Hebrews 1:10–2:3

This is the way, dear friends, in which we found our salvation, Jesus Christ, the high priest of our offerings, the protector and helper of our weakness. Through him we fix our gaze on the heights of heaven. In him we see mirrored God's pure and transcendent face. Through him the eyes of our hearts have been opened. Through him our foolish and darkened understanding springs up to the light. Through him the Master has willed that we should taste immortal knowledge. For, since "he reflects the glory of God," "he is as much superior to the angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs." For thus it is written: "He makes his angels winds, and his servants flames of fire." But of his Son this is what the Master said: "You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." And again he says to him, "Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool." Who are meant by "enemies"? Those who are wicked and resist his will.

And again he saith: "Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thine hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest, and they shall all wax old as a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but Thou art the same and Thy years shall not fail."

Lest hearing the words, "and when He bringeth in the First-Begotten into the world"; thou shouldest think it as it were a Gift afterwards super-added to Him; above, he both corrected this beforehand, and again further corrects, saying, "in the beginning": not now, but from the first. See again he strikes both Paul of Samosata and also Arius a mortal blow, applying to the Son the things which relate to the Father. And withal he has also intimated another thing by the way, greater even than this. For surely he hath incidentally pointed out also the transfiguration of the world, saying, "they shall wax old as a garment, and as a vesture Thou shall fold them up, and they shall be changed." Which also he saith in the Epistle to the Romans, that he shall transfigure the world. And showing the facility thereof, he adds, as if a man should fold up a garment so shall He both fold up and change it. But if He with so much ease works the transfiguration and the creation to what is better and more perfect, needed He another for the inferior creation? How far doth your shamelessness go? At the same time too this is a very great consolation, to know that things will not be as they are, but they all shall receive change, and all shall be altered, but He Himself remaineth ever existing, and living without end: "and Thy years," he saith, "shall not fail."

"And you, O Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning." For when he again brings in the Firstborn; that is, when the Father was pleased to reveal His Firstborn Son in the flesh to those who dwell in the world. For it says: And the angels came and ministered to him (Matt. 4:11); and you will see the angels descending upon the Son of Man (Jn. 1:51) from now on.

Lest you, hearing the words "when He brings the Firstborn into the world," should think that this is a gift given to Him afterwards by the Father, he now shows that He is the Creator of the world not in recent times, but from of old. This is also against Paul of Samosata, and affirms that Christ existed before Mary, since He is the Creator of creation. And against Arius, who considered Him an assistant or rather an instrument, since it was said above: "through Whom He also made the ages" (Heb. 1:2). Here He is presented as Creator. See how the teaching about the uncreated being and the teaching about the dispensation are joined together, and sometimes on account of the former it is lofty, and sometimes on account of the latter it is lowly.

67. – Above, the Apostle mentioned four things in which Christ excelled the angels, and he proved two of them, namely, that He excels them, because He is the Son and because He is the heir. Now he proves the third, namely, that He excels them in His power of acting, because through Him the Father made the world. But the Apostle proves this on the authority of the same prophet. In regard to this he does two things: first, he shows the power of His activity inasmuch as he is Creator; secondly, inasmuch as there is a difference between Creator and creature. In regard to the first he does two things: first, he describes the creation of earth; secondly, of the heavens (v. 10b).

68. – It should be noted in regard to the first that this can be interpreted in two ways: in one way, so that it is taken to be a word of the prophet directed to the Father. As if to say: You, Lord, namely God the Father, founded the earth in the beginning, i.e., in your Son, Who is the beginning: 'I am the beginning who also speak to you' (Jn. 8:25). And this is the same as saying: You founded the earth through the Son: 'You have made all things in your wisdom' (Ps. 103:24). But the Son is Wisdom begotten: hence, above he called him the splendor of His glory. And what he says here corresponds to what he had said above: by whom also he made the earth. In another way, so that it is a word directed to the Son. As if to say: And you, O Lord, founded the earth in the beginning, namely of time. This is to exclude the opinion of those who say that the world is eternal; or in the beginning, namely, of the production of things, to exclude the opinion of those who say that bodily things were not created with spiritual things, but after: 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth' (Gen. 1:1); 'He that lives forever created all things together' (Sir. 18:1).

69. – But it should be noted that the earth can be distinguished from heaven in three ways: in one way, so that by the earth is understood the element earth, and by heaven the higher bodies; so that just as Moses made not mention of the air, because it exists with water, so here he understood by heaven the very heaven and the other two elements, namely, air and fire, which most resemble the nature of the heavens and which is clear from their place. And this is the way Moses took it (Gen. 1:1). And he says, you didst found, to show that three things pertain to the earth: first, the earth's rest, for all other things partake of motion, but the earth alone according to its totality remains motionless. As if to say: You have founded, i.e., firmly established: 'Who has founded the earth upon its own bases' (Ps. 103:5). Secondly, to show the perpetuity of the world, for the foundation of a building is its most enduring part: 'But the earth remains for ever' (Ec. 1:4). And according to this he says, You have founded, i.e., established for ever. Thirdly, to show the order of the earth; because, just as the foundation, which is the first part of a building, is below, so earth holds the lowest place among the elements: 'My hand also has founded the earth' (Is. 48:13); 'His hands formed the dry land' (Ps. 94:5). He does not say, 'You made the heavens', but the works of your hands are the heavens, because that which a person makes with his hands, he seems to make with greater care. Consequently, he speaks this way to signify their nobility and beauty: 'My right hand measured the heavens' (Is. 48:13).

70a. – In another way, so that by earth he understands every bodily nature; then you founded, because matter is the place and foundation of forms; but by heavens, spiritual substances: 'Praise him, you heavens of heavens' (Ps. 148:5). And these are the works of His hands, because He made them to His own image and likeness. Or, by earth those who are imperfect in the Church and are the foundation of the others (for if there were no active life in the Church, the contemplative life could not exist), and by heavens, the contemplatives. And these were made in the Church in the beginning, i.e., by the Son: 'I have placed my words in your mouth, that you might found the earth, i.e., the imperfect, and plant the heavens' (Is. 51:16).

70b. – But in regard to the heavens, he says, the works of your hands are the heavens. He says, the works of your hands, and not simply, you made the heavens, for four reasons: first, to exclude the error of those who say that God is the soul of the world and, consequently, what the whole earth and its parts should be worshipped as God, as idolaters did. But he excludes this when he says, the works of your hands are the heavens. As if to say: They are not proportioned to you as the body is to the soul, but they are subject and proportioned to your power and will: 'Lest perhaps, lifting up your eyes to heaven, you see the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error, you adore them' (Dt. 4:19). Secondly, to designate the dignity and beauty of the heavens, because we say that we make that with our hands which we make carefully. Therefore, to show that the heavens were made by divine wisdom in a more excellent way than the other bodily creatures, he says, the works of your hands are the heavens, and this is clear; because the diversity in those lower things can be reduced to the disposition of the matter, but the diversity of heavenly bodies can be reduced only to divine wisdom. That is why, whenever mention is made of he creation of the heavens, prudence and understanding or something of that sort are also mentioned: 'The Lord has established the heavens by prudence' (Pr. 3:19); 'Who made the heavens in understanding' (Ps. 135:5). Thirdly, to show that in the heavens the divine power of the Creator is more striking; for there is nothing in creatures in whose condition so much of God's power appears; and this is because of their magnitude and order: 'For by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen' (Wis. 13:5). Fourthly, to show that of all bodies the heavenly body receives God's influence more directly: 'Do you know the order of heaven, and can you set down the reason thereof on the earth' (Jb. 38:33)? As if to say: 'If you consider carefully the disposition of the heavens, you cannot attribute the cause of its order to any earthly thing, but to God.'

70c. – It can be explained in another way, so that by earth is meant all bodily matter, and by heavens, spiritual substances. Then the sense is this: In the beginning of time you founded the earth, i.e., corporeal matter, i.e., you have established it as the foundation of forms. This is the way to understand the statement of Ps. 148 (v. 7): 'Praise the Lord from the earth, you dragons and all you deeps.' But the heavens, i.e., spiritual substances: 'Praise him, you heavens of heavens' (Ps. 148:4) are the works of your hands, because you made them to your image likeness.

70d. – It can be explained a third way, so that by earth are understood the lowly ones in the Church. And they are said to be founded, because they are, as it were, the foundation of the others: for unless there were actives in the Church, the contemplatives would have no subsistence; but the heavens, the contemplatives and more perfect, are the work of your hands, i.e., endowed with a more outstanding excellence: 'The heavens published the glory of God' (Ps. 18:2); 'Hear, O you heavens, and give ear' (Is. 1:2).

