Commentary on the book of Hebrews

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 It is not at all surprising that those infected with the Arian disease act, furiously attacking the apostolic writings, excluding the Epistle to the Hebrews from the others and calling it a forgery. For those who move their tongues against God and our Savior, what will they not dare to say against those who are devoted to Him and the loud-voiced preachers of the truth? Here are the words of the Master Himself: “If you cast Me out, you will also be cast out” (John 15:20). But the heretics had to respect, if nothing else, then the length of time during which the pupils of the Church did not stop reading this message in churches. For the churches of God, from the very time they began to use the apostolic writings, have also benefited from the Epistle to the Hebrews. If this is not enough to reassure them, then they should believe the Palestinian Eusebius, who is called the defender of their own teachings. And he admitted that this epistle belonged to the divine Paul, asserted that all the ancients had this opinion about him. But the heretics, ignoring all this, shamelessly argue with the truth, not tolerating the luminosity of the apostolic theology with which Paul adorned the beginning of the epistle. Due to the impossibility of contradicting what was clearly said about the Divinity of the Only Begotten, they dared to reject the entire message, although the dogmas and other thoughts in it have great affinity with other messages. The pretext for the accusation is that at the beginning of this epistle the apostolic title is not written, as in other epistles. But they should have known that Paul was appointed an apostle to those who believed, not from the Jews, but from the pagans. For the Lord said to him: “Be careful and quickly leave here, for they will not accept your testimony about Me: go, for I will send you far away into the nations” (Acts 22:18,21). Paul made similar conditions with the other apostles. For he says: “James and Cephas and John became pillars of the world, giving fellowship to Barnabas and me as right hands, so that we became tongues, and they became circumcision” (Gal. 2:9). So in the Epistle to the Romans he says: “Because I am an Apostle with my tongue, I glorify my service” (Rom. 11:13). Therefore, in his letters to those who believed among the pagans, he put forward his name and added his apostolic dignity, writing to them like a teacher to his disciples. When he wrote to the Jews, whose care was not entrusted to him, it was not without reason that he offered teaching without indicating the merits, because other apostles were looking after them. And that this message is full of spiritual grace and does not present any reason for slander, this will be more clearly shown by a detailed interpretation. The content of the message is this: those who believed among the Jews were inflicted with many kinds of sorrows by those possessed by the disease of unbelief. The divine Apostle mentions this suffering in his Epistle to the Thessalonians. For he says: “Being like... the churches of God that are in Judea..., you will also suffer from your own people, just as you also suffered from the Jews” (1 Thess. 2:14). Further, writing to the Jews, he added this: “and the plunder of your estates you accepted with joy” (Heb. 10:34). And blessed Luke informs us that the divine Apostle, before his calling, “enraged the Church, entering houses, dragging away men and women, and delivering them to prison” (Acts 8:3). The unbelievers not only dared to do this against those who believed, but laughed at them as those who decided to believe in a dead person and abandoned the law given by God. Therefore, the divine Apostle immediately at the very beginning proves that Christ is higher than all the prophets. Then, having begun theology, he calls Him eternal, co-eternal with the Father and Creator of all. After this, comparing it with the angels, he offers Divine Scripture for Wednesday, which directly teaches that He is the Son and God, while angels are servants and creatures. And from this it proves that what was given by the Lord Christ is more important than what was taught by Moses. For Moses gave the Old Testament, and Christ gave the New Testament, foretold by the Old Testament prophets; Moses promised to give Palestine, and Christ promised the Kingdom of Heaven. The Apostle compares the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek with the Levitical priesthood, and shows the superiority of the latter. Moreover, he asserts that the disciples of piety, both before the law and under the law, were made famous through faith. He speaks both about suffering and about their courage, and excites the Jewish believers to endure dangers. Then, reminding them of their own exploits and advising them to stand courageously to the end, adding moral instructions to the dogmatic instructions, he concludes the message. He wrote it in Hebrew; and it was translated, as they say, by Clement. But we will finally touch on interpretation. You might be interested in: