Chapter 1

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews — Chapter One

¹ The Argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The blessed Paul was an apostle of the Gentiles, as indeed he himself says in the Epistle to the Romans. For the Hebrews would not have endured him preaching to them, inasmuch as they hated him more than the others, since by his sudden conversion he displayed the invincible power of Christ, which had drawn to itself so vehement a persecutor. For it was a great sign of the truth of our preaching, that Paul, the most ardent zealot for the Law, should suddenly come over to Christ. For this reason they warred against him passionately, and would not so much as endure his voice. But even those of the Hebrews who had believed—not even these gave much heed to him, inasmuch as he was leading them away from the Law altogether and abolishing circumcision. Nevertheless, even though he was sent as a herald to the Gentiles, yet he writes to the Hebrews as well. For just as he was not commanded to baptize, yet baptized nonetheless—for neither was he forbidden—so also out of his abundance he sends a letter to the Hebrews. For he cared exceedingly for them, on whose behalf he even prayed to become anathema. And it is to those in Palestine and in Jerusalem that he writes. For these had both had their goods plundered by the unbelieving Hebrews and had been subjected to countless ill-treatments. Hence he is greatly concerned for the almsgiving toward them, stirring up both the Corinthians and the Macedonians to this end. And having divided the preaching with Peter, he makes common cause with the faithful Hebrew poor in Jerusalem. Necessarily, then, he writes to them, consoling them as they were falling away; for they had been thoroughly worn down by the ill-treatments at the hands of their own countrymen, inasmuch as Jerusalem too was self-governing and had authority both to bind and to imprison whomever they wished. And he himself indicates as much, saying: Lift up the hands that hang down, and the palsied knees. For inasmuch as they were Jews, and had learned that their fathers received good things on the spot, they were greatly cast down, as though there were as yet no end of their distress. Therefore much is taught concerning faith in this Epistle, and concerning those from among the saints, as not yet having received the good things; but he establishes [two points]: the one, that one must nobly bear what befalls; the other, that one must await the recompense. For the Lord will never overlook the saints who have been from the beginning; so that then you too shall receive [your reward]. And he discourses much concerning the Old [Covenant] and concerning the New; he shows that the Law is no longer venerable; for even though the temple still stood, yet he hints at this, showing that it will last but for a time, and that our things are the true ones. And he writes the Epistle from Italy. And this one is earlier than the second to Timothy. For in that one he indicates that his life is now at its end: For I, he says, am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. But in this one he promises the Hebrews that he will see them: For know, he says, that our brother Timothy has been set free; with whom, if he comes soon, I shall see you. And it is likely that he came after dispatching this letter. For he spent two years in Rome as a prisoner, then was released, as he himself also says: At my first defense no one stood with me; and, I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Having come to Spain, from there perhaps he saw Italy as well, and so, being again seized by Nero, he was put to death.

² God, who in many parts and in many ways spoke of old to the fathers in the prophets. Those who were afflicted by their evils supposed that their fathers had been deemed worthy of [special] care by him; Paul shows the contrary, namely, that You have enjoyed greater grace than they. For to those he sent prophets; but to you, the Son himself. And what is “in many parts and in many ways”? It is equivalent to “diversely and in manifold forms.” For I, he says, multiplied visions, and in the hands of the prophets I was likened [to men]. So why are you displeased and faint-hearted, having been deemed worthy of such things?

³ In these last days he has spoken to us in [his] Son. And in this too he rouses them, saying that The consummation is near. For he who has grown faint in the contest, when he hears that the contest is at its end, breathes again a little. And he hints at something else also by saying “In the last days.” For when, he says, there was no longer time left for amendment, but we were liable to punishment, when we had been despaired of and the gifts of grace had failed, then we obtained the more. And the [phrase] “In [the] Son” is equivalent to “through the Son.” And take note of this against those who say that the preposition “in” has been allotted exclusively to the Spirit.

⁴ And why did he not say, “Christ has spoken to us”? Partly because they were weak and not yet able to hear concerning Christ; and at the same time also showing that the Old [Covenant] and the New are of one and the same [God]. And observe also the word “to us”; for he unites and sets on equal footing both them and himself together with the disciples. And yet it was not to them that he spoke, but to the apostles, and through them to the many; nevertheless he exalts the matter and shows that he spoke to them as well, and this for [their] consolation.

⁵ Whom he appointed heir of all things. That is, he made him Lord of the whole world. For Jacob is no longer the Lord’s portion, but all [people are]. And he said “heir,” showing both the genuineness of the Sonship and the inseparability of the Lordship. And how did he make him Lord? As man, as he also says in the second Psalm: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. And what lordship does he speak of here? That over those who submit willingly, the lordship of free choice. For this was given to the Son as man, when all acknowledged him; since the natural [lordship], even over the unwilling, according to that which is said, All things are your servants, he possessed before all the ages.