Paul also said, "They will perish," and all the other things, and again the apostle took up the same words of David. But if all the works of creation perish completely, then paradise, which is not perishable, will also perish. In truth, because of paradise, which does not cease, it is evident that all the works of creation will be renewed for us, as some assert, and they will not perish, as others have said.

"they will perish." Something greater than creation has been revealed, the transformation of the world. For all that is seen will be transformed, and they will come to incorruption. Therefore, it is said, "they will perish" from the present sight.

He does not say that a change of nature took place, but by way of comparison, that he permits these things to be destroyed and they do perish in contrast to the eternity of the Son. For also the Lord, when predicting his second coming, says "the stars will fall" and there will no longer be sun or moon or heavens. And one must demonstrate in addition that he revealed through the statement "but you are the same" Christ's eternal existence and the immutability of his nature.

He indicated creation's change for the better that was due to him, and his own lack of beginning or extinction. "You are the same, and your years will never end," he says, note, meaning, "You were not made, but you are, and you admit of no change, being always the same." This suggests also the impassibility of the divinity. If it suffered, how is it the same? After all, it would be changed, and if it passed three days in death, its years would fail. Both the prophet and the apostle, however, the one writing the testimony and the other using it, emphasize that he is always the same and his years will not fail.

He suggests something more important than creation, namely, the transformation of the world. Everything will be changed from corruption to incorruption, and so easily, as if someone were rolling up a garment. If He will so easily accomplish the transformation and conversion of the world into something better, could He have had need of anyone else in the original formation of the world? It is no small consolation here for suffering believers to know that things will not remain in such a state, but will receive a transformation, and that He whom they worship lives and will always live. For "Your years will not come to an end."

71. – Then (v. 11) he shows the difference between Creator and creature, and this in regard to two things which are proper to the Creator; the first is eternity; the second is immutability (v. 11c). In regard to the first he dos two things: first, he puts a limitation on the creature; secondly, no limitation on God (v. 11b).

72. – He says, therefore: they, i.e., the heavens, shall perish. But Ec. (1:4) says that 'the earth stands forever'. Therefore, it seems that it will last longer than the heavens. I answer according to Augustine and the Philosopher that in every change there is a coming into existence and a ceasing to exist. Therefore, when he says that the heavens shall perish, this is not to be understood of their substance, concerning which Jb. (37:18) says: 'The heavens are most strong, as if they were of molten brass', but of their state which they now have: 'I saw a new haven and a new earth' (Rev. 21:1); 'The fashion of this world passes away' (1 Cor. 7:31). But how will they change their state? In various ways, because the higher heavens are moving in regard to place, but are not altered, whereas the lower heaven, namely, fire and air, are moved and altered and subject to corruption. Therefore, the state of all the heavens is changeable; but then, movement will cease in the higher heavens and corruption in the lower heavens, because the air will be purged by fire: 'But the heavens and the earth which exist now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men' (Ps. 101:13).

73. – Here he shows the permanence of the Creator. As if to say: 'In you there is no change nor shadow of change' (Jas. 1:17). This can be understood of Christ as man: 'Jesus Christ, yesterday and today and forever' (Heb. 13:8).

"like a robe you will roll them up." He indicated the ease of their change. For everything will change from decay to incorruption; and thus easily, as if one were to wrap a cloak. But if he works so easily towards the better transformation and creation, would he need to focus on the lesser creation of another? "but you are the same." He says that you will change and renew all things, and make the corruptible into incorruptible. You will truly live forever and will always remain. And there is no small comfort for those suffering here, to know that things will not always be this way, but will undergo a change; and that the one who is being cared for by them remains for eternity and lives forever.

It is possible to see in a glance that whenever the Old Testament speaks about the divine nature, it does not speak distinctly about the Father alone, as the heretics suppose when they attempt to apply "I am God and there is no other besides me" and similar passages to the Father alone. On the contrary, whatever it says concerning God as it expounds upon the divine nature, it says in such a way that those attributes may be joined together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, owing to the fellowship of their nature. Otherwise how has the apostle dragged in this second scriptural witness from it?… Has not Paul done the same in his epistle to the Romans, where he says, "For it is written, 'As I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee shall bow to me' "? For no one would find here something that would clearly distinguish between them.

74. – Then (v. 11b) he shows the difference between God and creature so far as immutability is concerned. In regard to this he does two things: first, he mentions the mutability of the creature; secondly, the immutability of God (v. 12b). In regard to the first he does two things: first he describes the nature of the creature's mutability; secondly, he mentions that mutability (v. 12).

75. – In regard to the first it should be noted that old and new follow upon time. Hence only that can grow old which is somehow measured by time, whereas the mobile thing is measured by the 'now' of time. Therefore, newness and oldness can be found in the heavens. But the heavens do not grow old as though their substance shrank or were changed into something else, but only in regard to the length of time by which they will no longer be measured. Therefore, he says, as a garment shall you change them, not as though the cause of their change will be the loss of their power; for if the motion of the heavens ceased from a lack of power, that cessation would have a natural cause and could be isolated by natural reason, the contrary of which is stated in Mt. (24:36): 'Of that day and hour no one knows, no not the angels of heaven, but the Father alone.' Therefore, it will be due to some end that this motion will cease, because all bodily creatures are ordained to spiritual creatures, and all changed which serve generation and ceasing-to-be are ordained to the generation of man. Therefore, when the generation of men ceases, i.e., when the number of the elect and predestined is filled, that motion will cease; hence, it is called a garment, which is put on to be used and cast off, when it can be used no more. Thus, a man removes a warm garment in summer and a cool one with the coming of winter. Thus, therefore, the state of the world, which is now adjusted to that end, will no longer be adjusted, when the number of the elect is filled. Then it will be cast aside as a garment: 'Heaven and earth shall pass away' (Lk. 21:33).

76. – Then he posits that mutability when he says, and as a garment shall you change them, i.e., the heavens. Well does he say, you shall change them, because it will not be by their own power, nor of themselves, but by God's power that they will be changed from motion, as a garment which is put on to be used, and after it is used, is put off, as the seasons require. He says, a garment, because man's glory is both disclosed and hidden by a garment. So, too, God is both revealed and hidden by creatures: 'The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood' (Rom. 1:20); 'For by the glory of the beauty and of the creature, and the Creator of them may be seen' (Wis. 13:5). He says, they shall be changed, because they will remain changed for ever. The same is true of the spiritual heavens, which will perish from the present life through the death of the body: 'We all die and like waters that return no more, we fall down into the earth' (2 Sam. 14:14); 'The just perishes, and no man lays it to heart' (Is. 57:1). Likewise, they shall fail, because as it says below (8:13): 'That which decays and grows old is near its end.' And you shall change, namely, their bodies, when this bodily thing puts on incorruption (1 Cor. 15:53); and they shall be changed, namely, as to their mind, when they pass from seeing in a dark manner to seeing face to face: 'All the days in which I am now in warfare I expect until my change come' (Jb. 14:14).

77. – Then he mentions God's immutability when he says, but you are the same. Here he does two things: first, he states his intention; secondly, he shows this by a sign; and your years will never end. He says, therefore, they shall perish, but you, namely, the Son of God, are the same, i.e., you continue the same and are never changed: 'I am the Lord and I change not' (Mal 3:6); 'With whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration' (Jas. 1:17). He gives the sign of this immutability when he says, your years never end. Here it should be noted that God's years are His duration, just as a man's years are. But a man's duration fails in two ways: first, in its parts, because, since he is temporal, one part succeeds another, and when one succeeds, the predecessor fails; secondly, as a whole, because it ceases altogether. But neither of these failures is found in God's duration, because He continues for ever, and the parts of His duration are eternal, and all exist together without succession: 'The number of his years cannot be computed' (Jb. 36:26).

78. – But if His duration is one and unchangeable, why say years in the plural and not year in the singular? The reason is that our intellect takes its knowledge of intelligible through the sensible, because all our knowledge is drawn from the senses; hence even God, Who is absolutely simple, is described under a likeness of bodily things: 'I say the Lord sitting upon a throne lofty and elevated' (Is. 6:1). So, too, His duration is described by us in terms of what is familiar, even though it is uniform and simple. Hence, it is sometimes called a year, and sometimes a day or a month, because it includes all of time's differences.

