiosity and inquiry and consideration sharpen and incite love: this, however, is done by those who bear nothing wrong about each other, but reject everything in a good and healthier direction, even those things that seem to be faults.

"to provoke unto love." To stir up and increase love for one another.
"and good works." And to provoke each other to zeal in good works.
"not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." For to always come together in the same place is a source of love. Therefore, it prohibits separation. For the work of love is not division, but the exact union. He called the assembly the harmony.

"but encouraging one another." Whom? The assembly of ourselves, that is, each other. For we must receive the assembly of ourselves in common. And the encouragement of the assembly is the willingness to be joined together for a long time.

In another way. "but encouraging." To the weaker ones, obviously. And so much, he says, we ought to be more in need of love and good works, as the day of judgment draws nearer. This was also a comfort for them, having been tested by temptations.

"But the righteous shall live by faith." Therefore, it is necessary to believe that He will come, for the righteous shall live by faith.
But if he becomes sluggish, he says, and withdraws himself, either from faith or from afflictions, he will not be approved in my soul: As from Christ, receive all this.

They still show them holding onto the same things. "your confidence." For they have boldness before God, those who endure such things for Him.

"Therefore, do not cast away your confidence," which comes from your works, from faith, from trials, from patience; for these are the things that give us great confidence, that we will receive the promise, freely given.

"which has great reward." And from where is this evident? You, he says, are witnesses, you who know that you have a better existence in heaven and one that endures.

"and fiery anger." Just as that fiery, being pierced by some anger, consumes and devours those who are struck. He speaks of opposers, not only of the unbelievers, but also of those who act directly against the commandments of Christ.

"you endured a great struggle with sufferings, partly." A strong soul is needed to bear accusations and tribulations, even if they are done privately and secretly; however, since they were done openly and in front of everyone (for this means: you were made a spectacle), a stronger one is necessary.
"partly while you became companions." He says that not only did you endure your own tribulations with a masculine spirit, but you also shared in the sufferings of those who were wronged, signifying the apostles, who were indeed engaged in accusations and tribulations.

"But we are not of those who withdraw to destruction." Since he astonished them by saying, "and if he becomes sluggish," he says, "my soul shall have no pleasure in him." He corrects it and says: We are not those who withdraw ourselves or are sluggish, which leads to destruction: but we pertain to faith, to possess and save our souls.

"For you had compassion on my chains." He said, Not only did you not need relief, but you also extended helping hands to others who were bound.
"the plundering." It is great to bear the plunder of resources. And when it is accepted even with joy, it is apostolic [ἀποστολικόν].
"and you joyfully accepted." He praises their voluntary patience.
"knowing that you have." Behold, he also affirms that they have faith.
"and enduring." This is firm, not as perishing, and passing from one to another.

"For if we sin willfully." As the involuntary has a lighter punishment.

"if we sin." Note that he did not say 'having sinned,' but used the present tense to indicate the persistence in sin until the end. For from this, it is especially clear that he does not deny repentance.

"after we have received the knowledge." That is, the faith concerning Christ.
"there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins." In order to erase sins. For among the Jews there were victims that were offered for their remission, so that they were not for involuntary sins.
"remains a sacrifice." It does not abolish repentance, may it not be; but it prohibits the existence of a second baptism. For here, it calls the cross and baptism a sacrifice, just as it says elsewhere. "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." (Heb. 10:14)

"for sin." That is, an offering concerning sin. Commonly, you have taken pleasure. And he rightly says, "for sin." For of the sacrifices, some were offered for salvation, and others for sin; as if he said, "Since in no way did you will any offering or sacrifice, nor burnt offerings, neither concerning salvation, nor concerning sin, I have come, having taken a body, to become a pleasing sacrifice to you, which I myself have prepared."

"For they would not have ceased." According to the question, read. For if they had ceased, he says, those sacrifices would certainly not have ceased to be offered, because the consciousness of sins would no longer have been taken away, because it has been once for all purified.

"Now where there is forgiveness of these things." Of sins, obviously.
"there is no longer an offering for sin." For who, he says, has need of many offerings, when the one that Christ presented is sufficient to take away sins?

"But He, having offered one sacrifice," Christ evidently.
"for sins." For our sins, for which he suffered.
"for all time." Christ, clearly, offered one sacrifice, namely, His own body, for our sins, sufficient for us forever, so that there would be no need for a second.
"sat down at the right hand of God."He is not only a high priest, but also God. After completing the work, through which He also became a high priest and stewarded the administration, He sat down as God and awaits.

"let us hold fast the confession."Let us hold fast, he says, the confession of our hope, firm and without wavering. What hope? To hope through the blood of Christ for entrance into heaven. To have our sins forgiven through Him. To be made worthy of adoption through Him.
"For faithful," that is, "true is He who promised." And what did He promise? That we would enter into His kingdom; "for I will," He says, "that where I am, there these may be also." (Jn. 16:24) For "these" He spoke of the faithful.

"Remember the earlier days." Behold, he speaks to them more plainly, urging them not to lose patience. He says, therefore: Do not imitate others, but imitate yourselves. For at the beginning of your faith you struggled; keep this struggle in mind; do not lose what you have achieved through laziness. Behold the cleverness; shaking their souls with the memory of that fire, he now encourages them with praises.
"after being illuminated." Either concerning baptism, he says, they are illuminated, or concerning the knowledge of Christ.

"For we know Him who said." And that these things are true, God himself testifies who says: "Vengeance is mine." This is with me, to take vengeance: "I will repay, says the Lord." But by saying this, he comforts them about the evils they have suffered from their own fellow citizens. As if he were saying: He said this gently, and he comforts them regarding the evils they suffered from their own fellow citizens, as if he were saying: "Why are you anxious? You have the one who avenges and gives back justice to those who serve you."

the Apostle testifies, exclaiming: For the Law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things—speaking of a shadow as when one draws a rough sketch of a man without taking a full likeness of him, that is without representing his features and all his different members, so that it can be known what sort of a man he is, whether old or young, whether comely or uncomely, but merely sketches an outline of his bodily figure; so by what he calls an image he means the characteristic features, that is, the mysteries celebrated by us, namely the regeneration through baptism, and participation in the mysteries. But what he calls the real things themselves are the resurrection from the dead, the transformation of our bodies, the change from corruption to incorruption, the immutability of the soul instead of its mutability, perfect knowledge for that which is in part, an habitation, a rest, and an entrance into heaven, instead of earthly things heavenly, and instead of temporal things eternal. And all these boons have been secured for the human race through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wherefore he again admonishes us in these words: Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having a great high-priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart.

Having therefore boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way; the entrance into the Holies made by the blood of Jesus, he calls His entrance into the heavens, which He made after his Passion and Resurrection, when He was taken up into heaven; which also he calls a new and living way, dedicated for us, because He himself first of all in a new and fresh manner trod that living and holy way, leaving us an example for us to follow.

And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins; but this man, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for ever set down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet. For by one offering he hath perfected them that are sanctified. If, as He says, he sits for ever at the right hand of God after His Passion and Sacrifice, and for ever sanctifies those coming unto Him, how is it possible that heaven can be dissolved when He sits there for ever, and those coming unto Him are sanctified.

But now, when He has poured out his grace upon the world through His own Coming, He has descended not in an earthquake, not in a fire, not in a terrible and mighty sound, but "as the rain upon a fleece, and rain-drops that fall upon the earth" softly, and He was seen conversing with us after another fashion. This came to pass when, as though in a treasury, He concealed His majesty with the veil of His flesh and among us spoke with us in that body which His own bidding wrought for Him out of the womb of the Virgin, even Mary the Theotokos. All this He did so that, on beholding Him Who was of our race conversing with us, we should not be smitten with terror by the vision of Him.Wherefore every man has put on Christ when he is clothed with the raiment wherein the Creator was seen through the body that He put on. For the likeness in which He was seen by His own creation and in which He kept company with it, He willed to put on in His inner man, and to be seen therein by His fellow-servants. Instead of a robe of honour and outward glory, He was arrayed in this. When rational and irrational creation beholds any man clad in this likeness, it worships him as master, for the sake of its own Master's honour, Whom it beheld clad and walking therein. For what creature does not feel reverence at the spectacle of a humble man? And yet until the glory of humility was revealed to all, this vision which is filled with holiness was held in disdain. But now its majesty has dawned on the eyes of the world, and every person honours this likeness in every place where it is seen. In this mediator, creation has been counted worthy of receiving the vision of its Creator and Maker. Wherefore not even by the enemies of the truth is it despised; and even if he who has acquired it is the most impoverished of all creation, yet by it he is honoured as though by the diadem and the purple.

The law was indeed given through Moses, and there it was determined by a heavenly rule what was to be done and what was to be avoided, but what it commanded was completed only by the grace of Christ. On the one hand, that law was capable of pointing out sin, teaching justice and showing transgressors what they are charged with. On the other hand, the grace of Christ, poured out in the hearts of the faithful through the spirit of charity, brings it about that what the law commanded may be fulfilled. Hence that which was written, "do not covet," is the law given through Moses because it is commanded, but grace comes through Christ when what is commanded is fulfilled. Truth came through Christ because "the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities." And, as the apostle says elsewhere, "These things happened to them as a figure." But in place of a shadow Christ displayed the light of truth, and in place of the figure of the law he displayed the exact image of the things which were prefigured when, with the giving of the grace of the Spirit, he made clear to his disciples the meaning so that they could understand the Scriptures. The law was given through Moses when the people were commanded to be made clean by the sprinkling of the blood of a lamb. The grace and truth which were prefigured in the law came through Jesus Christ when he himself, having suffered on the cross, "freed us from our sins by his blood."

"The will of God" is to believe sincerely in him and to do virtuous deeds and to contend for them even to the point of blood when the time calls. For such people "receive what is promised."

"Let us stir up one another," concerning those things whose meddlesomeness and inquiry and observation sharpen us in love and edification. And they do this who do not permit any fault concerning one another but receive everything (even whatever things seem to be worse) for the good and the better.

He says, "recent," lest anyone say, "Then if it is recent, it too will cease; for it will age and grow old and it will also be destroyed like that of the old testament." Not in the least, he says. But since it is always recent, it remains new and will be "living," for it never receives death and destruction.

He calls them "the same sacrifices" because they are always being offered for the same things, since those sacrifices and offerings which have taken place and are taking place are not strong enough to strip away any sin purely and completely.

"But encouraging." Whom? "Their gathering together," that is, one another. For that is how "the gathering together" is commonly understood. And the comfort of the assembly becomes for them a way to be eagerly renewed and in a short space of time.

"Do not throw away your confidence," your boldness based on your works, based on your faith, based on your periods of testing, based on your endurance. For these things bestow great confidence on us, that we will obtain the promise.

Christ spoke, "while coming into the world," not "after he had entered it." But manifestly he was already entering it when he promised David and maintained that he would seat one from the fruit of his loins on his throne until the age would come. Therefore, "while entering into the world" because of the promises made to David, he also says this through him, since "you did not wish for sacrifice and offering, neither were you well pleased" with the rites in the law. And he did not say, "you are not well pleased nor wish," but "you did not want nor were you well pleased," all but saying, "From their very institution and introduction the sacrifices were not entirely satisfactory and well pleasing. But really if any of them were accepted by you, it was accepted owing to the weakness of the one who brought them. Since then I reject these things and 'I prepare a body for myself,' then 'I have come' in order 'to do your will.' For this also is spoken concerning me not in a simple manner and in passing, but as the chief matter and the supposition of the book which foretold about me." And he calls the book the whole Old Testament. For the chief thing and the most noteworthy supposition of the Old Testament are the predictions about Christ.

Those who lived before grace, because they were under law, found themselves sitting under its shadow. But those who have come into existence after the coming of grace and day have been delivered from the shadow, truly from the slavery of the law. That is to say, they have risen above it, having been taken up on high as by a ladder, namely, the gospel way of life. They are living with the lawgiver, being themselves lawgivers rather than keepers of law.

The people I am speaking about, whom I call heretics, say there is no one in our time among us who is able to keep the gospel commandments and become like the holy fathers. Such a person would be, first of all, one who is faithful and active—for faith is shown through works, as the likeness of a face is shown through a mirror. Further, this person would be both the greatest of contemplatives and one who sees God, by being illumined, obviously, and receiving the Holy Spirit, and through him seeing the Son together with the Father. Well then, those who say that this is impossible possess not one particular heresy but all of them, if I may say so, because this one outdoes all of those and covers them with irreverence and excess of blasphemy. The one who makes this heretical claim overthrows all the divine Scriptures. I think this vain person is saying that the present reciting of the holy Gospel is in vain, and affirms solemnly that the reading of the writings of Basil the Great and the rest of our priests and holy fathers is in vain, or even that they were written in vain. If, then, the things which God says, all of which all the saints first practiced and then also wrote about and left for our instruction21—if these things are impossible for us to do in deed and to keep completely, why is it that those folks labored and wrote about them back then and they are now read in church? Those who are saying these things are shutting heaven, which Christ opened for us, and they cut off the ascending path to that place which he himself inaugurated for us. For even though God, who is above all, stands on high at the gate of heaven, as it were, and peers out and is seen by the faithful, and through the holy Gospel cries out and says, "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," these enemies of God, or rather, enemies of Christ, are saying, "This is impossible, impossible!"

Do you see that the sacrifices were rejected even before the incarnation? For after You rejected the sacrifices, then I — Christ — said: "Behold, I come... to do Your will." And the will of God the Father is that the Son be slain for the world, so that people might be justified, not through sacrifices, but through the death of His Son. For, He says, "I proclaimed Your righteousness in the great assembly" (Ps. 39:10). Then, among other things, He says: "In the beginning of the book it is written of Me." This is how these words must be connected. By "the beginning of the book" He means the scroll of the law or the book of the Old Testament. So then, in this book it is written of My coming and that I must be slain for the world. Or by "the beginning of the book" He means the beginning of the books of the Old Testament. For in the first book of Moses, the book of Genesis, when it says, "Let Us make man in Our image" (Gen. 1:26), it gives us to understand the divinity of Christ.

To what? To faith and to spiritual service, or — to heaven, where our High Priest is.

That is, free from the guile of wickedness, unhypocritical toward the brethren, or not doubting, not at all wavering or being perplexed concerning the future good things, and therefore not falling into faintheartedness. So he continues.

He teaches us under what condition we do not fall into faintheartedness, namely, if we have the fullness (πληροφορίαν) of faith, that is, faith both firm and most perfect. For it is possible to believe, but not fully. So, for example, some say that the resurrection will be the possession of some but not of others; this is not full, but rather imperfect faith. Therefore, let us draw near with full faith. Since nothing here is visible — neither the temple, nor heaven, nor the High Priest — Christ, but is hidden from us, just as in the Old Testament the high priest, entering the Holy of Holies, was not visible, for this reason full and undoubting faith is necessary.

Having spoken about faith, he now shows that not faith alone is required, but also a virtuous life. The Jews sprinkled the body, but we sprinkle the hearts, so as to be conscious of nothing wicked in ourselves. We shall be sprinkled by virtue itself, or by the grace of the Spirit, who forgave us our sins in the font and strengthened us so that, if we make the effort, we no longer fall into sin.

By the water of baptism. "Pure," either meaning that which makes pure, or that which has no admixture of blood, as in ancient times with the admixture of ashes. Although the grace of the Spirit in baptism also cleanses souls, Paul here joined the visible with the invisible. At the very least, in the actual performance of baptism, water is taken for the body. Since we are twofold, the cleansing is also twofold.

He said this in connection, to show that the Lord took upon Himself the "vengeance" against sinners. For He said this through the prophet. He also comforts those who fell into faintheartedness on account of the trials from the Jews who were oppressing them. He was saying, as it were: do not lose heart, you have an Avenger and Recompenser, Who lives forever, Whom those who insult you will in no way escape. You have fallen into the hands of those mortal men, but they have fallen into the hands of the eternally living God, from Whom they will not hide.

Consequently, Christ is not only a High Priest, but also God. After the fulfillment of the work for which He received the title of High Priest according to the divine economy, He at last sat down, as God, waiting until His enemies are made "a footstool for His feet." His enemies are the unbelievers and the demons, who themselves will also be subjected: that is, their malice will remain powerless, since they will be consigned to unquenchable fire. But for now, Paul calls enemies primarily the unbelieving Jews, comforting the believers from among the Jews who had suffered countless torments from them. Do not despair, he says, for those who now rise up against you will be subjected, or rather, will be trampled underfoot. And this is evidently because Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. Since this has come to pass, then what was spoken in the Psalms will also be fulfilled. But why were they not immediately "made a footstool for His feet," that is, why were they not removed from the world? For the sake of the believers who would be born from among them.

He submits the matter to their own judgment, which is what we usually do regarding what is firmly acknowledged by all, turning the listeners into judges. What does "tramples" mean? That is, despises. Just as we count despised people as nothing, so too, counting Christ as nothing, we thus come to the point of sinning. "And does not regard as holy the Blood of the covenant," that is, considers it no better than everything else. "Of the covenant," because for its sake a covenant was established with us, granting us an inheritance of blessings, as we said above. This is said concerning the sacraments. For when we, partaking of the Most Pure Body and Blood, plunge the flesh that has received the Mysteries into the filth of bodily impurity, do we not thereby also trample the Son of God? The dust of the earth is not as unworthy of the Divine Body as impurity is. Make use of what has been said against the Nestorians as well. They, considering Christ a mere man, regard His Blood as defiled, in no way different from that of anyone else.

Here he shows the insensibility and ingratitude, for, he says, it was fitting to regard with fear the sanctification of which one had been deemed worthy in the Blood.

For he who has unworthily managed the granted benefaction has insulted the Benefactor. Did He not make you a son of God? Yet you make yourself a slave of passions. Did He not come to dwell in you? Yet you introduce the devil into yourself. Is this not, then, an insult to the Spirit?

After having shown the superiority of our High Priest over those of the Old Testament, and of the offering of Christ over the sacrifices according to the law, and that through this offering we have been freed from sins, he interrupts the dogmatic teaching, giving rest to the listener, and quite opportunely transitions to moral teaching. And having just mentioned the remission of sins, he finally urges them not to fall into them anymore: "having," he says, "boldness," by reason of the remission of sins. Just as sin causes shame and uncertainty, so the remission of sins gives confidence.

Since our sins were forgiven us, we also have boldness to enter the sanctuary, that is, into heaven.

Through blood, that is. For, having been deemed worthy through the cross and blood of Christ of the forgiveness of sins, we received boldness.

You need nothing else besides patience alone: you have everything else, and you need add nothing further.

The will of God is that we endure to the end. For, He says, "he who endures to the end shall be saved" (Matt. 10:22). The Apostle persuades them of this in the same way as if someone, seeing that a fighter, having defeated all his opponents, then, not waiting for those who are slow with the victory prizes, wants to leave, unable to bear the thirst and heat, says to him: having accomplished everything, wait a little and you will receive the crowns. Struggle also against the delay of the crowns, and overcome this too with patience.

He points to the perfection of love. For, he says, "let us consider one another," that is, let us look to see if there is someone virtuous, so as to imitate such a person, not in order to envy, but to find for ourselves greater encouragement to perform the very same good deeds that he has. This encouragement is a matter of love, not of envy. For, as iron sharpens iron, so also a soul, associating with another soul, stirs it up to the same thing, yet in love. Or also because you, in your dealings with one another, are kindled to love and to be loved.

As for the entrance into the Sanctuary, He Himself inaugurated for us the way, that is, He Himself made the way new, having Himself begun it and Himself been the first to pass through it. Instead of calling the way "new" – νέαν, he called it πρόσφατον – recent, opened for our times. It is to our praise that we have been deemed worthy of that which Abraham was not deemed worthy; heaven is now opened to us. He called it "living" because the first way into the Sanctuary, according to the law, was death-bearing. That way no longer has a place, but for those who accept it, it becomes a cause of death. But this new way so leads to life that it itself lives and will remain so perpetually. Or by "living" understand, similarly to "recent" (πρόσφατον), something new and flourishing, as if in contrast to the entrance into the Old Testament Sanctuary: for that way is a way of death.

He renewed for us this path into heaven through His flesh: for when it was lifted up on the cross and ascended, then the heavenly realm was opened to us. Therefore he rightly called it a "veil." For the distinctive property of a veil is precisely this: that when it is removed, what is within is revealed.

Having a "Priest," obviously Christ, and the "house" is us, the believers (Heb. 3:6), according to the following words: "I will dwell in them and walk among them" (2 Cor. 6:16, cf. Lev. 26:12). Or, what I think is better, heaven: for he also calls it the "Sanctuary," and says that the High Priest ministers in it, interceding on our behalf.

Christ, entering the world in the flesh, speaks through the mouth of David. The apostle's purpose here is as follows: since he has shown that sacrifices are powerless and useless, lest someone say to him: why then do the Jews still offer them? For at that time their temple was still standing and everything prescribed by the law was being carried out — why then had they not ceased? — he now, explaining this, says that although the sacrifices had ceased by the will of God, the Jews, being inclined to vainglory and always resisting the Holy Spirit, still clung to them. He also shows that they were rejected by God before the incarnation of the Lord. And notice, the apostle draws attention to this here. For he did not say: "having entered," but "entering the world," in order to show that even before He entered, He hated their sacrifices.

Obviously, those established by the law. "Offering" here denotes something distinct from "sacrifice," and I think that this specifically refers to the bloodless sacrifices.

That is, You ordained that My Body should become the most perfect sacrifice.

He makes his speech even stronger by pointing out the insignificance of the sacrifices offered and the severity of the disease, just as if someone skilled in the medical art, seeing that a leper is being offered the herb called mercurialis (λινόζωστιν), were to say: it is impossible to cure leprosy with mercurialis (mercury herb).

By this will of the Father, he says, we were sanctified, having been sanctified by the offering of the body of Christ, which took place "once for all"; for this must be understood. For we who have believed that we are sanctified by the offering of the Only-begotten, are sanctified by the will of the Father. Hence, it is not the legal ordinances that constitute the will of God, but the offering according to Christ and the sanctification through this offering.