⁶ Through whom also he made the ages. Having spoken concerning the flesh of the Son, which was constituted but yesterday and lately, he leads you henceforth up also to the height of his pre-eternal Godhead. And where are those who say, “There was [a time] when he was not”? He himself made the ages, and how could there be an age when he was not? And since the Father is the cause of the Son, fittingly he is the cause also of the things made by him. For this reason he says, “Through whom.” For the Father seems to make, having begotten the Son who made. And Sabellius is struck by this, inasmuch as two hypostases are thereby introduced. And Paul of Samosata likewise receives a fitting blow, who said that the Son was recent and had begun from a cause. And Arius too is struck along with him, yet not so severely, for he lays hold of the “Through whom” as a kind of support, calling the Son a subordinate helper. The words that follow, however, put him to death.

⁷ Who, being the radiance of [his] glory. At the very [height] to which he had ascended in his lofty discourse concerning the Son, he calls him the radiance of glory; that you may learn this—that [he is] from him, impassibly, without [the Father’s] being diminished or lessened, [and] of the same essence, that is, light from light. For he both enlightened our souls and himself made the Father known. Wherefore he also said: I am the light of the world, because he is manifested together with the Father co-eternally; for the radiance too is manifested together with that which gives the light. For neither is the sun ever seen apart from its radiance, nor is the Father conceived apart from the Son. When, therefore, you hear the Arians saying, “If the Son is from the Father, then he is later than him,” set before them that “The radiance too is from the sun, yet not later than it; for at one and the same moment [there is] the sun, and at the same moment the radiance.”

⁸ And the express image of his hypostasis. Having said “radiance,” and having thereby shown the Son to be consubstantial and co-eternal with the Father, again, since the radiance is without subsistence of its own, he remedies the incongruity arising from the illustration, lest Marcellus and Sabellius find room—men who said that the Son does not exist in his own hypostasis distinct from the Father. He says, therefore: “And he is the express image of his hypostasis”; that is, just as he himself [the Father] subsists, needing nothing for his completion, so also does the Son. For after showing the unvarying likeness, the Apostle further shows, by these words, the express image that stamps the prototype. For the express image is something other than the prototype, as subsisting of itself, yet resembling the first pattern without variation. And Gregory of Nyssa [says]: Just as by the “radiance” he showed the conjunction, so by the “express image” he showed the equality of subsistence. For he who has grasped in his mind the greatness of the hypostasis would altogether measure the hypostasis itself by the express image that appears in it; for neither does the express image exceed the hypostasis, lest it be without subsistence in that wherein it exceeds; nor is the hypostasis greater than the express image, for then it would have that part of itself unstamped. So too, when he says elsewhere that the Son exists in the form of God, he gives us to understand this: that the form is the hypostasis, and the express image is the Lord beheld in it. And he shows altogether the equal measure of the Son with the Father. For in the form the majesty of the Father is beheld, nowhere overflowing beyond it; for then that which fell outside the form would be formless and without beauty—which it is absurd to conceive concerning the Father. And if the majesty of the Father is as great as the form, and the express image is equal in measure to the form, then the express image too would possess as great a majesty as is beheld in the form of God.

⁹ And upholding all things by the word of his power. That which a little before [Arius] laid hold of in the “through whom,” setting him down as a subordinate—hear now, if you are able to understand, how here Paul gives the Son authority in his own right. For he did not say, “Upholding by [his] power,” but “by the word of his power,” that is, by that which flows from power and shows him to be mighty. For just as you say that the Father too spoke, Let there be light, and there was light; so also the Son upholds all things by a word, that is, he governs and holds them together. Nay rather, greater than to have brought all things into being is to hold together things at variance and tending to pass into non-being. And he did not say, “Governing,” but “upholding,” by a metaphor from those who carry something with a finger—causing it to be moved and shifted. For so vast a mass of creation, exceedingly great, he supports as though it were nothing, and by a word alone that is able to do all. For the “word” here is not a bare [word], as with us. Then, when so many heresies are overthrown at the very outset of the Epistle, how do some dare to reject it as not belonging to Paul, making the character of its style, differing from that of the other Epistles, their evidence? For they ought to have understood that the grandeur of the thoughts, and their irrefutable force, belong to none other than Paul, who had Christ speaking within him. And if they make the style a stumbling-block, let them learn that Paul dictated the Epistle in the Hebrew tongue, inasmuch as he was addressing Hebrews; but it was rendered into Greek, as some say by Luke, and as others affirm by Clement, who indeed all the more preserves the [Pauline] character. They commit, then, an offense as great, so to speak, those who take this Epistle from Paul, as if they were taking Paul himself from Christ.

¹⁰ Having by himself made purification of our sins. Having spoken of the grandeur of the Godhead of the Word, he speaks henceforth also of his care for men through the flesh—which is far greater than upholding all things. And here he sets down two things: both his purifying us from our sins, and his doing this by himself; and in many places he glories in this, that it was through the Son himself that this came to pass. For through the cross and the death which he himself underwent he purified us, not only as having died for our sin, he the sinless, and as having paid a penalty which he did not himself owe, and as having simply loosed [our] nature from the condemnation incurred for the sin of Adam; but also as having given us baptism into his death—through which on each occasion we who are baptized receive the remission of the sins committed by us before, and the power no longer to be captive to sin.

¹¹ He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Having made mention of the cross, he brings in the discourse concerning the Resurrection and the Ascension. And he did not say, “He was commanded to sit,” but “He sat down,” and “on the right hand,” and “on high.” Not that God is enclosed in a place, but that his equality of honor with the Father might be shown. For he attained to the very throne of the Father, and just as the Father is on high, so also is he. And if anyone should say, “But surely it is written: The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand;” first we shall say this, that he did not say, “He commanded,” but “He said.” Then, lest you suppose him to be without cause and without origin, for this reason the expression is so phrased.

¹² Having become so much better than the angels, by how much he has inherited a more excellent name than they. At the beginning he judged it [fitting] to compare him with the prophets, because of the weakness of his hearers; but now, advancing further, he sets him also above the angels, gently leading his hearers on to the truth. The word “having become” is equivalent to “having been declared,” just as John also says: He who comes after me has come to be before me; that is, more honorable than I. For that which is said according to the flesh belongs altogether to the Head; since, as God the Word, he always had this name. So we too speak of man both lowly things and lofty things: for instance, when we say, “Man is a great thing,” we name the whole from the better part; and when we say, “Earth and ashes,” from the worse. So too in the case of the Lord, at one time we name the whole from what belongs to the Godhead, at another from what belongs to the flesh.

¹³ For to which of the angels did he ever say: You are my Son, today I have begotten you? It is plain, then, that he is better than the angels. From what? From the name. For the name “Son” indicates the genuineness, that is, the being from him. But if anyone becomes [a son] by grace, he is less than the angels. The [phrase], then, “Today I have begotten you,” indicates nothing else than that he is from the beginning, from whom the Father is. For just as “He who is” is said from the present time—for this especially befits him—so too is “today.” But some have understood the “today I have begotten you” to be said not concerning the pre-eternal but concerning the generation according to the flesh. For this too was from above; for it was of the Holy Spirit, by the good pleasure of the Father.

¹⁴ And again: I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son. This is plainly said on account of the flesh. For whenever the Apostle takes hold of it, he utters all [lowly] things. The nature, then, that was assumed inherited the name “Son,” the genuine name which the Word that was united to it possessed, inasmuch as it subsisted in him; even as the angel also said: And the holy thing that is born shall be called the Son of God; and again: And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. But this [belongs] to none of the angels. And if certain of the righteous too are sons of God, yet it is by grace; but in the case of Christ it is not so, but by an identity of hypostasis—that of the [Word] with that which was assumed.

¹⁵ And again, when he brings in the Firstborn into the world, he says. Christ calls his coming in the flesh a “going forth,” as when he says: The sower went forth to sow; and again: I came forth from the Father. And rightly so. For we were outside of God, and coming forth to us as an ambassador, and conversing with us, and cleansing us, he reconciled us to the King. But Paul here calls this a “coming in,” by a metaphor from those who inherit and now take possession of some property. For the [word] “he brings in” signifies this, when the Father puts the world into the hands of the Son. For then he took possession of it, when it submitted willingly, when also he became known. And he is brought in not otherwise than in the flesh. For as God the Word he was in the world, and the world was made through him. And he represents the Father as bringing in the Son, that he may make the discourse more readily acceptable. But Gregory of Nyssa and Cyril, [numbered] among the saints, understood the “bringing in” thus: that before the incarnation he had nothing in common with creation, inasmuch as he was God without flesh; but when he was incarnate, then, having entered into communion with creation, in that he united the created [nature] to himself, he is said to be brought into creation.

¹⁶ And let all the angels of God worship him. Him who is with flesh, that is. And here too he shows by how much he is better, and that [he is superior] by as much as a master [is superior] to slaves; as if someone, having brought a man into a house, should at once command those set over it to do him reverence.

¹⁷ And of the angels he says: Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. Behold the very great difference: that they are created, but he is uncreated. For the [word] “makes” indicates the bringing forth from non-being into being. And he has this distinction not only in respect of the angels, but in respect of all the ministering power. And he did not say, “Having made,” but “Making,” that is, preserving by the word according to which they came to be. Of this kind also is that [saying] in the Gospel: My Father works until now, that is, he holds together the things that have been made and already wrought, and keeps them as they were wrought.