"In a pillar of cloud he used to speak to them, because they were keeping his testimonies and the commandments which he gave them." The words "in a pillar of cloud" are not empty words, for a pillar is always placed in a house to strengthen and beautify it. So the Lord was communicating to them by this image, announcing the imminent building that is the church. Though at that time he imparted these words to them through the cloud, he has deigned to speak to us and to appear to us more visibly through the sacred footstool, that is, through the incarnation. O footstool more exalted than every temple and more excellent than all spiritual creatures! As the Apostle says: "To which of the angels did he say, 'Sit at my right hand'?" But why is it surprising if he is called a footstool since he also compares himself to a worm, to a beetle, to the fullers' herb, and to a cornerstone, not with respect to his ordinariness, but because of his humble disposition.

We have heard a psalm which is amazing in its heavenly arrangement. In this text, it is clear that the humility in his humanity is as great as the power in his divinity. The holy Word took upon himself the nature of our weakness, as the heading of the psalm says, "for those who will be changed," so that through his undeserving death he might free us from a death that was well deserved. He entered the gates of hell so that the regions of hell might be thrown open. Destruction was conquered by the arrival of the Savior, and it rightly gave up perpetual darkness after it received eternal light. He vanquished the devil through the very human nature that Satan held subject, and the strong man was overcome through the weakness of the flesh when God exalted above all rational creatures what was even weaker than all spiritual creatures. As the Apostle says: "For to which of the angels did he say, 'Sit at my right hand'?" For no other nature was united with Christ, but only the nature of our flesh, which was taken up and glorified. He is truly omnipotent and merciful who blessed what was damned, restored what was lost, freed what was subject, rendered our miseries strangers to us, and through his death made it possible for humanity to live, an immortal creature, which the devil had caused to die. Grant, almighty God, that, since you deigned to suffer in the flesh for us, you may grant us the crown which for which you considered us worthy.

If all created nature worships Christ, for through the friendly speech of the angels He gives signs to nature, so it is said, "For which of the angels has He said anytime; sit at my right hand (Heb. 1:13); and He is over them- and the word of the Scripture forbade the worshipping of the created things, "And do not, when you look up to the sky and see the sun and the moon and the stars, even any ornament of the sky, be led astray and worship them and serve them.(Deut. 4:19)" But they should stop worshiping these things, because they are created things, which is certainly disrespectful. And just as it has been said before, and positively assert that Christ is not created but is the Creator, and even so He is being worshipped as God above all the creation. To all time, and season to all the matters above Heaven.

"But to which of the Angels said He at any time, Sit thou on My right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool?" Behold, again he encourages them, inasmuch as their enemies were to be worsted, and their enemies are the same also with Christ's.

This again belongs to Sovereignty, to Equal Dignity, to Honor and not weakness, that the Father should be angry for the things done to the Son. This belongs to His great Love and honor towards the Son, as of a father towards a son. For He that is angry in His behalf how is He a stranger to Him? Which also he saith in the second Psalm, "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn, and the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure." And again He Himself saith, "Those that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither before Me, and slay them." For that they are His own words, hear also what He saith in another place, "How often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left desolate." And again, "The kingdom shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." And again, "He that falleth upon that stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever It shall fall, It will grind him to powder." And besides, He who is to be their Judge in that world, much more did He Himself repay them in this. So that the words "Till I make thine enemies thy footstool" are expressive of honor only towards the Son.

And that God the Father of all would bring Christ to heaven after He had raised Him from the dead, and would keep Him there until He has subdued His enemies the devils, and until the number of those who are foreknown by Him as good and virtuous is complete, on whose account He has still delayed the consummation-hear what was said by the prophet David. These are his words: "The Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. The Lord shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem; and rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies. With Thee is the government in the day of Thy power, in the beauties of Thy saints: from the womb of morning have I begotten Thee." That which he says, "He shall send to Thee the rod of power out of Jerusalem," is predictive of the mighty, word, which His apostles, going forth from Jerusalem, preached everywhere; and though death is decreed against those who teach or at all confess the name of Christ, we everywhere both embrace and teach it. And if you also read these words in a hostile spirit, ye can do no more, as I said before, than kill us; which indeed does no harm to us, but to you and all who unjustly hate us, and do not repent, brings eternal punishment by fire.

Therefore, he offered the first fruits of our nature to the Father. And the Father marveled at the gift, both for the worthiness of the one who presented it and for the purity of what was offered, as if to receive it with His own hands and place the gift beside Him, and said, "Sit at My right hand."

He said that he did not want to show that he would not have dared to sit otherwise unless commanded: certainly not; but do not think that he lacks a beginning. For that this is so is indicated by the place of the chair, designating a similar honor, and by what was said above: He sat, when it is not previously read that he was told: Sit. Or because the Prophet could not signify the harmony and will of the Father in any other way than to sit, he used the word, Sit. Therefore, this is also great, not only over human nature but also over every creature. Nevertheless, this is also proclaimed on account of human nature. For as far as He is God, the Son has an eternal throne: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever." (Heb. 1:8) For he was not honored with this distinction after the cross and passion as God: but as a man he received what he already had as God. Nor was he exalted when he was humble, but when he was sublime and in the form of God, he humbled himself by taking the form of a servant. (Phil. 2:6-7) The evangelist also cries out: "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared." (Jn. 1:18) And the Lord: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me." (Jn. 14:11) And elsewhere: "Glorify me, O Father, with the glory I had with you before the world was made." (Jn. 17:5) Therefore, as a man hears: "Sit at my right hand." (Ps. 101:1) For God has eternal dominion. "until I make Your enemies Your footstool." Notice the demonstration that the Son is legitimate. The Father is angry against the enemies of the Son. And He did not say that the Son is powerless to put them under His feet, but to reveal the identity of will. What He says "until" is not indicative of time, as if when the enemies are placed as a footstool, it would again be that He would rise: far from it; but He wants to show that He will not be powerless to put all as a footstool. Indeed, until [ἕως] or as long as something exists, it brings forth what is up to that point, but does not remove what comes after it. Thus Gregory says in the second book "On the Son": "Are they not all ministering spirits?" He comforts them, saying: Christ is indeed the natural Son of God, but the angels are our servants: having been assigned this ministry, that they may do and administer all things so that we humans may be saved.For indeed, angels have frequently become ministers to men, as to Mary (Luke 1:26) and at the Lord's tomb (Matt. 28:2-7) and to Cornelius. (Acts 10:3)

He lifted up the first offering of our nature to the Father, and the Father marveled at this offering. And because of the high esteem of the one who offered it and because of the purity of the offering, he, as the father of the household shows him with his hand the place close to himself and also places the offering nearby and says, "sit at my right hand."

"But to what angel has he ever said?" Leaving aside all the rest of creation he speaks about that which is higher than the rest of creation, namely, the angels. For if the Son differed from the angels in that they were created but he was not, how much more does he differ from all invisible things?

Having thus dealt with divine things, he shifts once more to the human. It is not to him as God that he says, "Sit at my right hand": how could it be, when "his throne is for ever and ever"? So as human he shared in this honor, having as God the eternal throne.

Here he again encourages them; and indeed, will not their enemies be defeated, and their enemies are also enemies of Christ. It is not because the Son is powerless that it is said the Father will subject the enemies, for the Son, Who will judge there, could all the more repay them here, but rather to show what honor the Father bestowed upon the Son. That the Father is angry at the enemies of the Son, is this not a sign of honor? Is this not a sign of great love for the Son? This is discussed more extensively in the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

79. – Above, the Apostle proved three things in which Christ excels the angels; here he proves a fourth, namely, that He sits on the right hand of majesty, which pertains to His dignity. In regard to this he does two things: first, he adduces David's authority to show this; secondly, he shows that the angels lack this dignity (v. 14). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he describes Christ's dignity; secondly, he manifests this with a sign (v. 13b).

80. – He says, therefore: to what angel has he, namely, God, ever said? As if to say: It is not found that God said this to an angel, but He said it to Christ. And Christ Himself claims that this was said of Him. But what He says, namely, sit at my right hand, can be referred to the divine nature in which Christ is equal to the Father, because He has judiciary and royal power equal to the Father: 'All that the Father has are mine' (Jn. 16:15). Indeed, the Father Himself said this from eternity, because He engendered the Son by speaking, and by engendering gave Him equality with the Father. It can also be referred to the human nature, according to which He sits near the transcendent goods of the Father. In this case the Father spoke, when He joined His Word to a human nature.

81. – Then (v. 13b) he shows Christ's dignity with a sign. But two questions arise here: first of all, because from all eternity all things are subject to the Son inasmuch as He is God; secondly, because in the resurrection Christ said: 'All power is given to me in heaven and in earth' (Mt. 28:18), what does He expect shall be subjected to His footstool? But it should be noted that something can be in someone's power in two ways: in one way in regard to his authority, and then all things have been subject to the Son of God from all eternity, inasmuch as they were decreed to be done, and in the time they existed, they were subject to the Son of God as God, but to Him as man they were subject from the time of His conception as man. In another way, in regard to the exercise of His power; and then all things are not yet subject to Him, but only at the end of the world, because He does not yet exercise His power over all things by subjecting them to Him: 'According to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things to Himself' (Phil. 3:21). But why does he say, footstool? Perhaps because that word signifies nothing more than full and perfect subjection, for that is said to be perfectly subject to someone which he can tread under foot; or because just as God is the head of Christ, as it says in 1 Cor. (11:3), so Christ's feet would be His humanity: 'We shall adore in the place where his feet stood' (Ps. 131:7). I will make them your footstool, i.e., not only will I subject you enemies to your divinity, but even to your humanity.

82. – Origen erred on this point, for he understood only one type of subjection, saying that just as being subject to the light is nothing more than being enlightened, so, since Christ is truth, justice and goodness and whatever else He can be called, to be subjected to the Savior is nothing less than to be saved. Therefore, he desired that in the end all things, including the devils, would be saved, because otherwise all things would not be subjected to Christ. But this is contrary to what is stated in Mt. (25:41): 'Depart, you accursed, into everlasting fire.' Hence, it should be noted that there are two types of subjection: one by the will of the subjects, as good ministers are subject to their master, as to their king; in this way, only the good are subject to Christ. The other is by the will of the master, so that some force is exerted on the subjects. This is how the wicked are subject to Christ, not that they desire His dominion, but because Christ will accomplish His will in their regard by punishing them, who refused to do His will here. And this is what is designated by the footstool, because whatever is tread upon is crushed: 'Heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool' (Is. 66:1).

83. – Another question concerns the statement, until I make your enemies your footstool, because if He sit until they are made his footstool, then when they are made his footstool, He will no longer sit. I answer that words as until or as long as are sometimes used finitely, namely, when they designate the end of that to which they are joined, as when I say, 'Sit here till I come'; but sometimes they are used infinitely, when no end is mentioned, as when I say: 'He did not repent as long as he lived', because he did not repent even after death. For, as Jerome says, that would be designated about which there might be doubt, but that which is not in doubt is left to the one understanding. But there is doubt whether a person will repent in this life, but not so after death. So, too, in the present case: for since many now attack and blaspheme Christ, there is doubt whether He is sitting now, but there is not doubt that He will sit, when all things are subject to Him; therefore, it is not expressed.

Now certainly in the epistle to the Hebrews, when a distinction was to be made between the dispensation of the New Testament and the dispensation of the Old Testament in regard to the fitness of the ages and times, it was written most plainly that not only those visible things but also the word itself were wrought by the mediation of the angels. For it speaks as follows: "To what angel has he ever said, 'Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies a stool for your feet'? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?" It is evident from this passage that all those things were not only done by angels but were also done for our sake, that is, for the people of God, to whom the inheritance of eternal life is promised.

It is no secret that angels are frequently present, invisibly, at the side of the elect, in order to defend them from the snares of the cunning enemy and uphold them by the great gift of heavenly desire. The apostle attests to this when he says, "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?" Nevertheless, we should believe that the angelic spirits are especially present to us when we give ourselves in a special way to divine services, that is, when we enter a church and open our ears to sacred reading, or give our attention to psalm singing, or apply ourselves to prayer, or celebrate the solemnity of the mass. Hence the apostle advises women to have a veil over their heads in church on account of the angels. And a prophet says, "I will sing psalms to you in the sight of the angels." We are not permitted to doubt that where the mysteries of the Lord's body and blood are being enacted, a gathering of the citizens from on high is present—those who were keeping such careful watch at the tomb where Christ's venerable body had been placed and from which he had departed by rising. Hence we must strive meticulously, my brothers, when we come into the church to pay the due service of divine praise or to perform the solemnity of the mass, to be always mindful of the angelic presence, and to fulfill our heavenly duty with fear and fitting veneration, following the example of the women devoted to God who were afraid when the angels appeared to them at the tomb, and who, we are told, bowed their faces to the earth.

The angelic creature gazes with the unreflected keenness of mind upon the great abyss of the divine judgments, and, blessed with the ineffable delight of their supreme equity, glories moreover that these are committed to execution through its ministry and made manifest; and therefore it rightly loves the Lord Christ. "Are they not all," he says, "ministering spirits, sent for ministry on behalf of those who receive the inheritance of salvation?" Furthermore, the archangels (that we may attribute to them something more distinctive than to those who are simply angels) are, I believe, wonderfully delighted that they too are admitted more intimately to the counsels of the eternal Wisdom, and that through them those same counsels are dispensed each to its proper place and time with supreme governance. And this is the reason that they too love the Lord Christ.

Now, the same distinction is had in relation to action, which is the lowest, in which [function] are all those spirits that are sent for service, for "the highest ones never recede from the intimate." Wherefore Dionysius raises the question of the Seraph sent to Isaias, but he does not solve it. But it seems better to be of the opinion that it was another angel, receiving his fire from an angel of that particular order, and thus named after him. Now, this action has three functions, to cleanse, enlighten, and perfect. Perfecting is greater than enlightening, and the latter is greater than cleansing. Cleansing befits the Angels, enlightening, the Archangels, and perfecting, the Principalities.

Those governing both the former and the latter are spiritual substances, either entirely conjoined, as are the souls of brutes, or separably conjoined, as are rational spirits, or entirely separate, as are celestial spirits, whom the philosophers call Intelligences, and we call Angels. To whom, according to the philosophers, it belongs to move the celestial bodies, and through this the administration of the universe is attributed to them, receiving from the first cause, namely God, the influx of power, which they pour back according to the work of governance, which regards the natural subsistence of things. But according to the theologians, the governance of the universe is attributed to the same according to the command of the supreme God with respect to the works of reparation, according to which they are called ministering spirits, sent for the sake of those who receive the inheritance of salvation.

As he saw you, he also saw Them. I know how it was. You reeled back dizzy and blinded, more hurt by them than he had ever been by bombs. The degradation of it!—that this thing of earth and slime could stand upright and converse with spirits before whom you, a spirit, could only cower. Perhaps you had hoped that the awe and strangeness of it would dash his joy. But that is the cursed thing; the gods are strange to mortal eyes, and yet they are not strange. He had no faintest conception till that very hour of how they would look, and even doubted their existence. But when he saw them he knew that he had always known them and realised what part each one of them had played at many an hour in his life when he had supposed himself alone, so that now he could say to them, one by one, not "Who are you?" but "So it was you all the time". All that they were and said at this meeting woke memories. The dim consciousness of friends about him which had haunted his solitudes from infancy was now at last explained; that central music in every pure experience which had always just evaded memory was now at last recovered. Recognition made him free of their company almost before the limbs of his corpse became quiet. Only you were left outside.

For some of the angels were commissioned to move the air, some the sun, some the moon, some the stars, while others prepared the clouds and the rains, and rendered many other services— for this is the work, the appointed duty, of the angelic orders and powers—to minister to the well-being and honour of the image of God, that is, of man, and to move all things like soldiers obeying the commands of the king. This work they were commanded to do on the fourth day, when God adorned the heaven with its stars. The work of the adverse demons, as rebels against God, is to do what will mar his image, for on the fourth day they transgressed the command and were cast out of heaven, as elsewhere he says: Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those who shall be the heirs of Salvation? thus expressly declaring that they were ordained for the service of man

Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?

The language of the Apostle also: Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation? very clearly shows that they all for the sake of man are occupied night and day in their ministrations and services, and in doing everything else towards giving men relaxation from their toils and towards supplying their wants. For, when we shall no longer need them, they shall be set free from this bondage and service, and shall cast down the stars upon the earth.

Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation? saying here, that all of them together have been ordained for service to men, as living with them in this place.

A hermit was asked how it was that some people said they had seen angels. He answered, 'Blessed is he who always sees his own sins.'

Whenever the perception of the revelation of a mystery descends into the intellects of the saints, this is also from the angels. When it is permitted by God, a mystery is revealed from a higher angelic order to a lower one [even unto the lowest]; and in the same manner, when it is permitted by the Divine nod that a mystery should come even to human nature, it is transmitted by those [angels] who are wholly worthy of it. For by their intermediary the saints receive the light of divine vision, [leading] even to the glorious Eternal Being, the mystery which cannot be taught; and the angels receive from one another, "for they are ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" [through the awareness of true intuitions that are proper to them]. In the future age, however, this order of things will be abolished. For then one will not receive from another the revelation of God's glory unto the gladness and joy of his soul; but to each by himself the Master will give according to the measure of his excellence and his worthiness, and he will not receive the gift from his comrade as he does here. Then there will be no teacher and no pupil, nor one whose deficiency must be filled up by another. For one is the Giver there, Who gives without mediation to those who receive; and those who win joy, procure it from Him. [[For they do not perceive Him through diverse intellections, but by [direct] revelation of Him, without departing from Him through thoughts.]] There the order of those who teach and those who learn ceases, and on One alone hangs the ardent love of all.