Sacrifices, he says, produce nothing else except a remembrance of sins, that is, an exposure. They do not provide forgiveness of sins, but by the fact that they are always offered, they show that the sins of the people remain unforgiven. For if sins had been forgiven, what need would there be for sacrifices? By saying "there is a reminder," he gave you to understand that sacrifices were performed not only for subsequent sins, but also for preceding ones, as evidently unforgiven. For annually, as it is said, the blood of bulls was offered for the people. Therefore, since the sins were the same, the same sacrifice was also offered. Yet nowhere were subsequent sins the same as preceding ones. Is it not clear that the former sins remained unresolved, and therefore the same sacrifice was always offered, just as the same medicine, being always applied, shows that the same disease always torments the sick person.

He brings forward the prophet Habakkuk, who says that the Judge is near, with the purpose of rendering recompense. And if even Habakkuk said at that time, "yet a little while, a very little while, and the Coming One shall come," then it is clear that now He is even nearer. The expression "a very little while" denotes an exceedingly brief interval of time.

Thus, to stand is the distinction of one who serves; but to sit, as Christ does, is the distinction of the one who is served.

He knows that the common assembly gives birth to love, therefore he urges not to forsake the assembly and not to start divisions and unlawful gatherings, "for where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). The prayer of the Church even loosed Peter from his bonds and freed him from prison (Acts 12:5–10).

Here he makes a rebuke to those who separate themselves.

That is, comforting one another and instructing one another, and teaching, and persuading. "A brother helps a brother and says: be strong!" (see Isa. 41:6).

Of the day of death. For as long as we, he says, have not yet departed from this world, why should we be separated from one another? This was a consolation for them, weary under the burden of trials, as he also says in another place: "The Lord is near; do not be anxious about anything" (Phil. 4:5–6).

From the lesser he proves the justice of the future punishment, so that his word too would have more credibility. He calls the Law Mosaic because Moses established much of it.

The connection of the speech is as follows: if someone rejected the law of Moses, then in the presence of two or three witnesses "he is punished by death without mercy," that is, if it were declared by two or three witnesses that he had violated the law.

What does He witness? That He has completely delivered us from sins "by one offering," so that we have no need for a second.

That is, being an image of the future blessings of the New Testament, which Christ bestows upon those who have accepted this Testament.

That is, not the very truth. Of what things? Of our sacrifice, of the remission of sins. For the things of the Old Testament, being unclear, resembled a shadowy outline; but those of the New Testament are like an image, that is, the truth, since they appear in brilliance and perfection. So explains St. John Chrysostom. But it is not useless to take into account also what Gregory the Theologian gives us to understand in this passage. In other discourses as well, but especially clearly in his oration on Pascha, he says: the Paschal lamb of the law—I state decisively—was an image darker than an image. Thus he gives us to understand that by "shadow" the apostle means the law; and by image, what is now performed in the Church, as a reflection of other more perfect blessings which the worthy will receive as their portion in the age to come; and these are what the apostle now calls "things." Therefore, just as an image differs in some way from the archetypal thing, so too the present mysteries differ from the more perfect things of the age to come; and to the degree that an outline falls short of an image, to that same degree the law falls short of the New Testament.

The meaning of this passage is as follows: if the sacrifices of the Law had power, they would not have been offered continually; once offered and having proved beneficial, they would have ceased. But since they were offered every year, constantly, it is clear that they had no power to perfect. And therefore after the first sacrifice they offered a second, and then yet a third. Just as among medicines, those are effective which, having been applied once, bring healing; whereas those that are frequently applied thereby demonstrate their own inefficacy. But the question arises: what then? Do we not also unceasingly offer bloodless sacrifices? Of course, always; but we perform a remembrance of the death of Christ. And this sacrifice is one, not many, since it was offered once. We constantly offer one and the same Lamb, or rather: we perform a remembrance of that offering, as though it were being performed now. Consequently, the sacrifice is one. As for the fact that the sacrifice is offered in many places—are there then many Christs? No, one—everywhere, and complete there, and complete here, one Body of His. And just as, being offered in many places, He is one Body and not many bodies, so also the sacrifice is one. For we offer that sacrifice which was offered then. But there, the lamb offered yesterday was different from today's. And today's lamb was offered not as a remembrance of yesterday's, but as itself constituting a sacrifice in its own right. So in what sense does the Apostle say "the same sacrifices"? The sacrifices were the same inasmuch as the same kinds of sacrifices were offered—for example, today a lamb and tomorrow a lamb—but they were different in number. Some, however, have said that the sacrifices were the same in the manner of offering—that is, they were performed through slaughter or burnt offering—but different in kind, such as sheep, oxen, turtledoves, pigeons. The expression δύναται—"can"—although it is found in manuscripts with the letter ν, I have nevertheless found a note requiring it without the letter ν. "The Law," he says, "having a shadow of the good things to come... can never make (δύναται) perfect those who draw near." And indeed, in accordance with grammatical precision, one must preserve Scripture so that no error arises in it. But since in Scripture there is not a single word about rules of speech, we shall understand this passage as the manuscripts contain it, namely: they can (δύναται) never—evidently, those who offer—make perfect those who draw near.

Paul himself explains the words of David. You will ask: what then? Were not the sacrifices according to the law in accordance with God's will? Indeed, they were in accordance with God's will, but the designation of will is twofold. One desires something preferentially above all else, as Paul says: "I wish that all men were as I am" (1 Cor. 7:7), that is, unmarried. One also desires something by way of condescension, as the same Paul says: "I desire that the younger widows marry" (1 Tim. 5:14) — this is a condescending will. Lest they grow fierce against Christ, he condescended. So too God previously did not want fat and blood, but when He saw that the Jews, offering sacrifices to idols, were strongly attached to these very sacrifices, He permitted them to offer sacrifice in His honor. Why then did Paul bring forward this testimony, having countless others? Because of the shamelessness of the Jews. Since they were saying that the Old arrangement was abolished not because of its own imperfection, but because of the sins of those offering sacrifices, and they pointed out that Isaiah too reproaches their sins, saying: "your hands are full of blood" (Isa. 1:15), and likewise David himself, having said: "I will not accept a calf from your house" (Ps. 50:9), further adds: "but to the sinner God says" (Ps. 50:16). Therefore, since the most ambitious among the Jews were saying this, Paul brings forward a testimony in which the Old Testament institution is in itself considered rejected by God because of its own imperfection, and not because of the sins of the people. For in the 39th Psalm, from which this testimony is taken, the prophet makes no mention of the sins of the people. And that it was for this very reason that he made use of the indicated testimony, listen to him himself.

What is the "first"? Sacrifices. What is the "second"? The will of the Father, that is, the offering of the body of Christ as a sacrifice on the cross. Thus, those are abolished so that the offering which the Father desired might be established and confirmed through the slaying of Christ. In this way, the sacrifices are rejected not because of the sins of those who offer them, but because of their own imperfection.

Completely, he says, He freed from sins those who are sanctified and anointed by His Blood, through baptism into death. Since all who are baptized are united by the likeness of His death, it is clear that they are sanctified by His Blood.

So, it is necessary to believe, even if we are righteous. But if the righteous one "shrinks back," that is, is subjected to some doubt and perplexity, or "shrinks back" — meaning: falls into despondency under the influence of temptations, then "My soul" does "not take pleasure" in him, that is, does not rejoice over him. Whose soul? God's, according to a particular manner of expression in Scripture, as in the following passage: "Your feasts My soul hates" (Isa. 1:14), or: the soul of Christ.

"Not forsaking" shows that they had not yet fallen away, but still needed both strengthening and protection. He said "confidence," because they, having endured so much with patience for God's sake, have great boldness.

For you are confessors, who have acknowledged it as better to have treasure in heaven.

See how he, as it were, gave life to fire. Just as an irritated beast does not calm down until it seizes someone and, having devoured them, appeases its fury, so too that fire, as though inflamed with zeal against the transgressors of God's commandments and raging on account of them, always devours whomever it seizes. For he did not say "ready to eat," but "to devour," evidently, forever. By "adversaries" he means not only unbelievers, but also believers who nevertheless act contrary to God's commandments.

Pay attention to the praise. Namely, a person with a noble soul has need to endure reproaches, as the prophet testifies: "they said to me every day: where is your God?" (Ps. 42:3) and: "for it is not an enemy who reproaches me — that I could bear" (Ps. 55:12); and: "do not deliver me to the reproach of the foolish" (Ps. 39:8). However, Job was indignant against reproach, although he bore all sufferings manfully, like adamant. But if the reproach happens openly and before the eyes of many, then such reproach requires an even stronger soul: this is what he indicated here by the expression "being made a spectacle." Consider, then, how great they were, having despised for Christ's sake both glory and wealth — being subjected to insults and becoming a disgrace, that is, as if being put on display as a spectacle and enduring all this, perhaps, from certain base and worthless people.

You, he says, not only endured your own afflictions, which seemed to have been brought upon you against your will, but you were so noble that you became companions of the apostles living in this way, that is, in afflictions and reproaches, and voluntarily subjected yourselves to suffering torments together with them and to taking part in their sufferings. He did not say: of me alone, but of all in general, to strengthen the praise of them.

Do you see: God Himself testifies that He granted the cleansing of sins. And He granted it at the time when He was giving the New Testament. And He granted and established the New Testament by the death of His Son, as was shown earlier (Heb. 8).

Since we have the faith of those who are saved, not of those who draw back to perdition, he says that we are not of those who perish through "wavering" and falling into faintheartedness or doubt, but of those who are steadfast in faith, so as to preserve our own souls, that is, to acquire, safeguard, and save them. For possession, acquisition is itself "salvation."

You not only had no need of consolation in your own sufferings, but also became a consolation to others, of which I am a witness.

Having said, among other things, how they were sharers in the sufferings of others, he now speaks again of how they endured their own sorrows. To be plundered is a great thing, for you were plundered because you believed. Of course, you could have chosen not to believe. "Accepted" denotes voluntary endurance, and something willingly chosen. As for the expression "with joy," it makes you equal to the apostles, who returned rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of the Lord (Acts 5:41).

And this, he says, you did with judgment, with understanding, and with faith. For you knew that you have a better and enduring possession, one that does not perish and is not plundered, like this one.

From the most beneficial he convinced that we have boldness, that we have been deemed worthy of forgiveness; but now he frightens with the most sorrowful. See how condescending he is. "We sin willfully," he says: as if, should one sin unwillingly, there exists a certain moderate forgiveness. Note also: he did not say "we sinned," but "we sin," that is, we remain unrepentantly in sin. Thus, if we do not remain in sin but show repentance, there will be forgiveness. So where are those who say that repentance is rejected here? "Having received the knowledge of the truth" — he means either Christ or all the dogmas.

He says this not in order to reject repentance, as some have devised, but he shows that there is no second baptism, and therefore there is no second death of Christ. He calls the death of Christ a sacrifice, as also in the subsequent words. For by one sacrifice He has perfected forever: our baptism represents the death of Christ. Therefore, just as that death is one, so also this baptism is one. So then, why do you sin so fearlessly, when there is no hope that you will effortlessly wash away your sins through baptism? Therefore, occupy yourself with good works instead.

Neither burnt offerings, nor offerings for sins "You desired," nor deemed worthy of acceptance. The names of the sacrifices were various, evidently due to various reasons: some were for sins (Lev. 4:3), others for trespasses (Lev. 6:5), others for salvation (Num. 6:14), others for mercy (Num. 6:5), others of vows (Lev. 27:2–7), and still others for purification (Lev. 14:32). Thus, all sacrifices were abolished, since You desired neither sacrifice nor offering.

Read in the interrogative form. If they had ceased from sins, he says, would not the offerings themselves have ceased as well, since those in need of their help would have received it sufficiently and would have had "no more consciousness of sins"? That is, nothing further among what they had recognized would require healing, by virtue of the fact that what was once cleansed is cured.

If forgiveness of sins was granted through a single sacrifice, then what need is there after this for a second sacrifice? Therefore it is indicated that we, having received the forgiveness of sins, were brought to perfection by the single offering of Christ, and no longer have need of another sacrifice. Thus, the Jewish sacrifices are unnecessary and, being performed out of stubbornness, have long been recognized as useless by those who now perform them.

But Christ Himself offered "one" sacrifice, He says — His own body — for our sins, sufficient for us forever, so that there would be no need for a second.

That is, let us firmly hold fast to the "hope" that we have confessed. For at the beginning of faith we hoped that we ourselves would ascend to heaven; and when we entered into the covenant of faith, we confessed that we believe in the resurrection of the dead and in life everlasting. Therefore, let us hold fast to this confession.

He gives strength so that we may hold fast to a firm hope, especially if we consider the worthiness of "Him who promised." For "faithful," that is, true is Christ, who said: "where I am, there My servant will be also" (John 12:26).

So we were not speaking in vain when we said that the words "Vengeance is Mine" he introduces in a veiled manner for their consolation. For behold, now he speaks more clearly with them, persuading them not to lose patience. So, he says, do not imitate anyone else, but yourselves. At the beginning of your faith you struggled; always remember this struggle, so that through carelessness you do not lose what you previously attained through struggle. Notice the spiritual wisdom: having first shaken their souls with the reminder of gehenna, he now calms them with praises, yet not flattering them, but persuading them by their own example. For greater credibility belongs to the one who counsels someone to imitate himself and those deeds which he previously accomplished.

"Having been enlightened" – he speaks either of baptism, or generally of the knowledge of the mystery and of the blessings that awaited the faithful. For when you were enlightened by the knowledge of what was to come, you endured so much. He did not say: temptations, but you endured a struggle, which is an expression of courage and strength, and truly they endured a great struggle.

489. – Then when he says, then said I: Lo, I come, he continues to approve the New Testament. According to a Gloss it is read in the following way: Then, namely, when you did prepare a body for me, i.e., in the conception, I said: Lo, I come, i.e., I propose to come, namely, to the passion: 'This is he that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ' (1 Jn. 5:6). Or it is better referred to His coming into the world, thus: Then, namely, when holocausts were not pleasing to you, I said: I come by the Incarnation: 'I came forth from the Father and am come into the world' (Jn. 16:28), and this in order to offer myself in the passion; therefore, he says, Lo.

490. – But was that sacrifice accepted? It certainly was, because in the roll [head] of the book it was written of me. This book is Christ according to His human nature, and in it were written all the things necessary for man's salvation: 'Take you a great book' (Is. 8:1); 'And the head of Christ is God' (1 Cor. 11:3). In the head of the book, i.e., in the plans of God, Who is the head of Christ, Who is the book, it is written that the Son of God is to be incarnated and die. Or, the book, i.e., the Psalter, whose first psalm concerns Christ. Or better, the book of life, which is nothing else than the knowledge God has about the predestination of the saints, who are saved by Christ. Therefore, in that book it is written of me, because the saints are predestined by me: 'He chose us in him before the foundation of the world' (Eph. 1:4); 'Whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son' (Rom. 8:29). Therefore, if predestination is called a book, it is obvious that Christ is the head of the book: 'They that are written in the book of life of the Lamb' (Rev. 21:27). Therefore, in the head of the book, i.e., in me, according to my divine nature, it is written of me, according to my human nature, I have come to do your will, i.e., this was foreordained that by Your grace I should do Your will, by offering Myself for the redemption of the human race.

504. – Then (v. 22) he gives his admonition, namely, that because He is such a person and so great, He must be faithfully adhered to. This is done in three ways: by faith, by hope, and by charity: 'Now there remain faith, hope and charity' (1 Cor. 13:13). First, then, he urges them in regard to things of faith; secondly, the things of hope (v. 23); thirdly, the things of charity (v. 24).

505. – For the first there are two things required, namely, faith itself: 'Without faith it is impossible to please God' (Heb. 11:6), and the sacrament of faith. In regard to the first he says, let us draw near to Him with a true, not feigned, heart: 'Remember how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart' (Is. 38:3). But this is accomplished when the deed agrees with the heart. Let us draw near in full assurance of faith: 'He that comes to God must believe' (Heb. 11:6). Nor is just any faith sufficient, but full faith is required. But this involves two things, namely, that all things proposed for our belief be believed, and that it be formed faith, which is accomplished by charity: 'Love is the fullness of the law' (Rom. 13:10).

506. – In regard to the sacrament of faith he says, having our hearts sprinkled, which is an allusion to Numbers (19:12), where is described the ceremony of the red cow, the water from which was sprinkled on an unclean person on the third; but on the seventh day his body and clothing were washed with other water. By the sprinkling with water of the red cow the passion of Christ was prefigured, because on the third day, i.e., by faith in the Trinity in baptism we are cleansed from our sins. In regard to this he says, having our hearts, not our bodies, sprinkled clean: 'You have come to the sprinkling of blood' (Heb. 12:24). Having our hearts sprinkled clean, not from contact with a corpse, as by the water of the red cow, but from an evil conscience. Of the washing performed on the seventh day he says, and our bodies washed with pure water. For in baptism not only does the power of the passion work, but the gifts of the Holy Spirit are infused in us. Hence, on the seventh day, i.e., in the fullness of the gifts of the Holy Spirit the entire man is washed inside and out from all sin, both actual and original, which is, as it were, corporeal, because the soul contracts it by uniting with tainted flesh. The Holy Spirit is called water, because He cleanses: 'Purifying their hearts by faith' (Ac. 15:9); 'I will pour upon you clean water and you shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols' (Ez. 36:25); 'There shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner and of the unclean woman' (Zech. 13:1); 'By the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Spirit' (Tit. 3:5). As a sign of this the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form upon Christ baptized.

498. – From henceforth waiting [expecting] until his enemies be made a stool for his feet. This expecting does not imply any anxiety in Christ, as it does in men, because 'hope that is deferred afflicts the soul' (Pr. 13:12), but it designates His will to have mercy: 'The Lord waits that he may have mercy only' (Is. 30:18). Therefore, those who are willing are subjected under His feet, i.e., to His humanity; and in this their salvation consists, namely, in doing His will: 'How long do you refuse to submit to me?' (Ex. 10:3). But the wicked, who are unwilling submit to it because even though they do not accomplish His will per se, yet it is fulfilled in their regard as a work of justice. Consequently, all things are subject in one of those ways: 'You have subjected all things under his feet' (Ps. 8:8).

524. – Then (v. 29) he describes something which refers to the New Testament: first, he states the punishment; secondly, the crime (v. 29b).

525. – In regard to the punishment he says, how much worse punishment do you think he deserves? For since the New Testament was preached by Christ, a person who sins under it is punished more severely: 'But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you' (Mt. 11:22).

526. – But is a Christian who sins punished more than an unbeliever? If he is, it were better for all to be unbelievers. I answer that the case of those who scorn the faith is one thing, because they are scorners in the full sense; but the case of those who from ignorance do not hold to the faith not announced to them is another. For the sin of unbelief is not imputed to the latter. But those who scorn the faith announced to them are punished more severely, because the sin of unbelief is the greatest. Therefore, if we compare a Christian with a Jew who does not scorn, and each is an adulterer, the Christian is punished more severely than the Jew, not only because he is an adulterer, but because he is more ungrateful.

527. – But is it generally true that the same specific sin is punished more severely in a greater person? I answer that there are two ways of sinning: one way is on a sudden, and so when a person dedicates himself to the things of God, if he sins all of a sudden, he is punished less: 'The Lord who is good will show mercy to all of those who with their whole heart seek the Lord, the God of our fathers' (2 Chr. 30:18); 'When the just man falls, he shall not be bruised' (Ps. 36:24). But if he sins from contempt, he sins more grievously, because, since he is in a higher state, he is more scornful. It is of these that he is speaking here, because they are more ungrateful.

528. – In regard to guilt he says, who has spurned the Son of God. Here it should be noted that the Apostle weighs the gravity of guilt in those who sin in the New Testament from the benefits conferred on us by God in it. But God has given us something He considered most important, the precious, namely, His only begotten Son: 'By whom he has given us most great and precious promises' (2 Pt. 1:4). He also gave the Holy Spirit: 'I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh' (Jl. 2:28); 'The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us' (Rom. 5:5). But ingratitude after such favors aggravates the sin.

529. – In regard to the ingratitude after receiving the Son, two things must be considered and pondered, namely, the mystery of the incarnation, in which He was given to us (Is. 9), and the sacrament of the passion in which He offered Himself for us: 'The blood of Christ who by the Holy Spirit offered himself unspotted unto God' (Heb. 9:14). Therefore, in regard to the first he says, who has spurned the Son of God made incarnate for us, i.e., has belittled Him by believing that faith in the Son of God is not sufficient for salvation: 'Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been set forth' (Gal. 3:1). Also not by obeying His commandments and not living according to His teaching: 'They that despise me shall be despised' (1 Sam. 2:30). In regard to the second he says, and profaned the blood of the testament, i.e., Christ's blood which confirmed the New Testament: 'This is my blood of the new testament' (Mt. 26:28) and has profaned, i.e., has considered it unable to cleanse, as something unclean in itself does not cleanse: 'What can be made clean by the unclean?' (Sir. 34:4). As if to say: no one, namely, in the sense that only the blood of animals can cleanse. Furthermore, he has esteemed it unclean, who, after being washed by His power in baptism, sins by returning to his vomit: 'He loved us and cleansed us from our sins in his blood' (Rev. 1:5). Therefore, he says, by which he was sanctified: 'But you are washed, but you are sanctified, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. 6:11); 'In every place there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles' (Mal. 1:11). Again, one who sins after the other sacraments can also be said to esteem Christ's blood unclean.

530. – Furthermore, the sin is aggravated for scorning the Holy Spirit; hence, he says, and outraged the Spirit of grace, by not believing that the grace of the Holy Spirit is given through Christ, as it says in John (14:16): 'I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete', and that it is not sufficient for salvation without the solemnities of the Law, as though ascribing the remission of sins to the observances of the Law.

531. – Or he treads Christ under foot by receiving Him unworthily after being given freely by the Holy Spirit: 'For it is the gift of God; not of works' (Eph. 2:8), and he injures Christ by expelling Him by sin: 'He shall not abide when iniquity comes in' (Wis. 1:5); 'Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God' (Eph. 4:30); 'Extinguish not the spirit' (1 Th. 5:19).

501. – After showing the many ways in which Christ's priesthood is superior to that of the Old Law, the Apostle, in keeping with his practice, comes to a conclusion and exhorts us to adhere faithfully to that priesthood. For above, after recommending something the Apostle always gave an admonition, because he took the trouble to commend Christ's grace, in order to incline them to obey Christ and desist from the ceremonies of the Law. Therefore, in regard to this he does two things: first, he gives the admonition; secondly, he gives the reason (v. 26). In regard to the first it should be noted that he had said two things about the priesthood of Christ, namely, the power of its rite, because by his own blood, and its dignity, because he is a high priest forever. Therefore, in the admonition he recalls these two things, so that in urging faithful obedience to Christ he first mentions those two things; secondly, he gives the admonition (v. 22). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he recalls the rite of the priesthood; secondly, its dignity (v. 21).

502. – He says, therefore: Therefore, brethren by mutual charity, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary [holies] by the blood of Christ: 'In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him' (Eph. 3:12): 'You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in your most firm habitation' (Ex. 15:17); 'I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord' (Ps. 121:1). And this in the blood of Christ, because 'This is the blood of the new testament' (Mt. 26:28), i.e., of the new promise about heavenly things.

543. – The way to keep it is patience; hence, he says, for you have need of patience. For just as meekness moderates anger, so patience puts a limit to sadness, so that it will not exceed the bounds of reason. But sadness is sometimes caused by evils inflicted or by good deferred: 'Hope that is deferred, afflicts the soul' (Pr. 13:12). But it is properly called patience, when it is concerned with the first; but long-suffering, when it is concerned with the second. Here, however, patience stands for both: not only for enduring evil, but for long-suffering in the face of good things deferred. He says, therefore, that in regard to both, patience is necessary for us: 'The patient man is better than the valiant' (Pr. 16:32); 'In your patience you shall possess your souls' (Lk. 21:19); 'Patience has a perfect work' (Jas. 1:4).

544. – Why is it necessary? That you may do the will of God and receive the promise, i.e., fulfilling God's will, which is done by obeying God's commandments, which are the signs of God's will. Hence, doing the signified will of God, which is the way God's will is sometimes taken in the Scripture: 'His ministers who do his will' (Ps. 102:21). Thus, you will receive the promise, i.e., the things promised, which is given to those who work: 'Call the workers and give them their hire' (Mt. 20:8); 'In your patience you shall possess your souls' (Lk. 21:19); 'He that perseveres unto the end, he shall be saved' (Mt. 24:13); 'I will suddenly speak against a nation and against a kingdom, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy it. If that nation against which I have spoken shall repent of their evil, I also will repent of the evil I have thought to do to them. And I will suddenly speak of a nation and of a kingdom, to build up and plant it' (Jer. 18:7).

510. – Then (v. 24) he mentions what pertains to charity. He does three things: first, he does what he said; secondly, he removes the contrary of charity (v. 25); thirdly, he assigns the reason from the fittingness of the time (v. 25b).

511. – In regard to the first it should be noted that although charity principally clings to God, it is shown by love of neighbor: 'He that does not love his neighbor, whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?' (1 Jn. 4:20). Therefore, it pertains to charity to love one's neighbor; hence, he says, let us consider one another, so that we will be careful to do what pertains to our neighbor: 'And he gave to everyone of them commandment concerning his neighbor' (Sir. 17:12). But because some consider some things that pertain to their neighbor with the zeal of envy, and some with the zeal of hatred, against whom Proverbs (24:5) says: 'Seek not after wickedness in the house of the just,' he says, to stir them to charity, i.e., that we provoke them to charity: 'As long as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I will honor my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them who are my flesh, and may save some of them' (Rom. 11:13). But such provocation proceeds from love, which extends to outward works: 'Let us not love in word, nor in tongue, but in deed and in truth' (1 Jn. 3:18). For as Gregory says: 'The love of God is not idle: for it does great things, if it exists, but if it refuses to work, it is not love. Therefore, the proof of love is the showing forth of the work.' Hence, he says, the good works: 'Being fruitful in every good work' (Col. 1:10).

But he shows how we have confidence in entering, because Christ by His blood opened a new and living way for us: 'He shall go up that shall open the way before them' (Mic. 2:13); 'If I shall go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself' (Jn. 14:3); 'It shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it' (Is. 35:8). This, therefore, is the way to go to heaven. It is new, because before Christ no one had found it: 'No man has ascended into heaven, but he that descended from heaven' (Jn. 3:13). Therefore, he that would ascend must inhere in Him as a member in the head: 'To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is the paradise of my God' (Rev. 2:7); 'And I will write upon him the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem' (Rev. 3:12), because they will be brought in anew. Living, i.e., always continuing. In this appears the power of the godhead, because it is always living. But he shows what that way is when he says, through the curtain [veil], that is, through his flesh. For just as the priest entered into the holy of holies through the veil, so we, if we would enter the holy of glory, must enter through Christ's flesh, which was a veil of his divinity: 'Verily, you are a hidden God' (Is. 45:15). For faith in the godhead is not enough without faith in the incarnation: 'You believe in God, believe also in me' (Jn. 14:1). Or, through the veil, i.e., through His flesh given to us under the veil of the appearance of bread in the sacrament. He is not offered to us under His own form because of dread and to obtain the merit of faith.

503. – Then he commends the dignity of the priesthood when he says, a great high priest, who dedicated the way for us. As if to say: Having a confidence in entering in through the priest, namely, Jesus: 'You are a priest forever' (Ps. 109:4). He is called a great priest, because His priesthood is not merely over one people, as Aaron's was, but over the house of God, i.e., the entire Church Militant and Triumphant: 'That you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church' (1 Tim. 3:15). He says, over, because 'Moses was faithful in all my house as a servant' (Num. 12:7), but Christ over the whole house as the Son, Who is the Lord of all things: 'All power is given to me in heaven and in earth' (Mt. 28:18).

534. – Then when he says, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, he gives the conclusion: For since vengeance is reserved to God Who will judge His people, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For the stronger and more just a judge is, the more he is to be feared: 'God is a just judge, strong and patient' (Ps. 7:12). Therefore, it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands: 'It is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord' (Dan. 13:23); 'If we do not penance, we shall fall into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men' (Sir. 2:22).

535. – But on the other hand, David considered it better to fall into the hands of God (2 Sam. 24:17). I answer that a man sins by offending a man and by offending God. But it is better to fall into the hands of a man by offending him than into the hands of God by offending Him. Or one might say that it is better for a sinner, who is scornful, to fall into the hands of a man, but for the sinner who repents, into the hands of God. This is the way David chose. Or it might be said that until the day of judgment it is not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God, Who judges mercifully, as long as He is the Father of mercies; but after the judgment, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of God, when as the God of vengeance, He will judge our justices. For at present, as one who has experienced infirmity, out of pity He judges mercifully.

484. – Then (v. 5) he cites an authority from Scripture. In regard to this he does two things: first, he cites it; secondly, he explains it (v. 8). This authority can be divided into two parts according to a Gloss: first, it deals with Christ's incarnation prefigured in the Law, secondly, with his passion (v. 7). Yet according to the Apostle's intention it can be said differently that: first, he touches on what pertains to the rejection of the Old Testament; secondly, what pertains to the acceptance of the New Testament (v. 7b).

485. – This authority fits Christ, in so far as His coming into the world is concerned. He says, therefore: Because it would not remove sin, the Son of God coming into the world said. But on the other hand, it says in Jn (1:10): 'He was in the world.' I answer that it is true that He was in the world as ruling the whole world, inasmuch as He is said to be in all things by His essence, presence and power; but He is outside the world, because He is not comprehended by the world, but has a goodness separated from the entire world, by which the goodness of the universe is caused. Yet, because He assumed a human nature for us, He is said to enter into the world, as was stated above: 'And again when he brings in the first begotten into the world' (Heb. 1:6).

486. – Coming, therefore, into the world he said. But what did He say? Sacrifice and offering you did not desire. But he mentions four things that were in the Old Testament: because the sacrifice was either of inanimate things, such as bread or incense, and then it was called an offering; or of animate things, and then it was offered either to placate God, and was called a holocaust, which was most fitting, because it was completely burned and gave honor to God, or it was offered for cleansing from sin, and was called a sacrifice for sin. But this latter had two parts: for one part was burned on the altar and the other was granted to the ministers for their own use; or it was for God's benefits and was less fitting, because only one third was burned, one third given to the ministers, and one third to the ones who made the offering: and this was called a holocaust of peace. Now the offering of Christ's body in the New Testament corresponds to all of these, because God was placated by the body of Christ, i.e., in offering Himself on the cross: 'When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son' (Rom. 5:10). Furthermore, sin was removed by it: 'Christ has died once for our sins' (1 Pt 3:18). Then by it we are introduced to eternal goods, and merit God's benefits.

487. – Hence, he says, sacrifice and offerings you did not desire, and then adds: but a body you have prepared for me, i.e., fit for immolation; and this for two reasons. First, because it was most pure, to wipe away all sin: 'It shall be a lamb without blemish' (Ex. 12:5); secondly, because it would suffer and be immolated: 'God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh' (Rom. 8:3). But that body is a true sacrifice and a true oblation: 'He has delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness' (Eph. 5:2).

483. – Then when he says, For it is impossible that the blood of oxen and goats should take away sins, he proves the same thing by reason of the condition of the things offered. For the offering of oxen and goats, which took place on the day of atonement, was the most solemn of their offerings. And since it was an obscure and imperfect representation of heavenly things, as a shadow, it was impossible that sin be taken away by their blood. This is true, so far as their own power was concerned. But if any sins were remitted, it was due to the power of Christ's blood: 'Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes in which you have boasted?' (Jer. 11:15). As if to say: No.

493. – Then (v. 10) he explains what he had said about God's will, for the fulfillment of which Christ came, namely, what that will is. But this will is described in 1 Thessalonians (4:5): 'This is the will of God, your sanctification.' Hence, he says, by that will we are sanctified, and this by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ: 'He has delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God' (Eph. 5:2); once for all: 'Jesus Christ died once for our sins' (1 Pt. 3:18).

The second thing he prefaced is that in the Old Testament a commemoration was made of his own sins and those of the people every year. Therefore, they were abolished. Hence, he says, in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. This is true, for mention was made of sins in general, namely, that he was conscious of sin; but special mention is made in the New: 'Confess, therefore, your sins one to another' (Jas. 5:16).

545. – Then (v. 37) he cites an authority to prove what he had said. In regard to this he does two things: first, he states it; secondly, he applies it to his thesis (v. 39). In regard to the first he does three things: first, he suggests how near the reward is; secondly, he describes the condition of the reward (v. 38); thirdly, he mentions the danger of losing the reward (v. 38b).

546. – In regard to the first it should be noted that this authority seems to be from Habakkuk (chap. 2); nevertheless, the first words are taken from Haggai (chap. 2). But he probably did this because both were speaking about the same coming. For Habakkuk (2:3) says: 'As yet the vision is far off,' and Haggai (2:7) 'Yet one little while.' Therefore, he uses the words of one as though they were the words of the other. Or better, because the Apostle is speaking of his own time, namely, after the incarnation and resurrection, from which less time remains until the judgment than remained from the time of the prophet, he prefers to use Haggai's words at the beginning. Yet the two authorities agree in the end. Or, one could say that he is speaking as though of himself, and should be delivered no less than the prophets.

547. – But there are two comings of the Lord according to the two judgments: one is general, namely, at the end of the world in the general judgment; the other is particular, after every person's death. But in regard to both he says, for yet a little while, as far as the length of time is concerned. And, of course, in regard to the first, although it is much compared to the flow of time in relation to ourselves; yet it is brief compared to eternity: 'For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, which is past' (Ps. 89:4); 'Behold, I come quickly' (Rev. 22:12). But as to the particular, which is at death, and concerning which Jn (14:3) says: 'I shall come again and take you to myself,' it does not make much difference whether it is less or more, because in the judgment each one will be as he is when he dies. Therefore, we should strive to appear good at death, because where I find you, there I will judge you. Hence, he says, a little while, because tribulations are not of long duration: For if they are overwhelming, they are destroyed, but if they are slight, they are not quickly ended: 'That which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation works for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory' (2 Cor. 4:17). Therefore, the coming one shall come quickly and will not tarry, either in death or in the judgment: 'Behold the judge stands before the door' (Jas. 5:9).

494. – Then (v. 11) he compares the priest of the new and Old Testaments. Here it should be noted that there were two solemn sacrifices in the Law: one on the day of atonement offered by the high priest alone; the other was the continual sacrifice, where one lamb was offered in the morning and another in the evening (Num. 28). This is the one the Apostle intends to discuss here, and in regard to it he does three things: first, he lays down what pertains to the priest of the Old Testament; secondly, what pertains to the priest of the New (v. 12); thirdly, he supports all this with authority (v. 15).

495. – He says, therefore; every priest stands daily at his service. He says, every, to distinguish this sacrifice from the one of atonement offered by the high priest alone. But in the former, every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, because they always offered a lamb: which daily sacrifices can never take away sins, because they were repeated: 'Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes in which you have boasted?' (Jer. 11:15). But that continual sacrifice prefigured Christ and the eternity of Him Who is the lamb without blemish.

512. – Then he removes the contrary of charity when he says, not neglecting to meet together. For since charity is love, whose function is to unite, because, as Dionysius says, love is a uniting force: 'That they may be one, even as we are one… and the world may know that you have loved them as you have also loved me' (Jn. 17:22); therefore, to withdraw from one another is directly opposed to charity. Hence, he says, not neglecting to meet together in the assembly, namely, of the Church, which some forsake in three ways: first, by apostasy from the faith because of persecutions. These are signified by those of whom it is said (Jn. 6:67) that 'they went back; and walked no more with him'; 'When there arise tribulation and persecution because of the word, he is presently scandalized' (Mt. 13:21); 'They believe for a while, and in time of temptation they fall away' (Lk. 8:13). Secondly, wicked prelates who leave the sheep in danger: 'The hireling flees, because he is a hireling' (Jn. 10:13). But others from pride, because, since they could be useful for ruling, they separate themselves from the others on a note of pride: 'These are they, who separate themselves, sensual men, having not the spirit' (Jude 1:19) as though under the pretext of higher perfection. Perhaps there were such at that time also; hence, he continues, as is the habit of some, against whom it says in 1 Corinthians (11:16): 'If any man seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor the church of God.' Then he adds what they should do, saying, but encouraging one another; as if to say: if you observe that your companion is not behaving well, do not desert him, but console him, not as those who forsake the assembly, of whom he says, as some do.

513. – Then (v. 25b) he gives the reason for this. For someone could say: Why should we make progress in the faith? Because a natural movement, the closer it gets to its goal, the more intense it becomes, whereas the opposite is true of a forced movement. But grace inclines in the manner of nature; therefore, he says, not neglecting, as some do, but encouraging; and this all the more as you see the day, i.e., the end, approaching: 'The night is passed, and the day is at hand' (Rom. 13:12); 'The path of the just, as a shining light, goes forward and increases even to perfect day' (Pr. 4:18).

519. – Then (v. 28) he proves what he had said about the terror of the judgment: first, by arguing from the lesser; secondly, by an authority (v. 30). He takes the first from the Law. For a person deserves a greater punishment to the degree that he scorns a more sacred thing. Therefore, since the Old Testament is not as sacred as the New, but a transgressor of the Old was punished very severely, it follows that a transgressor of the New should be punished even more severely. In regard to this argument he does two things: first, he describes what was done in the Old; secondly, what will be done in the New (v. 29).

520. – In regard to the Old he mentions the punishment and the crime: the crime, when he says, a man violating [making void] the law of Moses. That is said to be made void which does not attain its due end. But not only the Old Law, but every law, is given to induce men to virtue and make them abstain from vices. Therefore, a person who transgresses a law and gives himself over to vices, as far as he is concerned, makes the law void: 'You have made void the commandment of God for your tradition' (Mt. 15:6); 'The male, whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he has broken my covenant' (Gen. 17:14).

521. – Then he describes the punishment, when he says, without mercy. This punishment is very grievous, because it inflicts death; hence, he says, he dies: 'Wizards you shall not suffer to live' (Ex. 22:18). And because there is no amnesty, he says, without mercy: 'He shall die, and you shall not pity him' (Dt. 19:12-13).

522. – But did the Law exclude God's mercy? It seems not: 'I desired mercy and not sacrifice' (Hos. 6:6). I answer that there is a difference among mercy, clemency and pardon: for there is mercy, when a man by reason of an emotion of the heart and mind remits a punishment; but sometimes this is against justice, which forbids it. But there is pardon, when part of the debt of punishment is remitted for the public good. There is clemency, when not only part of the punishment but also part of the guilt is judged more leniently. The last two are not forbidden; but mercy described in the first way is forbidden, because it is against justice and breeds dissoluteness.

523. – He dies, therefore, convicted under two or three witnesses: 'By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand' (Dt. 17:6). But the reason why the Law fixes the number of witnesses is, according to Augustine, to designate the unchangeableness of the truth, which is in the Holy Trinity. Furthermore, it makes no difference if two or three persons are named, because the third is always understood in the two, namely, the Holy Spirit, Who is the nexus of the other two. That, of course, is a mystical reason. But the literal reason is because in a judgment, where one affirms and another denies, one is not to be believed more than the other; but a group must be believed. But a group is completed, when there are three; therefore, it is enough, if there are two accusers; but a third witness is added in abundance.

491. – Then when he says, when he said above, he explains the authority he quoted. In regard to this he does two things: first, by assigning the order in which he shall speak, he states the difference between the Old and New Testaments; secondly, he explains in detail something presupposed by the authority (v. 10).

492. – We have said that two things were touched upon in the authority cited: one pertains to the rejection of the Old Testament; the other to the approval of the New. But the Old Testament was rejected in two ways: first, because God does not want its sacrifices; secondly, because they do not please Him. Hence, David the prophet is saying above, i.e., in the beginning. What does he say? Sacrifices and offerings and burnt for sin you desired not: 'I desire not holocausts of rams, and fat of fatlings, and blood of calves and lambs and buck goats' (Is. 1:11); neither are they pleasing to you (these are offered according to the law), i.e., You are not delighted with them: 'With burnt offerings you will not be delighted' (Ps. 50:18), unless it be because they are figures or inasmuch as they kept them from idolatry.

500. – Then when he says, and the Holy Spirit also bears witness to this, he confirms what he had said by citing an authority taken from Jeremiah (31:33). Since this text has been explained above in chap. 8, we pass over it at present. Yet it can be divided into two parts: first, he cites the authority; secondly, he argues from it (v. 18).

479. – Having considered the things done in both testaments to show the superiority of the New Testament over the Old, the Apostle now proves something he had presupposed, namely, that the Old was not able to cleanse sins. This is the last of the five things he had prefaced about Christ. In regard to this he does two things: first, he shows the failure of the Old Testament in regard to abolishing guilt; secondly, on this point he compares the priest of the New Testament with the priest of the Old Testament (v. 11). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he states his intention; secondly, he proves it on the authority of Scripture (v. 5). In regard to the first he does two things: First, he sets forth what he intends; secondly, he proves (v. 2).

480. – In regard to the first it should be noted that the Apostle concludes to this failing from the condition and rite of the Old Law. But sin deprived man of future goods; hence, as though that sin pertained to future goods, i.e., heavenly, the Old Law is related to those goods as a shadow to a body, but the New Law as an image. Now a shadow and an image agree in the fact that each represents something: but a shadow represents in general, and as to the nature of the species; an image, however, does so in particular and as to the nature of the individual, and specifically. So, too, the New Law, as far as future goods are concerned, represents more explicitly than the Old: first, because express mention and a promise of good things to come are found in the words of the New Testament, but not in the Old, which mentions only carnal goods; secondly, because the power of the New Testament consists in charity, which is the fulfillment of the Law. And although this charity is imperfect by reason of the faith in which it inheres, it is, nevertheless, similar to the charity of heaven. Hence, the New Law is called the law of love. Hence, it is called an image, because it has an expressed likeness to the goods to come. But the Old Law represented it by carnal things; hence it is called a shadow: 'Which are a shadow of things to come' (Col. 2:17). This therefore is the condition of the Old Testament, that it was but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities. Its rite consisted in offering the same sacrifice every year on the day of atonement, namely, the blood of goats and bulls, for sin, as is clear from Leviticus (chap. 25). From these two facts he draws his conclusion, namely, the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities; it can never, by the same sacrifices which are continually offered every year made perfect those who draw near, i.e., the high priests: 'The law brought nothing to perfection' (Heb. 7:19). But that perfection is reserved for the New Law and consists in charity, which is the bond of perfection' (Col. 3:14). Therefore, it says in Matthew (5:48): 'Be you, therefore, perfect.'

Therefore, after saying this he continues: Then said I, namely, when You fitted to me a body for my passion, or when they did not please you, Lo, I have come, either to the incarnation or to the passion. To what end? To do your will, O God: 'I came down from heaven to do the will of him that sent me' (Jn. 6:38); 'My meat is to do the will of him that sent me' (Jn. 4:34). Therefore, the prophet in saying this, abolishes the first, in order to establish the second. With these words he shows the difference between the Old and New Testaments, because in speaking of the Old he says that God does not want them and that they do not please Him, i.e., of themselves; therefore, they are taken away. But when he speaks of the New he says that He wants it, because I have come to do your will. Therefore, the New is established and confirmed as being in accord with God's will: 'The new coming on, you shall cast out the old' (Lev. 26:10).

499. – Then (v. 14) he gives the reason why He sits as Lord and not as a minister similar to the priests of the Old Testament, who could not take away sin by one sacrifice and, consequently, had to offer many others frequently: 'Every high priest is appointed to offer up gifts and sacrifices' (Heb. 5:1); but the sacrifice which Christ offered takes away all sins: 'Christ was offered once to exhaust the sins of many' (Heb. 9:28). Hence, he says that by one offering he has perfected for all time. This He did by reconciling us and uniting us to God as to our principle; those who are sanctified, because Christ's sacrifice, since He is God and man, has power to sanctify forever: 'Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate' (Heb. 13:12). For by Him we are sanctified and united to God: 'By whom we have access to God' (Rom. 5:12).

548. – But he indicates the ones to be rewarded when he says, But my righteous [just] man lives by faith. This same text is found in Romans (1:17) and Galatians (3:11). But the reward is paid only to the just: 'The salvation of the just is from the Lord' (Ps. 36:39). But justice is of two kinds: one in regard to human judgment: 'not knowing the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own' (Rom. 10:3); the other in regard to divine: 'They were both just before the Lord' (Lk. 1:6). But God requires the latter justice; hence, he says, my just man, i.e., the justice which is ordained to me, i.e., who is just to me and for me. But that by which a man is justified is faith: 'The justice of God by faith of Jesus Christ' (Rom. 3:22). The reason for this is that a man is just, because he is ordained to God; but that by which a man is first ordained to God is faith; therefore, he says, My just man lives by faith: 'He that comes to God must believe' (Heb. 11:6). Not only is justice by faith, but the one justified lives by faith. For just as the body lives by the soul, so the soul lives by God. Hence, just as the body lives by that through which the soul is first united to the body, so by that through which God is first united to the soul, the soul lives. But this is faith, because it is the first thing in the spiritual life: 'If you will not believe, you shall not continue' (Is. 7:9), just as a house does not remain, if the foundation is destroyed: 'And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God' (Gal. 2:20). But faith not formed by charity is dead; therefore, it does not give life to the soul without charity: 'We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren' (1 Jn. 3:14). Or, my just man lives by faith, i.e., is considered such by me, and has the life of glory without actual suffering, if the opportunity to suffer is not given.

549. – Then when he says, but if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him, he shows the danger hanging over a person who does not continue in the justice of faith. For since it lies within the power of the believer to destroy himself or to save himself, he says, but if he shrinks back, namely, from the faith and from justice, my soul has no pleasure in him. Our version has Habakkuk (2:4): 'His soul shall not be right in himself.' But the sense is the same. Jerome says that wherever the Hebrew differs from the Septuagint, the Apostle uses what he learned from Gamaliel, at whose feet he learned the Law. Therefore, my soul, i.e., my will, has no pleasure in him. For the will of God should be the rule of our actions. Therefore, a person who does not agree with God's will, his soul is not right.

541. – Then (v. 35) he shows what remains for them to do, i.e., to retain the confidence obtained from their good works. In regard to this he does three things: first, he gives an admonition; secondly, how to observe the admonition (v. 36); thirdly, he proves this with an authority (v. 37).

542. – He says, therefore: Inasmuch as you have done so many good things in the first days of your conversion, it should cause you to have much confidence in God; do not, therefore, throw away your confidence, which you will lose, if you stop doing good: which has a great reward: 'Be glad and rejoice for your reward is very great in heaven' (Mt. 5:12); 'I am your protector and your reward exceeding great' (Gen. 15:1).

517. – Then when he says, but a fearful prospect of judgment, he frightens them with the expectation of God's judgment, in regard to which he does two things: first, he frightens them; secondly, he gives a reason (v. 28).

518. – Thus, therefore, it has been stated that no further sacrifice is left. What then? That which was stated above in chap. 9, namely, that after death comes the judgment: 'Know that there is a judgment' (Jb. 19:29). The expectation of that judgment is dreadful both because of the consciousness of sins: 'We all offend in many ways' (Jas. 3:2) and because of the imperfection of our justices: 'All our justices are as the rag of a menstruous woman' (Is. 64:6); 'I am afraid of your judgments' (Ps. 118:120); 'I have heard and my bowels were troubled' (Hab. 3:16). This expectation is also distressing; hence, he says, and a fury of fire, i.e., the punishment by fire, which is inflicted by the jealous zeal of divine justice: 'I am the Lord, your God, mighty, jealous' (Ex. 20:5). But zeal is a spouse's love. Therefore, just as a husband does not spare a wicked wife, so neither God a sinful soul: 'The jealousy and rage of the husband will not spare in the day of judgment' (Pr. 6:34). He continues, which will consume the adversaries: 'A fire shall go before him and shall burn his enemies round about' (Ps. 96:3), because the fire, which will go before the face of the judge, will burn the bodies of living things and will cast the reprobate into hell and consume their bodies, not by totally consuming them but by torturing them forever.

538. – Then when he says, and on the one hand by abuse and affliction you were made a gazing stock, he shows what these afflictions were. For a person suffers in two ways: in himself by enduring affliction, and in someone else by taking pity on another's affliction. But they suffered in both ways. In regard to the first way, he says, and on the one hand, i.e., with respect to yourselves, you were made a gazing stock, which is very disagreeable for a wise man. For if a fool is mocked, it is not serious, even if he endures a great amount of derision from others, but to a wise man it is a burden. Furthermore, if he is troubled and mocked by his persecutor, it is very disagreeable. Therefore, he shows how great their affliction was, because they were made a gazing stock, i.e., no one took pity on them but instead rejoiced in their afflictions, i.e., in their reproaches: 'The reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen upon me' (Ps. 68:10); 'Many are the tribulations of the just' (Ps. 33:20); 'We are made a spectacle to the world,' unto derision, 'And to angels' unto congratulation, 'And to men' who use their reason 'unto imitation' (1 Cor. 4:9). In regard to the second he says, and on the other, became partners of those who were so treated, i.e., of those who suffered such things: and this by compassion and by administering aid: 'Communicating to the necessities of the saints' (Rom. 12:13).

550. – Then when he says, but we are not of those that shrink back and are destroyed, he applies this to his thesis. As if to say: This is the way it will be in the case of those who withdraw from the faith; but we are not the children of withdrawing unto perdition. But a person is said to be a son of anything which rules him. Thus, a person is called the son of death, when that by which he is rejected by God, rules him: 'These are they who separate themselves, sensual men, having not the Spirit' (Jude 1:19). Unto destruction of the soul: 'You have destroyed all them that are disloyal to you' (Ps. 72:26); 'And the way of the wicked shall perish' (Ps. 1:6); but of those who have faith, i.e., reborn in Christ, and save their souls. For a person who keeps God's commandments saves his soul: 'If you will enter into life, keep the commandments' (Mt. 19:17); 'We are not of the night, or of darkness' (1 Th. 5:5). Therefore, let us not fail from the faith.

539. – Then when he says, for you had compassion on the prisoners [them that were in bands], he explains what he had said. First of all in regard to the second, namely, how they had compassion, for among the Jews many were in bands; as it says in Acts (8:3) that Paul made havoc in the Church, committing men and women to prison: 'I was in prison and you visited me' (Mt. 25:36). In regard to the first he says, and the plundering of your property for helping those in bands, you took with joy: 'Count it all joy, when you shall fall into diverse temptations' (Jas. 1:2); 'The Apostles went from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus' (Ac. 5:41).

540. – But with what joy? Should tribulations be loved? It certainly seems not, because Augustine says: 'You are commanded to bear them, not love them.' I answer that they are not loved for their own sake, but for something else: and that is the way they loved them; hence, he continues, since you knew that you had a better and abiding possession, namely, other riches more important, which are increased by the removal of those riches, by which they are called better. For temporal riches are hollow, because they consist in things that are beneath men; but spiritual riches consist in God, namely, in the enjoyment of God: 'Riches of salvation, wisdom and love; the fear of the Lord is his treasure' (Is. 33:6). Furthermore, they last, because the others fail of themselves and can be taken away; but these cannot: 'Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven' (Mt. 6:19).

514. – Having commended the superiority of Christ's priesthood and added an admonition to adhere to His priesthood by faith and charity, the Apostle now proves his admonition by reason. He does this in two ways: first, by instilling fear; secondly, by speaking gently (v. 32). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he frightens them into observing his admonition because of the removal of the remedy; secondly, because of the judgment to come (v. 27).

515. – He says, therefore: For if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin. This is explained in two ways: in one way according to a Gloss, which seems to make a distinction between willing sinners and sinning voluntarily, so that the willing sinner is one who is led by passion to consent to sin, about which he did not think beforehand; but the one who sins voluntarily does so from certain malice, because his will is so prone to sin that he yields at once: 'They are all turned to their own course, as a horse rushing to battle' (Jer. 8:6), and does not repent afterwards: 'They are glad when they have done evil' (Pr. 2:14). Therefore, they sin deliberately, i.e., continue in the will to sin. And he continues exaggeratingly, after receiving the knowledge of the truth: 'It is better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after they have known it, to turn back' (2 Pt. 2:21), 'there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins', i.e., the sacrifice which Christ offered for the remission of sins does not profit them, because those who repent have their sins forgiven: 'This is the blood of the new testament, which will be shed for you' (Mt. 26:28), i.e., efficaciously, but of the wicked it is said: 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength without cause and in vain' (Is. 49:4); 'The founder has melted in vain, for their wicked deeds are not consumed' (Jer. 6:29).

516. – But it is better to say, in keeping with the Apostle's aim, that according to Augustine, free will has many states: because in the state outside of grace, before that state is repaired by grace, it is not in our power to sin and not to sin mortally: and this, because of the preconceived end and the habit inclining. This is true for a long time, but if one acts from premeditation, he can avoid this sin or that for a while. But after man has been repaired by grace, it is entirely within his power to avoid mortal sin and even venial sin in particular, but not altogether in general; and this is due to the help of sanctifying grace. Therefore, he says, for if we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, i.e., after receiving grace, by which the knowledge of sin is possessed: because before the knowledge of sin, our sin is not imputed to us. But afterwards, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, because before the reparation, which was accomplished by Christ, that sacrifice which was awaited was left, but now His death is no longer awaited; so, too, after baptism, no further baptism is awaited.

In burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure. It is a greater thing to please than to will, because those things please which something causes us to will; but sometimes we will certain things not for their own sake but for something else. Therefore, because holocausts were more fitting, but he says that they were not pleasing, then much less the others.

488. – But on the other hand it says in Leviticus (1:9): 'The priest shall burn them upon the altar for a holocaust and a sweet savor to the Lord.' Further, if He did not want them, why did He command them to be offered? I answer that the statement that the Lord did not want them can be understood in two ways: In one way, so that He does not want them at the time when, the truth coming, the shadow could cease; hence, a person would sin by offering them now. In another way, so that He does not want them for the sins of those who offer them: 'Your hands are full of blood' (Is. 1:15). The third answer toward which the Apostle is tending is that they were never pleasing to God of themselves, nor were they accepted. But they are said to be accepted for two reasons: first, because they were a figure of Christ Whose passion was accepted by God, for He was not pleased with the killing of animals but in faith in His passion: 'For all things happened to them in figure' (1 Cor. 10:11). Secondly, to restrain them from idolatry by means of those sacrifices; hence, the first time the Law was given, no mention was made of sacrifices, but only after they made the golden calf. Hence Jeremiah (7:22): 'I spoke not of your fathers, and I commanded them not in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning the matter of burnt offerings and sacrifices.'

481. – Then when he says, otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered? He proves his conclusion from two facts: first, from the rite; secondly, from the condition of the offerings (v. 4).

482. – To prove that the Law did not cleanse perfectly, he uses two facts: first, that there was frequent repetition of the same sacrifices in it. This is his reasoning: If the worshippers had once been cleansed by the same sacrifice, they would no longer have any consciousness of sin, so they would cease offering, because, as has been said, they offered the same sacrifices every year. Therefore, since they did not cease offering, it is a sign that they were not cleansed: 'They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill' (Mt. 9:12). But on the other hand, it could be said that that reasoning is not conclusive. For one could say that that offering cleansed from past sins, but not those to come. Therefore, because they sinned often, the offerings had to be repeated frequently. I answer that the way the Apostle speaks excludes this: for since sin is something spiritual, which is opposed to what is heavenly, it was necessary that whatever cleansed from sin should be spiritual and heavenly and, consequently, that it have everlasting power; hence, above (9:12), when he spoke about the power of Christ's sacrifice, he attributed an everlasting power to it, saying, 'having obtained eternal redemption.' But the fact that it has eternal power is enough for sins already committed and sins still to be committed; therefore, it was not necessary to repeat it any more. Hence 'Christ by one oblation perfected forever them that are sanctified' (Heb. 10:14). But the fact that we offer the sacrifice every day seems to contradict the statement that it is not repeated. I answer that we do not offer something different from what Christ offered for us, namely, His blood; hence, it is not a distinct oblation, but a commemoration of that sacrifice which Christ offered: 'Do this in commemoration of me' (Lk. 22:19).

He forms the following reason: Sins are remitted in the New Testament by Christ's sacrifice, because the blood of Christ was shed for the remission of sins; therefore, in the New Testament, in which sins and iniquities are forgiven, as the authority indicates, there is no offering to be repeated for sins: 'They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill' (Mt. 9:12). Therefore, where there is forgiveness of sins, there is no longer any offering for sin. For this would be to demean Christ's sacrifice.

496. – Then (v. 12) he shows what pertains to the priesthood of Christ. In regard to this he does two things: first, he states his intent; secondly, the reason (v. 14).

497. – He says, therefore: but when this man, namely, Christ, offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins. But the Old Law offered many sacrifices without expiating for sins. This man, therefore, offered one sacrifice, because He offered Himself once for our sins, and sat down at the right hand of God, not as a minister always standing, as the priests of the Old Law, but as the Lord: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand' (Ps. 109:1); 'He sits on the right hand of God' (Mk. 16:19); at the right hand of God the Father with equal power in the divine nature, but with the more important goods in the human nature: 'He sits on the right hand of the majesty on high' (Heb. 1:3); and this forever, for He will not die again, because 'Christ rising from the dead, dies now no more' (Rom. 6:9); 'His power is an everlasting power' (Dan. 7:14).

507. – Then he mentions what pertains to hope. He does two things: first, he exhorts to certitude in hope; secondly, he gives the reason (v. 23).

508. – It should be noted that by faith in Christ is given to us the hope of eternal life and entrance into the kingdom: 'He has regenerated us unto a lively hope' (1 Pt. 1:3). Hence, he says, Let us hold fast, not the hope, but the confession of our hope, because it is not enough to have hope in one's heart, but it must be confessed with the mouth: 'With the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation' (Rom. 10:10). Furthermore, it must be not only by word, but also by deeds; against those of whom it says in Titus (1:16): 'They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny him.' This confession is made by works, by which one tends to things hoped for: 'Hold fast what you have, that no man take your crown' (Rev. 3:11). Without wavering, i.e., not departing from that confession in prosperity or adversity: 'But such as turn aside into bonds, the Lord will lead out with the workers of iniquity' (Ps. 124:5); 'This is the way, walk in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand nor to the left' (Is. 30:21).

509. – The reason for this is because 'he is faithful who has promised', and He cannot lie: 'The Lord is faithful in all his works' (Ps. 144:13); 'God is faithful without any iniquity' (Dt. 32:4).

536. – After exhorting them by frightening reasons to cling to Christ by faith, hope and charity, the Apostle now gives pleasing reasons, as a good physician after cutting applies soothing lotions. For of all commendations for doing good, there is one which best stimulates a person to persevere in a good work already begun. For virtue praised acquires an immense drive, and glory is a strong stimulus. In regard to this he does two things: first, he recalls the good things they had done; secondly, he urges them to finish what still remains (v. 35). In regard to the first he does three things: first, he recalls in a general way the tribulations they suffered for the faith; secondly, he describes the kinds of tribulations (v. 33); thirdly, he explains these in detail (v. 34).

537. – Therefore, because past success stimulates a person to do better, just as bad fortune on the contrary leads to despair, he recalls their past good deeds, saying, but recall: 'I have remembered you' (Jer. 2:2), i.e., the good you accomplished; the former days, i.e., the first days of your conversion, when after you were enlightened by faith, which enlightens and cleanses the soul: 'Purifying their hearts by faith' (Ac. 15:9); 'Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem' (Is. 60:1). But this is accomplished by faith in Christ: 'That Christ may dwell in your hearts' (Eph. 3:17); 'To enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death' (Lk. 1:79). For the first light of the soul is faith. You endured a hard struggle with sufferings, i.e., struggled against the great suffering inflicted on you by those who persecuted Christ in you: 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' (Ac. 9:4), me, I say, in my members, because, as Augustine says in a sermon on this text: 'While the members were on earth, the head cried from heaven;' 'She gave him strong conflict, that he might overcome' (Wis. 10:12); 'I have fought a good fight' (2 Tim. 4:7). For, as it is recorded in Acts (chap. 8) a great persecution arose against the Church after Stephen's death: 'For you, brethren, are become followers of the Churches of God which are in Judea; for you also have suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they have from the Jews' (1 Th. 2:14). Therefore, if you began to endure from the beginning, it would be blameworthy to give up now.

532. – Then (v. 30) he cites authorities to prove what he has said. In regard to this he does two things: first, he cites the authorities; secondly, he concludes from them (v. 31).

533. – Therefore, he says: We know him who has said: vengeance is mine (Dt. 32:35), where another version has 'Reserve vengeance for me'. But will He repay? Indeed, I will repay. But on the other hand: if vengeance is reserved to God alone, why do judges take vengeance? The Apostle answers in Romans (13:4) that a judge is God's minister; hence, he does not judge on his own authority but God's. The second authority is this: The Lord will judge his people. If His own, then much more His enemies: 'If a just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?' (1 Pt. 4:18). Or his people, i.e., who do not scorn his faith, because unbelievers will be condemned and not judged in the judgment of discussion. For, according to Gregory, there are four orders in the judgment: some will not be judged, but will judge and be saved, namely, the Apostles and apostolic men; others will be judged and be saved, as the moderately good; still others will be judged and be damned, as wicked believers; finally, some will not be judged, but will be damned, as all unbelievers.

[Lewis on the dilemma: an absolute goodness that could overlook our wrongs would not be good — but if it is good, it must hate most of what we do]

On the other hand, we know that if there does exist an absolute goodness it must hate most of what we do. This is the terrible fix we are in. If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies. Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger—according to the way you react to it. And we have reacted the wrong way.

I can't say for certain which bits came into Christianity from earlier religions. An enormous amount did. I should find it hard to believe Christianity if that were not so. I couldn't believe that nine hundred and ninety-nine religions were completely false and the remaining one true. In reality, Christianity is primarily the fulfillment of the Jewish religion, but also the fulfillment of what was vaguely hinted in all the religions at their best. What was vaguely seen in them all comes into focus in Christianity—just as God Himself comes into focus by becoming a man.

As to the fabulous element in the Old Testament, I very much doubt if you would be wise to chuck it out. What you get is something coming gradually into focus. First you get, scattered through the heathen religions all over the world— but still quite vague and mythical—the idea of a god who is killed and broken and then comes to life again. No one knows where he is supposed to have lived and died; he's not historical. Then you get the Old Testament. Religious ideas get a bit more focused. Everything is now connected with a particular nation. And it comes still more into focus as it goes on. Jonah and the Whale, Noah and his Ark, are fabulous; but the court history of King David is probably as reliable as the court history of Louis XIV. Then, in the New Testament the thing really happens. The dying god really appears—as an historical person, living in a definite place and time. It we could sort out all the fabulous elements in the earlier stages and separate them from the historical ones, I think we might lose an essential part of the whole process.

[Responding to the question "Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?"]

That's a question which I cannot answer. My own experience is that when I first became a Christian, about fourteen years ago, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my rooms and reading theology, and I wouldn't go to the churches and Gospel halls; and then later I found that it was the only way of flying your flag; and, of course, I found that this meant being a target. It is extraordinary how inconvenient to your family it becomes for you to get up early to go to church. It doesn't matter so much if you get up early for anything else, but if you get up early to go to church it's very selfish of you and you upset the house. If there is anything in the teaching of the New Testament which is in the nature of a command, it is that you are obliged to take the Sacrament, and you can't do it without going to church. I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nevertheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren't fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit. It is not for me to lay down laws, as I am only a layman, and I don't know much.

In adoration, more than in any other kind of prayer, the public or communal act is of the utmost importance. One would lose incomparably more by being prevented from going to Church on Easter than on Good Friday. And, even in private, adoration should be communal—"with angels and archangels and all the company", all the transparent publicity of Heaven. On the other hand, I find that the prayers to which I can most fully attend in church are always those I have most often used in my bedroom.

No Christian and, indeed, no historian could accept the epigram which defines religion as "what a man does with his solitude". It was one of the Wesleys, I think, who said that the New Testament knows nothing of solitary religion. We are forbidden to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. Christianity is already institutional in the earliest of its documents. The Church is the Bride of Christ. We are members of one another.

[On how a fellow officer named Johnson, a man of genuine conscience, provoked Lewis to reconsider the moral life]

In him I found dialectical sharpness such as I had hitherto known only in Kirk, but coupled with youth and whim and poetry. He was moving towards Theism and we had endless arguments on that and every other topic whenever we were out of the line. But it was not this that mattered. The important thing was that he was a man of conscience. I had hardly till now encountered principles in anyone so nearly of my own age and my own sort. The alarming thing was that he took them for granted. It crossed my mind for the first time since my apostasy that the severer virtues might have some relevance to one's own life. I say "the severer virtues" because I already had some notion of kindness and faithfulness to friends and generosity about money—as who has not till he meets the temptation which gives all their opposite vices new and more civil names? But it had not seriously occurred to me that people like ourselves, people like Johnson and me who wanted to know whether beauty was objective or how Aeschylus handled the reconciliation of Zeus and Prometheus, should be attempting strict veracity, chastity, or devotion to duty.

Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery.

That is why daily prayers and religious readings and church-going are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed.

Another possibility is that of direct attack on his faith. When you have caused him to assume that the trough is permanent, can you not persuade him that "his religious phase" is just going to die away like all his previous phases? Of course there is no conceivable way of getting by reason from the proposition "I am losing interest in this" to the proposition "This is false". But, as I said before, it is jargon, not reason, you must rely on. The mere word phase will very likely do the trick. I assume that the creature has been through several of them before--they all have--and that he always feels superior and patronising to the ones he has emerged from, not because he has really criticised them but simply because they are in the past. (You keep him well fed on hazy ideas of Progress and Development and the Historical Point of View, I trust, and give him lots of modern Biographies to read? The people in them are always emerging from Phases, aren't they?)

You see the idea? Keep his mind off the plain antithesis between True and False. Nice shadowy expressions--"It was a phase"--"I've been through all that"--and don't forget the blessed word "Adolescent",