¹⁸ But of the Son: Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. The angels, he says, are creatures and things made; for concerning them was it said, “Who makes.” But the Son is not a creature; for neither was it said of him, “Who makes,” but, King, and Master, and God. For a throne is attested to him, which is a symbol of kingship, and an eternal throne. And this [is said] against Paul of Samosata, who brings in as a mere man the one who is truly an eternal King; and against Arius. Behold again another symbol of kingship as well. These things are applied to God the Word as having been made flesh, inasmuch as the flesh takes upon itself the lowly things. This overthrows the Jews, and Sabellius, and Marcellus, since it sets forth two persons, God and God; and [it is] against the Marcionites, who suppose that Christ did not take flesh, [showing] that it is not the Godhead that is anointed, but the manhood. He says, then, that “God”—that is, “O God”—“God has anointed you”; that is, the Father, who is your [Father] according to the Godhead, but [your] God according to the flesh. And “oil of gladness,” that is, the Holy Spirit, “above the rest of men.” For Christ did not receive the Spirit by measure, nor as one acted upon, but he was anointed with the presence of the whole chrism and of the whole one who anoints. And his “fellows” are those who live spiritually, as having been sanctified by the same participation. For those under the Law too, the perfect and spiritual, obtained the Spirit by faith in Christ. Wherefore they were also called “christs” (anointed ones); as in the [saying], Touch not my anointed ones. And those under grace are more manifestly fellows of Christ, wherefore, having shared in his death in baptism and having been anointed with the Spirit—which is called “oil of gladness,” as having delivered us from the shame for our sins and prepared us to rejoice in the hope of the things to come. And that the “God” is equivalent to “O God,” a trustworthy witness is the elder Symmachus, who rendered it thus: “Therefore you were anointed, O God, by your God, with oil of joy above your companions.” And note the “the God,” with the article, [applied to] the Son, against those who say that “the Word was God,” being without the article, [and] therefore do not properly refer the [title] God to him.

¹⁹ And, You, Lord, in the beginning founded the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They shall perish, but you remain; and they all shall grow old as a garment, and as a mantle you shall roll them up, and they shall be changed; but you are the same, and your years shall not fail. Lest, having heard above, “When he brings in the Firstborn into the world,” you should suppose it to be some newer gift bestowed upon him by the Father, he shows him to be the creator of it, not at the last, but from the beginning. And this [is] also against Paul of Samosata, establishing that Christ existed even before Mary, seeing that he is also the Creator of the creation; and against Arius, who makes him a subordinate, or rather an instrument, because it was said above, “Through whom also he made the ages.” For behold, here he is introduced as himself the creator. And observe how the discourse concerning the uncreated nature and that concerning the dispensation are interwoven, and at one time lofty things [are said] on account of the former, at another lowly things on account of the latter. He hinted at something greater than the creation: the transformation of the world. For all things shall be changed from corruption to incorruption, and as easily as if one should roll up a mantle. And if he works the transformation and re-creation unto the better so easily, did he need another for the lesser creation? And it is no small consolation to the faithful here ill-treated, to know that things will not remain so, but will undergo a change. And that he, served by them, remains living and continuing forever. For “your years shall not fail.”

²⁰ But to which of the angels has he ever said: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool of your feet? Behold, again he encourages them: that their enemies are about to be vanquished, and that their enemies are the very same as those who are also against Christ. Not as though the Son were unable, is the Father said to subject the enemies; for he who is to judge there would much more have requited them here; but that he may show the honor of the Father toward the Son. For that the Father is angry at the enemies of the Son—how is this not [a mark] of honor? How not of great love toward the Son? And it has been spoken of more at length in the first [Epistle] to the Corinthians concerning this passage; and seek what was noted there.

²¹ Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth for service for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation? He exalts the thoughts of his hearers, showing the great care of God toward us; seeing that he appointed even the angels, who are above us, to minister to the things pertaining to our salvation. And he seems also to be aiming at certain ones who give heed to the angels; but especially at all the Hebrews themselves, who clung to the Law given through angels, and to their ministrations under it, and preferred these to Christ. Do not, then, give heed to these, he says; for they are our fellow-servants. And observe how he does not grant the creatures a great difference; and yet the interval between angels and men is great, but nevertheless he set these near to us; for creatures exceed creatures by little. And the angels ministered both in the Old [Covenant], in many things, and in the New as well—giving oracles to Joseph, bringing good tidings to the shepherds, sitting in the tomb and declaring the Resurrection, and at the Ascension teaching that he will so come. An angel [came] to Cornelius, to Philip, to Peter in the prison, and simply countless such things. And take note that to minister to the salvation of men—nay rather, to Christ himself—is angelic. Whence one ought not to withdraw from such ministry.