"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" What marvel (saith he) if they minister to the Son, when they minister even to our salvation? See how he lifts up their minds, and shows the great honor which God has for us, since He has assigned to Angels who are above us this ministration on our behalf. As if one should say, for this purpose (saith he) He employs them; this is the office of Angels, to minister to God for our salvation. So that it is an angelical work, to do all for the salvation of the brethren: or rather it is the work of Christ Himself, for He indeed saves as Lord, but they as servants. And we, though servants are yet Angels' fellow-servants. Why gaze ye so earnestly on the Angels (saith he)? They are servants of the Son of God, and are sent many ways for our sakes, and minister to our salvation. And so they are partners in service with us.

Consider ye how he ascribes no great difference to the kinds of creatures. And yet the space between angels and men is great; nevertheless he brings them down near to us, all but saying, For us they labor, for our sake they run to and fro: on us, as one might say, they wait. This is their ministry, for our sake to be sent every way.

And of these examples both the Old [Testament] is full, and the New. For when Angels bring glad tidings to the shepherds, or to Mary, or to Joseph; when they sit at the sepulcher, when they are sent to say to the disciples, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?", when they release Peter out of the prison, when they discourse with Philip, consider how great the honor is; when God sends His Angels for ministers as to friends; when to Cornelius [an Angel] appears, when [an Angel] brings forth all the apostles from the prison, and says, "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people the words of this life"; and to Paul himself also an Angel appears. Dost thou see that they minister to us on God's behalf, and that they minister to us in the greatest matters? wherefore Paul saith, "All things are yours, whether life or death, or the world, or things present, or things to come."

Well then the 'Son' also was sent, but not as a servant, nor as a minister, but as a Son, and Only-Begotten, and desiring the same things with the Father. Rather indeed, He was not "sent": for He did not pass from place to place, but took on Him flesh: whereas these change their places, and leaving those in which they were before, so come to others in which they were not.

And by this again he incidentally encourages them, saying, What fear ye? Angels are ministering to us.

On this account our heart must be kept with all carefulness both by day and night, and no place be given to the devil. But every effort must be used that the ministers of God—those spirits who were sent to minister to those who are called to be heirs of salvation—may find a place within us, and be delighted to enter into the guest-chamber of our soul. And, dwelling within us [they] may guide us by their counsel; if, so, they shall find the habitation of our heart adorned by the practice of virtue and holiness.

With respect to the fact that both good and evil angels attend to humans—a doctrine we have often taught following the Holy Scriptures—it is not by chance and without a divine judgment that a given angel is assigned to a given soul. For example, one is allotted to Peter and another to Paul.… Therefore, there can be no doubt that by a judgment of God, who sees clearly their worth and the quality of our soul, they are allotted as guards to each one of us by a mystical lot directed by the economy of Christ.

And spiritual beings stand in this service, and the hosts and ranks of heaven are obedient unto the word of Jesus, even as Paul said, "They are ministering spirits, who are sent to minister unto those who are about to inherit life." And concerning the Apostles it is written, "They shall sit upon thrones," and this indicateth to us the greatness of their honour, and their equality with Him in inheritance, even as Paul saith, "If we suffer with Him, we shall also be glorified with Him."

Through the phrase "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve" he shows that the Son is not a servant, but a fellow worker with God.

But when the comparison is challenged with an angel, I am compelled to maintain that the head over all things is the stronger of the two, to whom the angels are ministers, who is destined to be the judge of angels, if he shall stand fast in the law of God-an obedience which he refused at first.

That the angels were "ministering spirits" he has established from previous testimony, but now he finally renews the image of their service, saying that they do everything in service for the things needful for our salvation. For it is not a small thing to know the need for the assistance of their service.

Whereas he sits at the right hand [he is saying], they are sent as ministers of salvation for the sake of human beings.

He elevates the minds of his listeners, showing the great care of God for us, if He even appointed angels, who surpass us, to serve our salvation. He also seems to attack certain people who render excessive veneration to angels, and especially all Jews in general, who are devoted to the law given through angels and to their ministry in it, even preferring them to Christ. So, he says, do not serve them, for they are our fellow servants. See what a small distinction he draws between creatures; although there is a great distance between angels and men, he has placed them near us, for creatures are not greatly exalted above creatures. Angels ministered greatly both in the Old and in the New Testament: when they helped Joseph with counsel (Matt. 1:24), when they announced the good news to the shepherds, when they sat at the tomb and proclaimed the resurrection of Christ, and when they taught that He will come in the same manner as He ascended. An angel appeared to Cornelius (Acts 11:13), to Philip (Acts 8:26), to Peter in prison (Acts 12:7), and in general there are countless such examples. Note that it is the work of angels to serve the salvation of men, and even more so the work of Christ Himself. Therefore one must not neglect such a ministry.

84. – Then he shows that this dignity does not belong to the angels, when he says, Are they not all ministering spirits? Here he does three things: first, he indicated their function; secondly, the performance of that function (v. 14b); thirdly, the fruit of that performance (v. 14c).

85. – He says, therefore: Are they not all ministering spirits? 'His ministers who do his will' (Ps. 102:21). But Dan. (7:10) says: 'Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him.' Therefore, there are some who minister and some who stand about. Consequently, not all minister. I answer that just as in the case of artifacts there are two kinds of artisans (for some work with their hands, and others do not, but oversee and direct what is to be done), so, too, with the angels, because some carry out the divine commands, while others oversee and direct their performance. Therefore, if we take ministers in a broad sense to include both the executors and the directors, than all are ministers, inasmuch as the higher ones carry out God's will in regard the middle ones, and these in regard to the lower, and the lower in regard to us. But if those who perform are called ministers, while those who are immediately enlightened by God are called assistants, then some minister and some assist and direct the others.

86. – Therefore, the assistants are those who receive God's illumination directly from God Himself, and they receives names related to God, such as Seraphim, i.e., those who love God, Cherubim, those who know God, and Thrones, who carry. But the ministering spirits are those who receive from them and deliver to the others. But this seems to be contrary to Gregory's statement that those who stand about are the ones who enjoy the beatific vision. Therefore, since all the angels see God's essence, according to Mt. (18:10): 'Their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven', it seems that all assist. I answer that one of the first scholars to study Dionysius' books strove to preserve both the Apostle's and Gregory's opinions and said that the lower angels do not see God fact to face, since they are not standing near. But this opinion is heretical, because, since happiness is made complete in the vision, it would follow that since the lower angels do not see God, they are not happy. Furthermore, the Lord Himself said: 'Their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father' (Mt. 18:10). Therefore, it must be admitted that all see God's essence; just as God by knowing His essence also knows Himself and all things not Himself, so, too, the angels, seeing the essence of God, know it and all things in it. In this vision they are happy only because they see Him; not because they see other things in Him. Hence, Augustine says in the Confessions: 'Blessed is he that sees you, even if he does not see others. But he that sees you and other things in not any the happier for seeing the other things, but only for seeing you.' But the vision by which they see God's essence is common to the beatified. In the vision by which they know all other things in God one angel is above another, for the higher angels, being of a higher nature and intellect, see more in God than the intermediate do, and these more than the lowest. Hence, they see everything which pertains to their office and which are to be accomplished by the others. These things the lower angels do not see as perfectly; therefore, some apprise the others of their duties, and they alone stand about. Nevertheless, all see God. The sign of this, according to Dionysius is that to some angels who ask, God answers: 'I that speak justice'; but to the question: 'Who is king of glory'? The angels and not God answer: 'the Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory'. Thus, the function of the angels is clear.

87. – But this seems to be a description of the function they perform, when he says, sent forth to serve. Therefore, it seems that all are performers: 'The angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him: and shall deliver them' (Ps. 33:8; Is 6:6): 'One of the seraphim flew to me.' But the seraphim belong to the highest order. Therefore, is they are sent, then a fortiori so are the others. But this is contrary to Dionysius, who repeats what he received from the Apostle, namely, that only the lower angels are sent. I answer that some say that the higher are sent and they depart when certain cases arise. But it seems to me that the four highest orders, namely, the Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones and Dominations are never sent, but the lower are sent. This is obvious from their names: for the Virtues are sent to work wonders; the Powers to restrain the ethereal powers. But the Dominations are so called, because they ordain all these lower ones. But he other three orders receive their name from the action they immediately perform in regard to God, and they dispense it to the others. Hence, if they are said to be sent, it is because there are two kinds of mission: one implies local motion, and this is the way the lower angels are sent; the other is he mission which involves the application and direction of a new effect in the creature, and this is the way the Son and the Holy Spirit are sent. It is also the way the higher angels are sent, because their power is sent to the lower ones to be sent to others. And if he says: 'One of the seraphim flew to me' (Is. 6:6), it is because the lower angels use the names of those by whose power and authority they act, and they attribute their actions to them. And because that lower angel performed his office in virtue of the Seraphim, he was called by the name of Seraphim, even though he was not by nature a seraph.

88. – Then he mentions the fruit of their activity when he ways, for the sake of those who are to receive [the inheritance of] salvation. And although all are called, not all receive the inheritance. Therefore, the ones who do receive, obtain the fruit of the mission: 'We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed' (Jer. 51:9). Or again when he says, for them that shall receive [the inheritance of] salvation, the fruit of their performance is mentioned, which is that men receive the inheritance of salvation. For the purpose of their actions toward men is that the number of the elect be filled. And he says, for them, and not for all, because, although all are called, few are chosen, as it says in Mt. (22:14). He says, the inheritance, because only the sons obtain it: 'But if sons, then heirs also' (Rom. 8:17). He says, receive, because the kingdom of God is obtained by labor and sweat and solicitude: 'The kingdom of God suffers violence' (Mt. 11:12). Therefore, they will be saved, who take care to guard the divine illuminations and inspirations impressed by the good angels and to make them fructify; otherwise, they will hear what said in Jer (51:9): 'We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed.'

The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. 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. And as a matter of fact, if you examined a hundred people who had lost their faith in Christianity, I wonder how many of them would turn out to have been reasoned out of it by honest argument? Do not most people simply drift away?

Obviously you are making excellent progress. My only fear is lest in attempting to hurry the patient you awaken him to a sense of his real position. For you and I, who see that position as it really is, must never forget how totally different it ought to appear to him. We know that we have introduced a change of direction in his course which is already carrying him out of his orbit around the Enemy; but he must be made to imagine that all the choices which have effected this change of course are trivial and revocable. He must not be allowed to suspect that he is now, however slowly, heading right away from the sun on a line which will carry him into the cold and dark of utmost space.

"Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard" from the Son, "lest we drift away" just like the former people. "If," because of that message declared through the angel in Sodom, those who did not want to listen to it "received the penalty of punishment, then how can we be saved, if we neglect so great a new life?"

And having spoken concerning the Son, both what related to the Economy, and what related to the Creation, and to His sovereignty, and having shown His co-equal dignity, and that as absolute Master He ruleth not men only but also the powers above, he next exhorts them, having made out his argument, that we ought to give heed to the things which have been heard. "Wherefore we ought to give more earnest heed" (saith he) "to the things which we have heard." Why "more earnest"? Here he meant "more earnest" than to the Law: but he suppressed the actual expression of it, and yet makes it plain in the course of reasoning, not in the way of counsel, nor of exhortation. For so it was better.

Why ought we to "give more earnest heed to the things which we have heard"? were not those former things of God, as well as these? Either then he meaneth "more earnest" than [to] the Law, or "very earnest"; not making comparison, God forbid. For since, on account of the long space of time, they had a great opinion of the Old Covenant, but these things had been despised as yet new, he proves (more than his argument required) that we ought rather to give heed to these. How? By saying in effect, Both these and those are of God, but not in a like manner. And this he shows us afterwards: but for the present he treats it somewhat superficially, but afterwards more clearly, saying "For if that first covenant had been faultless", and many other such things: "for that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." But as yet he ventures not to say any such thing in the beginning of his discourse, nor until he shall have first occupied and possessed his hearer by his fuller [arguments].

Why then ought we "to give more earnest heed"? "Lest at any time," saith he, "we should let them slip" - that is, lest at any time we should perish, lest we should fall away. And here he shows the grievousness of this falling away, in that it is a difficult thing for that which hath fallen away to return again, inasmuch as it hath happened through wilful negligence. And he took this form of speech from the Proverbs. For, saith he, "my son [take heed] lest thou fall away," showing both the easiness of the fall, and the grievousness of the ruin. That is, our disobedience is not without danger. And while by his mode of reasoning he shows that the chastisement is greater, yet again he leaves it in the form of a question, and not in the conclusion. For indeed this is to make one's discourse inoffensive, when one does not in every case of one's self infer the judgment, but leaves it in the power of the hearer himself to give sentence: and this would render them more open to conviction. And both the prophet Nathan doth the same in the Old [Testament], and in Matthew Christ, saying, "What will He do to the husbandmen" of that vineyard? so compelling them to give sentence themselves: for this is the greatest victory.

Because, he says, the one who has spoken to us, the Son, is so much greater than the prophets and the angels who served in the Old Testament, we must pay closer attention to what has been spoken by him, rather than as we were inclined to the law. "Lest at any time we drift away." This is, let us not fall away from what is honorable and from the way that leads to salvation.

The design of Judas, also, respecting the betrayal of our Lord and Saviour, did not originate in the wickedness of his mind alone. For Scripture testifies that the "devil had already put it into his heart to betray Him." And therefore Solomon rightly commanded, saying, "Keep thy heart with all diligence." And the Apostle Paul warns us: "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest perhaps we should let them slip." And when he says, "Neither give place to the devil," he shows by that injunction that it is through certain acts, or a kind of mental slothfulness, that room is made for the devil, so that, if he once enter our heart, he will either gain possession of us, or at least will pollute the soul, if he has not obtained the entire mastery over it, by casting on us his fiery darts; and by these we are sometimes deeply wounded, and sometimes only set on fire.

Since, he says, so great is the superiority of the Son who spoke to us over the prophets and angels, the ministers of the Old Testament, what He said must be heeded more than the law. But he did not say this directly, so as not to shock them at the beginning; he left it to them to draw this conclusion from what follows. He says this not comparing the Old Testament with the New — no, but against the opinion of those who speak with great glory of the Old Testament and neglect the New.

"Lest we drift away," that is, so that we might not perish. He borrowed the expression from Proverbs: "my son," says the Wise One, "do not let them slip away" (μὴ παραρρύης) (Prov. 3:21), expressing both the ease of falling away and the gravity of perdition. For what has fallen away is difficult to restore.

89. – After showing in a number of ways Christ's superiority over the angels, the Apostle here concludes that Christ's doctrine, namely, the New Testament, deserves more obedience than the Old Testament. In regard to this he does three things: first, he states the conclusion intended; secondly, he supports this conclusion with a reason (v. 2); thirdly, he confirms the consequence (v. 5).

90. – In regard to the first it should be noted that after giving the judicial and moral precepts of the Law in Ex. (chap. 25), He continues in verse 20: 'Behold, I shall send my angel, who shall go before you and shall bring you into the land;' and then adds, 'Take notice of him and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be condemned' (Ex. 23:21). Therefore, if the commandment of an angel, through whom the Law was delivered, is obeyed, they will enter heaven. Hence, it says in Mt. (19:17): 'If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.' Therefore it is necessary to keep those commandments of the Law; but much more to obey the commandments of Him Who is higher than the angels, through whom the Law was delivered. And this what he says, therefore, we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard: 'We have heard a rumor from the Lord' (Ob. 1:1); 'O Lord, I have heard your hearing and was afraid' (Heb. 3:1). Therefore, we ought to observe more closely for three reasons: first, because of the authority of the one speaking, for He is the Creator and the Son of God and not a creature of God's minister: 'We ought to obey God rather than men' (Ac. 5:29); secondly, because of the usefulness of the commands, for they are the words of eternal life: 'Lord, to whom shall go, you have the words of eternal life' (Jn. 6:69); others are words of temporal goods: 'If you would hear me, you would eat the good things of the earth' (Is. 1:19); thirdly, because of the sweetness of their observance, for they are sweet: 'His commandments are not heavy' (1 Jn. 5:3); 'My yoke is sweet and my burden light' (Mt. 11:30); 'This is a yoke which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear' (Ac. 15:10).

91. – Secondly, he shows the same thing from the threatening danger when he says, lest we drift away from it, i.e., be eternally damned. Here it should be noted that someone drifts away by bodily punishments: 'Like waters that return no more, we fall down into the earth' (2 Sam. 14:14). He drifts away worse through guilt; but he drifts away worst by eternal damnation, because not a shard remains: 'And it shall be broken small as the potter's vessel, broken all to pieces with a mighty breaking, and there shall not a shard be found of the pieces thereof' (Is. 30:14).

The Holy Spirit radiated in the hearts of the preachers so that they could preach and write all the truth. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days has spoken to us by His Son. And later it is said: For if the word spoken by angels proved to be valid; and still later: For it was first announced by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by those who heard Him; God also, according to His own will, bearing them witness by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by impartings of the Holy Spirit. And this threefold firmness of faith is explained: first, as expressed through the Uncreated Word, when He says, at sundry times, etc., and, being the brightness of His glory. Second, as expressed through the Incarnate Word, in the passage: He has effected man's purgation from sin. Third, as expressed through the Inspired Word, in the passage: For it was first announced by the Lord.

"For if the word spoken by Angels" (saith he) "was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken to us by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him?"

Next, when he had said, "For if the word which was spoken by Angels was steadfast" - he did not add, much more that by Christ: but letting this pass, he said what is less, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" And see how he makes the comparison. "For if the word which was spoken by Angels," saith he. There, "by Angels," here, "by the Lord" - and there "a word," but here, "salvation."

Then lest any man should say, Thy sayings, O Paul, are they Christ's? he proves their trustworthiness both from his having heard these things of Him, and from their being now spoken by God; since not merely a voice is wafted, as in the case of Moses, but signs are done, and facts bear witness.

But what is this, "For if the word spoken by Angels was steadfast"? For in the Epistle to the Galatians also he saith to this effect, "Being ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator." And again, "Ye received a law by the disposition of Angels, and have not kept it." And everywhere he saith it was given by angels. Some indeed say that Moses is signified; but without reason. For here he says Angels in the plural: and the Angels too which he here speaks of, are those in Heaven. What then is it? Either he means the Decalogue only (for there Moses spake, and God answered him), - or that angels were present, God disposing them in order, - or that he speaks thus in regard of all things said and done in the old Covenant, as if Angels had part in them. But how is it said in another place, "The Law was given by Moses," and here "by Angels"? For it is said, "And God came down in thick darkness."

"For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast." What is "was steadfast"? True, as one may say; and faithful in its proper season; and all the things which had been spoken came to pass. Either this is his meaning, or that they prevailed, and the threatenings were coming to be accomplished. Or by "the word" he means injunctions. For apart from the Law, Angels sent from God enjoined many things: for instance at Bochim, in the Judges, in [the history of] Samson. For this is the cause why he said not "the Law" but "the word." And he seems to me haply rather to mean this, viz., those things which are committed to the management of angels. What shall we say then? The angels who were entrusted with the charge of the nation were then present, and they themselves made the trumpets, and the other things, the fire, the thick darkness.

"And every transgression and disobedience," saith he. Not this one and that one, but "every" one. Nothing, he saith, remained unavenged, but "received a just recompense of reward," instead of [saying] punishment. Why now spake he thus? Such is the manner of Paul, not to make much account of his phrases, but indifferently to put down words of evil sound, even in matters of good meaning. As also in another place he saith, "Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." And again he hath put "the recompense" for punishment, as here he calleth punishment "reward." "If it be a righteous thing," he saith, "with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled rest." That is, justice was not violated, but God went forth against them, and caused the penalty to come round on the sinners, though not all their sins are made manifest, but only where the express ordinances were transgressed.

"How then shall we," he saith, "escape if we neglect so great salvation?" Hereby he signified, that other salvation was no great thing. Well too did he add the "So great." For not from wars (he saith) will He now rescue us, nor bestow on us the earth and the good things that are in the earth, but it will be the dissolution of death, the destruction of the devil, the kingdom of Heaven, everlasting life. For all these things he hath briefly expressed, by saying, "if we neglect so great salvation."

"Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord": that is, had its beginning from the fountain itself. It was not a man who brought it over into the earth, nor any created power, but the Only-Begotten Himself.

"And was confirmed unto us by them that heard [Him]." What is "confirmed"? It was believed, or, it came to pass. For (he saith) we have the earnest; that is, it hath not been extinguished, it hath not ceased, but it is strong and prevaileth. And the cause is, the Divine power works therein. It means they who heard from the Lord, themselves confirmed us. This is a great thing and trustworthy: which also Luke saith in the beginning of his Gospel, "As they delivered unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word."

How then was it confirmed? What if those that heard were forgers? saith some one. This objection then he overthrows, and shows that the grace was not human. If they had gone astray, God would not have borne witness to them; for he subjoined, "God also bearing witness with them." Both they indeed bear witness, and God beareth witness too.

"The word spoken through angels." Either Paul speaks of the law as having been given through angels, as he also says in the Epistle to the Galatians: "Ordained through angels," (Gal. 3:19) or administered; or of those things which were said to others by angels: as concerning the Sodomites (Gen. 19:1), as concerning the lamentation in the book of Judges (2:1), when the angel of the Lord came to the Israelites and reproached them for their transgression. "It was necessary," he said, "to remove all these nations from the midst, but you also made treaties with them: therefore the Lord will not destroy the nations that have been left behind." Upon hearing this, they all wept with one heart: therefore, the place was called the Place of Weeping. But he says, this is of such a nature. For if those things predicted by angels have happened and have come to pass, how much more will those things predicted by the Son of God happen? "just retribution." Not that one thing is, and another is not; but every transgression and disobedience received its just retribution, that is, a reward, and nothing remained unpunished. He calls punishment a wage, although normally the term wage is applied to a favorable name; but the apostle does not concern himself with niceties of words.

Although it is not in heaven, it is yet higher than hell, and is appointed to afford an interval of rest to the souls of the righteous, until the consummation of all things shall complete the resurrection of all men with the "full recompense of their reward." This consummation will then be manifested in heavenly promises, which Marcion, however, claims for his own god, just as if the Creator had never announced them.

Here he reveals his intention. By the word spoken through angels, one must understand either the Ten Commandments, for it is true that angels were present at that time, to whom the Hebrew people had been entrusted, and they produced the trumpet sounds, fire, darkness, and the rest, as it says in the Epistle to the Galatians: "it was ordained through angels" (Gal. 3:19), and in another place: "who received the law at the disposition of angels" (Acts 7:53); or by the word one must understand all the commandments in the Old Testament delivered through angels, as for example, at the place of weeping during the time of the judges, and with Samson (Judg. 2:1, 13:3). Therefore he did not say "the law," but "the word," in order to indicate this. So then, all this was "steadfast," that is, it was true and the threats were carried out, and nothing of it was lost.

"Every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense" — not so that one thing received punishment and another did not; but "every," and nothing remained unpunished. He calls punishment a recompense, and although this word is used in a good sense, the apostle does not concern himself with expressions.

92. – Then he adduces the reason, which contains a conditional sentence with a comparison between the New and Old Testaments. In the antecedent is mentioned the condition of the Old Testament, and in the consequent the condition of the New Testament. In regard to the Old he mentions three things: first, the authority of the Law; secondly, the solidity of truth (v. 2b); thirdly, the necessity of obeying (v. 2c).

93. – First, he mentions the authority, because the Law was not delivered by human authority but by angels: 'Being ordained by angels through the hand of a mediator' (Gal. 2:19); This is he that was in the Church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sion and with our fathers' (Ac. 7:38). Nor is this strange, because, as Dionysius proves, the revelation of divine illuminations reach us through the medium of angels.

94. – He shows the firmness of the truth when he says, was valid, because everything foretold in the Old Law has been fulfilled: (Pr. 12:19) 'The lip of truth shall be steadfast for ever;' 'Not one dot or one iota of the law shall pass away until all be fulfilled' (Mt. 5:18); 'The words that proceed from my mouth, I will not make void' (Ps. 88:35). Therefore, it was made valid, because it was not made void.

95. – Then he shows the necessity of obeying, because the disobedient are punished: and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. Here he mentions one thing which corresponds to a double guilt, namely, to the sin of omission and of transgression. The first corresponds to affirmative precepts; the other to negative precepts. The first is identified by the name, disobedience. But is disobedience a general sin? It seems so: for a sin is specific, because it has a special end. Hence, when someone does not obey a precept with the intention of scorning it, it is a special sin; but when there is another reason, say, concupiscence, then it is a condition following the sin, but it is not a special sin. The other is called a transgression: 'I have counted all the sinners of the earth prevaricators' (Ps. 118:119). Then he mentions something on the part of the punishment: received a just retribution. For retribution depends on the amount of guilt, so that one who sins more gravely receives a greater punishment; but the wages depend on the quality, so that one who sins from the fires of lust will be punished with fire. There, he will receive a good wage for good acts and an evil wage for wicked actions. Consequently, retribution is received for good and for evil, inasmuch as it implies distributive justice. It is called just because of the equality of punishment, so that according to the amount of sin there is a certain amount of punishment.

Since the message was proclaimed in former times by angels but now by the Son, he draws [this] logical and obvious conclusion.… And, just as though you had asked, "what salvation?" he replied as follows, in order to show that he was referring to the salvation of the New Testament, that is, to the word not spoken by the angels but by the Lord.

The Holy Spirit radiated in the hearts of the preachers so that they could preach and write all the truth. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all in these days has spoken to us by His Son. And later it is said: For if the word spoken by angels proved to be valid; and still later: For it was first announced by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by those who heard Him; God also, according to His own will, bearing them witness by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by impartings of the Holy Spirit. And this threefold firmness of faith is explained: first, as expressed through the Uncreated Word, when He says, at sundry times, etc., and, being the brightness of His glory. Second, as expressed through the Incarnate Word, in the passage: He has effected man's purgation from sin. Third, as expressed through the Inspired Word, in the passage: For it was first announced by the Lord.

Since before His coming they were not bound to believe in the Trinity except implicitly, now after the promulgation of the New Testament all are bound to believe it explicitly, so that it is now not only credible because worthy of belief, or fitting from the testimony of creation, but also obligatory through the promulgation of evangelical truth, whose promulgation had its beginning from the Savior, as is said in Hebrews 2, where the Apostle, speaking of the Christian faith, says thus: Having received its beginning to be declared through the Lord, it was confirmed unto us by those who heard, with signs and wonders and various powers and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to His will.

"how shall we escape" He says, it is this: If what was spoken by angels in the Old Law proved of no effect, and all who sinned received their due, what excuse shall we have, seeing those who received it and yet were careless? "For if we neglect so great a salvation." Which does not promise earthly goods like the Old Testament, but the kingdom of heaven and adoption as sons. However, it speaks of salvation which has been demonstrated and revealed by Christ, that is, faith in Him. This, however, it called salvation, showing that what was in the old law was not salvific. "It was first spoken by the Lord." Paul then shows that it is worthy of faith. For no one else, he says, was a minister of this, as was Moses in the old covenant, but Christ Himself. "and was delivered to us by those who heard it." They were delivered and believed by those who heard. But who are those who heard? Clearly the divine disciples, the eyewitnesses who became ministers of the word, as Luke also says; for they certainly informed us. (Luke 1:2) Do not take offense; Paul does not say that he himself also heard from Christ, although he did hear.

I mean the fleshly and by "air' the spiritual. For if the mind is set free of evil thoughts and passions and through it we gaze upon the freedom which Christ and God gave to us, then we will no longer be bound by and brought down by our former slavery to sin and a fleshly mind. Instead, heeding the voice of the Lord we will watch and pray without ceasing, and we will go from that place and arrive at bliss and the promised good things, by the grace and kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory for ever. Amen

Paul showed that there is a very great difference between the old covenant and the new covenant, since he speaks about the "word" in the first covenant, but in this covenant he speaks of "salvation." For the first covenant was only a giving of customs and observances, whereas in this covenant there is also the grace of the Spirit and release from sins and the promise of the kingdom of heaven and the promise of immortality. Therefore, he also rightly says, "such a great salvation," showing by the epithet its greatness. In the first covenant it was given "through the angels," but now "through the Lord." And since there were marvels with the former covenant, so that the new covenant might not seem inferior to the old in this respect, he well appended the statement, "while God further testified with signs and wonders and various powers," saying this so that by its increase the fullness of grace might appear beyond that of the law also in this matter. For there the wonders took place only according to the need, but here also many of those outside the faith were healed through us, from even whatsoever diseases happened to afflict them. For such was the abundance of healings among us. Also the dead were raised.… After comparing and contrasting the difference and showing the superiority in a various and manifold manner, he added a greater thing that did not happen to those in the law: "and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed." For that each of the believers should have their own share in the Spirit was a characteristic of those in grace. And well he adds in addition to all these things "according to his own will," that is, the will of God who fully wished once and for all to lavish us greatly so that his grace for us might not be repented of, and that the gifts of grace once given to us might not be changed along with the things of the previous covenant, as some might suspect.

Again he associated a comparison with the exhortation, showing the extent to which the gospel teaching surpasses the provisions of the law. The ministry of angels was involved in the giving of the law, whereas in this case the Lord in person was the first to propose the saving teaching, and those who were in receipt of the apostolic grace welcomed it. While the law gives us a glimpse of what has to be done, the Lord's teaching is the source of eternal salvation.… He also showed the new covenant to be resplendent with spiritual gifts: of old the inspired authors alone shared in the spiritual bounty, whereas now all the believers enjoy this grace.… While he said this to encourage them to give heed to the divine teaching more zealously, he brought out the difference between the former and the latter under the guise of exhortation. It was very wise of him to say God witnesses to the message through miracles: the demonstration is beyond question, and the reliability of the witness indisputable.

There "the word," here "salvation." If there was salvation there too, it was not great: they were delivered from enemies and received earthly goods; but here it is far greater. Therefore he also said, "so great." For the destruction of death, the perdition of demons, the Kingdom of Heaven—all this comes to you by the word of the Son.

Lending credibility to his words, he says that this salvation was proclaimed not through prophets or angels, but received its beginning from the Master of all Himself, from the very Source; then it spread among us truly and reliably through eyewitnesses of the Word and servants. Luke also speaks of this (Luke 1:2). They firmly instructed us. How then does the apostle say in another place: he did not hear it from men (Gal. 1:12)? Because there it was important and necessary to insist on the thought that he did not learn from men. For he was accused of not having heard the Lord, and therefore he was in danger that his preaching would not be believed by his disciples. But now there is no such need for this. For he was not preaching to the Jews, nor was it among them that he was accused of having learned from men and not from Christ. Or, by citing here the words: "with God bearing witness by signs and wonders," he shows that he received this not from men, but from God.

96. – Then (v. 3) he places the consequent of his conditional, in which he describes the condition of the New Testament. Here he does three things: first, he shows the need to obey; secondly, the origin of the New Testament (v. 3b); thirdly, the firmness of its truth (v. 4).

97. – He says, therefore: If the word spoken by angels punishes transgressors, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? In this he denotes the danger which threatens those who do not obey. But above he called the Old Testament salvation. The reason for this is that a word is ordained to knowledge only; for this is what the Old Testament did, since by it there came knowledge of sin: 'By the law is the knowledge of sin' (Rom. 3:20). Also the knowledge of God: 'He has not done in like manner to every nation' (Ps. 75:2). But it did not confer grace, for grace is conferred in the New Testament: 'Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ' (Jn. 1:17), which leads to eternal salvation: 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life' (Jn. 6:69); 'Your word is exceedingly refined' (Ps. 118:140). Then he commends salvation, because it is so great. And certainly it is very great, if you consider the danger from which it frees us, because it frees us not only from the dangers of bodily death but of spiritual: 'He will save his people form their sins' (Mt. 1:21). It is also great, because it is universal, i.e., not confined to one nation or to one danger, but it is for all men and from all enemies: 'He is the savior of all men, but especially of the faithful' (1 Tim. 4:10); 'That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear' (Lk. 1:74). It is also great, because it is eternal: 'Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation' (Is. 45:17). Therefore, it should not be neglected, but we should be careful to obtain it: 'We have seen the land which is exceedingly rich and fruitful' (Jg. 18:9); then he continues: 'Neglect not; lose no time; let us go and possess it: there will be no difficulty' (Jg. 18:9) And of course we should not neglect it, because if we are negligent, we shall be punished not only by losing what is good but also by incurring evil, namely, eternal damnation, which we shall not be able to escape.' Hence, he said, How shall we escape? 'Who has shown you to flee the wrath to come' (Mt. 3:7)? 'The way to escape shall fail them' (Jb. 11:20); 'Wither shall I go from your spirit; or whither shall I flee from your face' (Ps. 138:7)?

98. – Then (v. 3b) he shows the origin of the doctrine of the New Testament. Here he mentions a double origin: first of all, that it came not by angels but by Christ: 'He has spoken to us in his Son' (Heb. 1:2); 'The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him' (Jn. 1:18). Hence, he says, it was declared at first by the Lord, because it has two beginnings: one is absolute and from all eternity; and this is through the Word: 'He chose us in him before the foundation of the world' (Eph. 1:4). The other is the beginning of the declaration, and this occurs in time through the Incarnate Word. The second origin was through the apostles, who head from Christ; hence, he says, was attested to us by them that heard him, i.e., by its preachers: 'That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, we declare unto you' (1 Jn. 1:1); 'Who from the beginning were eyewitnesses' (Lk. 1:2).