Глава 12

Hebrews 12:1. Therefore, we, having such a cloud of witnesses around us, will lay aside every burden and the sin that besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. “In the same way, we too, with such a rich cloud of witnesses surrounding us, have laid aside every burden and made it easy to commit sin, and with patience let us strive for the feat that is set before us.” Everywhere, says the Apostle, examples of piety stand before us, and such a multitude, like a cloud in density, testifies to the power of faith. Therefore, looking at them, let us ease ourselves into the flow and throw off the burden of unnecessary worries. In this way we will be able to avoid the sin that is conveniently committed. But above all else, we need patience in order to win the upcoming feat. The Apostle called “convenient” “detailed”, as it is easily committed and abiding, because the eye is deceived by the bait, and the ear is delighted, and the sense of touch is tickled, and the tongue is very greedy, and the thought is eager for the worse. But the Apostle also represents the most important Prototype. Hebrews 12:2. looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. "Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." The Apostle said both things about Christ according to His humanity. “Who, instead of the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, being careless about its shame, yet sits at the right hand of the throne of God.” He could not have suffered, says the Apostle, if he had wished it, but he suffered suffering and after suffering he will sit with the Father who begot Him. Hebrews 12:3. Think about Him who endured such reproach from sinners, so that you do not grow weary and weakened in your souls. “Consider for this the one who suffered from the sinner against them” 4 “dispute, but not with cold, weakened by their souls.” This: “on them” (είζ έαύτούζ), it is said instead: on themselves (είζ έαύτούζ). “Consider,” says the Apostle, within yourself, the great “controversy” the Lord of all suffered “from the sinner.” From this you will receive sufficient consolation. Then the Apostle offers them stronger healing. Hebrews 12:4. You have not yet fought to the point of blood, struggling against sin. Hebrews 12:5. and have forgotten the consolation that is offered to you as sons: my son! do not despise the Lord’s punishment, and do not lose heart when He reproaches you. Hebrews 12:6. For the Lord punishes whomever he loves; he beats every son whom he receives. “You are not under shelter, struggling against sin,” “and you have forgotten the consolation that He says to you like a son: my son, do not suffer the punishment of the Lord, weaken below, we are reproached by Him.” “For the Lord loves him and punishes him: he beats every son whom he accepts” (Proverbs 3:11-12). This is not contrary to what was said before. For there the Apostle testified about them that they gladly accepted the “plunder of their estates” and courageously endured reproaches for their piety (Heb. 10:33-34), but here he condemns them as weakening. By the way, he said: “It’s not up to the blood of the stasta, struggling against sin,” comparatively showing what they lack against those who “stoned Bysh, and despised Bysh, and killed By the murder of the sword.” Then, recalling the admonition taken from the parable, the Apostle added: Hebrews 12:7. If you suffer punishment, then God treats you as sons. For is there any son whom his father does not punish? Hebrews 12:8. If you remain without punishment, which is common to everyone, then you are illegitimate children, not sons. “If you endure punishment” (if you courageously endure the punishments imposed), “as God is found to you as a son: who is a son, who is not punished by his father?” “If you are without punishment, then all are partakers of Him; for you are naturally adulterers, and not sons.” Fathers, says the Apostle, have the custom of punishing legitimate children and, seeing that teachers beat them, are not upset, because they see the fruit of punishment. They neglect illegitimate children and do not deign them with equal care. Therefore, if you also evade punishment, then you are one of the illegitimate children. Hebrews 12:9. Moreover, if we, being punished by our carnal parents, were afraid of them, then should we not much more submit to the Father of spirits in order to live? “For this, our fathers had punishments for our flesh, and we were put to shame: shall we not much more obey the Father in the Spirit, and live?” Accepting the punishment imposed by the carnal fathers, shall we not love the punishment imposed by the spiritual Father? And the Apostle called the spiritual Father “Spiritual Father,” as the source of spiritual gifts, with which he gave us the dignity of sonship. Then he shows the difference in punishment. Hebrews 12:10. They punished us arbitrarily for a few days; and He is for our benefit, so that we may share in His holiness. “For in few days, as old as they were, they commanded: but this is for the good, that we may partake of His holy things.” About the carnal he said: “What a year”; because not everyone teaches useful things. But speaking about God, he showed the fruit of punishment; for he says: “He is pleased to make us saints and partakers of His holiness.” Then it is expressed definitively. Hebrews 12:11. Any punishment at the present time seems not to be joy, but sadness; but afterwards he brings to those who are taught the peaceful fruit of righteousness. “Any punishment at the present time does not seem to be a joy of being, but sadness: after all, the fruit of peace rewards those who are taught with righteousness.” The beginnings of all learning are regrettable and extremely distressing, but they bear amazing fruits: peace according to God and praiseworthy righteousness. So the Lord said that “a narrow gate and a strait path enter into the belly” (Matthew 7:14). Hebrews 12:12. So strengthen your drooping hands and weak knees. Hebrews 12:13. And walk straight with your feet, so that what is lame may not be turned aside, but rather be made straight. “Make the weak hands and weak knees straight”: “and make right paths with your feet, so that the lame may not go astray, but rather may he be healed.” In this the Apostle brought something else from parables, and another from the prophecy of Isaiah; for this: “make right paths with your feet,” teaches the instruction placed in parables (Proverbs 4:26); and this: “Be strong, weak hands and weakened knees,” said the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 35:3). And this divine Apostle makes it clear that those who were weakened by many dangers became slower on the path of piety. This is enough to overthrow Novatova’s arrogance. For the Apostle strengthens those who labored gloriously, then became weak, and heals them with the healing benefits of repentance, saying: “the lame,” and promising healing. He also offers them the rules of active virtue. Hebrews 12:14. Try to have peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. "Have peace with everyone." He also said this in the Epistle to the Romans: “If it is possible,” he says, “from you, have peace with all men” (Rom. 12:18). Do your thing; show diligence. “And the holy thing”, even “no one else will see the Lord.” The Apostle called chastity “holy.” And those living in marriage can also excel in it, for “marriage is honorable, and the bed is undefiled: but God judges the fornicator and the adulterer” (Heb. 13:4). Hebrews 12:15. See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness arise and cause harm, and lest many become defiled by it. “Be careful that no one falls short of the grace of God.” Have care not only for yourselves, but also for each other, and support those who hesitate, and heal those who need guidance. “Let some root of sorrow spring up and do dirty tricks, and thereby many will be desecrated.” He also wrote this to the Corinthians: “Don’t you know that little leaven leaves the whole mixture” (1 Cor. 5:6)? “The root” of “sorrow” he called both evil teachings and corrupt lives. For this is what he added: Hebrews 12:16. So that there may not be any fornicator or wicked person among you, who, like Esau, would renounce his birthright for one meal. “Let no one be a fornicator or a defiler like Esau, who gave his birthright for one poison.” The Apostle called gluttony “the fornication of Esau,” for because of it Esau gave the blessing of the firstborn. But the one who calls Esau’s lawless marriage the fornication of Esau, because he took foreign wives for himself, will not sin either. Hebrews 12:17. For you know that after this he, desiring to inherit the blessing, was rejected; I could not change my father’s thoughts, although I asked him to do so with tears. “I know that even after wanting to inherit the blessing, I was quickly rejected: I found no place for repentance, even if I sought it with tears.” And Novatov’s followers honor this with their weapons, but they will be struck by their own arrows. For Esau wept, not offering repentance, but envying his brother’s well-being. Cain suffered the same thing; for it is said: “His face fell away” (Gen. 4:5), but not because he made a bad sacrifice, but because he saw his brother as preferred by God’s determination. This was also implied by the divine Apostle in what he said; for he says: “You will not find a place for repentance,” that is, he did not find the path to repentance, and he shed tears not because he intended evil, and he lamented not about sin, but about the good fate of Jacob. His words testify to this; for he said: “Let the days of my father’s mourning draw near, so that Jacob might kill my brother” (Gen. 27:41). It was not without intention that the divine Apostle mentioned Esau, but teaching that he, being the firstborn, was deprived of blessing for gluttony and malice, and the Jews, distinguished by their birthright and enslaved to the excesses of the law for gluttony, lost their salvation, and the pagans - a new people, for whom Jacob served as a prototype - took advantage of their birthright. Therefore, the Apostle commands the Jewish believers not to compete with the iniquity of the firstborn, but to share in the blessing of the younger people. Starting from here, the Apostle turns his speech to another comparison, showing the superiority of the benefits taught by the Lord Christ. Hebrews 12:18. You have not approached a mountain that is tangible and blazing with fire, nor have you approached darkness and gloom and storm. Hebrews 12:19. Not to the sound of the trumpet and the voice of verbs, which those who heard asked that the word should no longer be continued to them. “Do not approach the tangible mountain, and the burning fire, and the cloud, and the darkness, and the storm,” “and the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of the verb, which those who heard denied, lest the word be added to them.” Hebrews 12:20. For they could not endure what was commanded: if an animal touches the mountain, it will be stoned (or struck with an arrow). Hebrews 12:21. And this vision was so terrible that Moses said: “I am in fear and trembling.” “I can’t stand the one who commands: even if a beast touches the mountain, he will be stoned” (cf. Ex. 19:13): “and this is what is seen that is terrible, Moses said: I am afraid and trembling.” It was terrible, says the Apostle, what happened on Mount Sinai: visible fire, smoke swirling everywhere, darkness, darkness, storm and terrible sounds of the trumpet. And this created so much fear that not only the people said to the God-wise Prophet: “Speak thou with us, and let not God speak unto us” (Ex. 20:19), but the legislator himself, being afraid, said: “I am afraid and trembling.” And the Apostle showed what was terrible, but did not reveal what the fruit was from this. He said: “visible” (φαvταζόμεvοv, represented), because the Jews did not see the God of all, but a certain representation of God’s coming. Finally, the Apostle reveals the purpose of grace and says: Hebrews 12:22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem and ten thousand angels. Hebrews 12:23. To the triumphant council and church of the firstborn, written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous who have reached perfection. Hebrews 12:24. And to the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus, and to the sprinkled Blood, which speaks better than Abel. “But come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to the multitude of angels,” “to the triumph and the Church of the firstborn in heaven, and to God the Judge of all and to the righteous in spirit,” “and to the Mediator of the new covenant, Jesus, and the sprinkling of the Blood, which speaks better than Abel.” There, says the Apostle, there is fear, but here there is celebration and celebration; this was on earth, and this is in heaven; there are thousands of people, and here are “thousands of Angels”; there are unfaithful and lawless, and here “the Church of the firstborn in heaven, written, and the spirits of the righteous perfect”; there is the old covenant, here the new; there the servant is an intercessor, here the Son; there is the blood of dumb animals, here is the Blood of the verbal Lamb. This: “it is better that she speaks than Abel’s” means: blood that speaks through deeds and shows its own effectiveness, because the blood of Abel is praised, and this brings about the salvation of people. And the Apostle called the elect “firstborn,” because the firstborn, according to the law, received a double portion of the inheritance. The Apostle said this, both showing their superiority and ordering them to proceed with greater diligence. Hebrews 12:25. See that you do not turn away from the speaker. If those who did not listen to Him who spoke on earth did not escape punishment, then much less will we escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. “Be careful that you do not deny the Verbal One. If they have not escaped the one who prophesied on earth, much more than we have denied the things in heaven.” since they said: “Speak thou with us, and let not God speak unto us” (Ex. 20:19), then the Apostle commands the believers not to compete with the rudeness of their ancestors, not to abandon the Master like them, not to resort to a servant, not to choose Moses instead of God and not to remain with the old instead of the new, moreover, he says, and not from heaven, but on Mount Sinai God gave them a law, and we are waiting the coming of the Lord from heaven. And teaching that the lawgiver of both the old and the new is one, the Apostle added: Hebrews 12:26. Whose voice then shook the earth, and Who now made this promise: Once again I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens. “His voice then shook the earth.” For the mountain shook, making the presence of God known. “Now I made a promise, saying: with one more I will shake not only the earth, but also the sky.” He, says the Apostle, then shook the earth; He predicted that he would shake the earth and the sky. Hebrews 12:27. The words “once again” signify the change of what is shaken as if it were created, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. “And even though they are still one, says the change of those who are shaken, even if they were created, they may remain, even if they are immovable.” Earthquakes, says the Apostle, are frequent, and therefore the word “one” means both a certain revolution in things, and the transition of the perishable into something better, which will already have a permanent nature. Hebrews 12:28. Therefore, we, having received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, will keep grace, with which we will serve God acceptably, with reverence and fear. “The kingdom is unshakably accepting, and the imams give grace, with which we serve God pleasingly with reverence and fear.” The Apostle used the word “unshakable” instead of: unceasing. He showed how one should serve God. Then he brings God’s words to memory, making them more zealous through fear. Hebrews 12:29. Because our God is a consuming fire. “For... our God is a consuming fire” (Deut. 4:24). And again he offers moral instruction. Blazh. Theodoret reads: έιζ άυτούζ; a more common reading: έιζ Αύτόv. You might be interested in: