Hebrews 2:11–18

Insofar as he is the only begotten, he is without sibling, but insofar as he is the "firstborn" he has deigned to call all those his siblings who, subsequent to and in virtue of his being first, are born again unto God's grace through filial adoption, in accordance with the teaching of the apostle.

For consider what glory it is to set aside the lusts of this life, and to oppose a mind withdrawn from all commerce with nature and the world, to all the opposition of the adversary, and to have no dread of the cruelty of the torturer; that a man should be animated by the suffering whereby he might be believed to be destroyed, and should take to himself, as an enhancement of his strength, that which the punisher thinks will aggravate his torments. For although the hook, springing forth from the stiffening ribs, is put back again into the wound, and with the repeated strokes of the whip the returning lash is drawn away with the rent portions of the flesh; still he stands immoveable, the stronger for his sufferings, revolving only this in his mind, that in that brutality of the executioners Christ Himself is suffering more in proportion to what he suffers. For since, if he should deny the Lord, he would incur guilt on His behalf for whom he ought to have overcome, it is essential that He should be seen to bear all things to whom the victory is due, even in the suffering.

"For," he says, "both He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Behold again how he brings them together, honoring and comforting them, and making them brethren of Christ, in this respect that they are "of one." Then again guarding himself and showing that he is speaking of that which is according to the flesh, he introduces, "For He who sanctifieth," that is Christ, "and they who are sanctified," ourselves. Dost thou see how great is the difference? He sanctifies, we are sanctified. And above he said, "the Captain of their salvation. For there is one God, of whom are all things." (1 Cor. viii. 6.)

"For which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Seest thou how again he shows the superiority? For by saying, "He is not ashamed," he shows that the whole comes not of the nature of the thing, but of the loving affection of Him who was "not ashamed" of anything, yea of His great humility. For though we be "of one," yet He sanctifieth and we are sanctified: and great is the difference. Moreover "He" is of the Father, as a true Son, that is, of His substance; "we," as created, that is, brought out of things that are not, so that the difference is great. Wherefore he says, "He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

"For both he who sanctifies," that is, Christ, "and those who are sanctified," that is, humans, are all from one God and Father. But Christ, as the Son and true offspring and of the essence of the Father, we, however, are as creature ones and have been made worthy of sonship by grace. See in these words the superiority. He who sanctifies, and we are sanctified. Therefore, both unity and superiority.

"I will proclaim your name to my brothers." — [PHOTIUS] For as he united the flesh to himself, he also put on brotherhood. Saying, "He is not ashamed," He showed the distinction. For He is not a brother by nature, although He is truly a man, but by generosity [φιλανθρωπίαν], since He is also truly God.

"He will not be ashamed." He highlighted the difference. Even though he is truly human, he is our brother not according to nature but according to his love toward humankind, as he remains truly God.

"The one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have all one origin." This is a reference to the humanity of the one who sanctifies, for the assumed nature is created. The creator of him and of us is one. We are sanctified through him. Now if the heretics wish to understand this of the divine nature, let them not do so in such a way as to lessen the glory of the only begotten. For both we and he have one Father; but it is clear that he is Son by nature, we by grace. The fact that it says, "He sanctifies, but we are sanctified," teaches us this difference.

How would it be possible to name him our brother or to call us sons and daughters properly if it were not for the nature—the same as ours—with which he was clothed?… And it was especially necessary for Paul to say "in the same way" so that he might refute the reproach of making the incarnation a fantasy. He makes all of these points in order to teach those who suppose that the Son was lower than the angels that he endured suffering for a necessary reason. He explains this more clearly in what follows.

Here again he shows that we are brothers of Christ and are so greatly honored. For, he says, "He who sanctifies," that is, Christ, and "those who are sanctified," that is, we, "are all from One," that is, the Father. But He is truly the genuine Son and from the very essence of the Father, while we are creatures. Notice also the superiority in the expressions. He sanctifies, we are sanctified. Hence both the identity and the superiority.

"Therefore He is not ashamed to call them brethren" — look, here too is His superiority. For by the expression "is not ashamed" he shows that this does not belong to nature, but to the tender love of the One Who is not ashamed. Although we are indeed from One, there is a great difference between us, as between the Creator and creatures.

129. – Then (v. 11) he proves what he had said. Here he does two things: first, he proves his conclusion on the part of the Father sanctifying; secondly, on the part of the Son sanctified (v. 14). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he states his conclusion; secondly, he proves it by an authority (v. 11b).

130. – He says, therefore: For both he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified have one origin. But it should be noted that the Apostle had said three things above: first, that Christ is the cause of salvation, in which he shows that we depend on Him as on a Savior; secondly, he shows that the Father is the finisher of Christ by the merit of the Passion, so that in this, Christ depends on the Father; thirdly, that the Father brings us into glory, which also shows that we depend on God. Accordingly, the Apostle does three things here: first he shows that we depend on Christ, for the one sanctified depends on the sanctifier: 'Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate' (Heb. 13:12). Therefore, it has been well said that because He is the author and sanctifier, we depend on him; but He depends on the Father, from Whom He has power to sanctify; which is the second. But all, namely, He that sanctifies and we who are sanctified, have one origin, namely, of the Father; this is the third: 'Heirs of God; co-heirs with Christ' (Rom. 8:17).

131. – Then he proves these points with three authorities: first, that Christ, as the mediator and author of salvation, brings God's gifts to us; hence, he says, that is why, namely, because He and we depend on the Father, he is not ashamed to call them brethren, because all are of the same Father: 'Have we not all one Father' (Mal 2:10); 'That he might be the firstborn among many brethren' (Rom. 8:29). Therefore, it is stated in Ps. 21 (v. 23): 'I will declare your name to my brethren;' 'Go to my brethren' (Jn. 20:17). But note that he says, he is not ashamed to call them brethren, because some born of an ignoble race are ashamed to recognize their brethren, if they are promoted: 'The brethren of a poor man hate him' (Pr. 19:7). But not Christ, for He says, I will proclaim your name to my brethren: 'Father, I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me' (Jn. 17:6); 'The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him' (Jn. 1:18).

"Saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren." (Ps. xxii. 22.) For when He clothed Himself with flesh, He clothed Himself also with the brotherhood, and at the same time came in the brotherhood.

Having assumed the flesh, He also assumed brotherhood; together with the flesh came brotherhood as well. But here again there is preeminence. I will declare, He says, to those who are darkened, who do not know; similar to this is: "I have manifested Your name to the men" (John 17:6).

132. – Then he shows the fruit of this manifestation when he says, in the midst of the congregation will I praise you. As if to say: This forms a great Church in the midst of which I will praise you. He says, in the midst, because just as a pillar in the midst of a house supports it and a lamp in the midst of a house gives light and the heart in the midst of the body gives life, so Christ is in the midst of the Church. Furthermore, in the midst, because He was not sent to one people, as Moses was: 'In Judea God is known; his name is great in Israel' (Ps. 75:2), but He was sent for the salvation of all: 'He has wrought salvation in the midst of the earth' (Ps. 73:12). Therefore, it is stated in Lk (24:36) that Jesus stood in the midst of His disciples. On this point it should be noted that before the Law it was the custom that all the firstborn were priests, and this pertained to the right of primogeniture. But Christ is a brother and firstborn; therefore, He is a priest. But a priest who sanctifies the people is a mediator between God and the people: 'I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time' (Dt. 5:5). Therefore, it pertains to him to announce the things of God to the people and to bring the things of the people to God. He does the first by preaching; hence, he says, I will proclaim your name to my brethren, i.e., I will bring them to know you, and this to sanctify them: 'Sanctify them in the truth' (Jn. 17:17). The second He accomplishes by doing, when He makes men burst forth in praise of God. Hence, he says, in the midst of the congregation will I praise you.

This indeed he brings forward naturally. But this "I will put my trust in Him" (2 Sam. xxii. 3), what does it mean? For what follows this is also introduced naturally. "Behold, I and the children which God hath given Me." (Isa. viii. 18.) For as here He shows Himself a Father, so before, a Brother. "I will declare Thy name unto My brethren," He saith.

"I will put my trust in him." Since he previously called Him brother and internally father, he signifies that these indeed are names of kindness and grace, but by nature and truth, God is, he says. For who trusts in anyone else except in God alone? And if he were to say: Do not think that hearing Him being called brother and father refers to someone among the common people, God is, he says, in whom it is written that one must trust. "Here I am, and the children." Here our Father made Christ. But he says: He gave, on account of humanity, just as it is said: "Afterward I will give you the nations as your inheritance." (Ps. 2:8) "Since, therefore, the sons," that is, men, "have communion with flesh and blood; in the same way," that is, similarly and truly, not according to some fantasy, as certain heretics say, He Himself became a partaker of flesh and blood: so that in this also He might demonstrate the love He has for the sons. The Father made Christ our own. And He gave, for the sake of humanity. Similar to that, "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance." (Ps. 2:8) "Therefore", therefore, he says, "the children," that is, the humans, "share in flesh and blood, he likewise," that is, truly and not according to some fantasy, as certain heretics say, He Himself shared in flesh and blood, so that in this also He might demonstrate the love He has for the sons.

We who are numbered among the children have partaken of the blood and flesh of God, that is, we are in blood and flesh, and in perishable and earthly bodies. For this reason, the only-begotten Word of God, being life by nature, partook of the same, and not in any other way, but similarly to us. "that through death." Then he also speaks of the reason for the Incarnation. "The," Paul says, "the Devil", who has the power of death, might be destroyed; and he will be destroyed through death, as it is said, O Wisdom of God! Through death, the Devil had the power; through death, he will be abolished. Christ used against the Devil those arms which He himself was powerful with. How then does He rule over death? Because He is the ruler of sin, from which death comes, and He rules over death, that is, sin is the power of death. Therefore, having sin and being its possessor, He has the power of death (for we say that sin is the power of death). So that it might be thus: through His own death, He abolished sin, having the Devil as a servant, which is the strength of the power of death. For if this had not prevailed over man, death would not have entered into the world.

He [Christ] has given us in holy baptism regeneration, and by this he makes us his own body, his own flesh, his offspring—as it is written, "Here am I, and the children God has given me."

The phrase "he is not ashamed" suffices to bring out the difference in sonship. Speaking of masters and slaves we are accustomed to bring out the humility of masters by saying, "He is not afraid to eat and drink with his servants, to sit with them and personally to tend those of them who are ill." So this is what he is implying here as well, that the one who for our sakes accepted suffering is not ashamed to call "brethren" those for whom he endured the suffering—and not only "brethren," he also calls them "children." Likewise the Lord in the sacred Gospels said to the divine apostles, "Little children, yet a little while I am with you," and again, "Children, have you any fish?" He also shows that what is said in lowly fashion is said in reference to the incarnation: to the phrase "he is not ashamed" he linked "I shall have trust in him," that is, he is not ashamed on account of the salvation of humankind even to use language at variance with his own dignity.

"I will put my trust in Him" — through this He also shows that He became man and our brother. For just as each of men, so He Himself also hopes in Him, that is, in the Father. At the same time He shows us that we should hope in God alone, since He Himself, being the Son and lacking nothing, nevertheless says that He hopes in the Father. Some have interpreted it thus: since, they say, above he called Christ a brother, and below a Father, in the middle he shows that these are names of the dispensation of the last times; but His pre-eternal name is God. Who in the proper sense hopes in another, if not in God? As if he were saying: hearing that He is brother and father, do not think that He is one of many; He is God, he says, in Him, as Scripture testifies, one must hope, so that here the speech is not from the person of Christ, but from the prophet, saying: I, the prophet, will hope in Christ Himself, as God. But such an understanding is not perfect.

"Here I am and the children whom God has given Me" — here he calls Christ our Father. "Gave" signifies the Father's good pleasure that He should become incarnate. If He had not been well pleased for the Son to become incarnate, He would not have had children either.

133. – Then when he says, and again, he shows that Christ Himself depends on the Father by the fact that He says, I will put my trust in him: 'In you, Lord, have I hoped; let me never be confounded' (Ps. 30:2). But he shows the kind of hope He has, namely, firm hope, which is called trust: for hope, even though it is not concerned with the impossible, sometimes has fear joined to it, and then it his properly called hope. But sometimes hope is firm and without fear; then it is called trust. This is the hope Christ had.

134. – He says, therefore, I will put my trust in him, i.e., I will have confidence in His help. But the saints say that in Christ there is neither faith nor hope, but only charity. I answer that hope is one thing and trust another: for hope is the expectation of future happiness; and this was not in Christ, because He was happy from the instant of His conception. But trust is the expectation of help, and in regard to this there was hope in Christ, inasmuch as He awaited help from the Father during His Passion. Therefore, whenever we read that Christ had hope, this is not to be understood as referring to its principal, which is happiness, but as referring to the glory of the resurrection and of the glory conferred on His body.

135. – Then when he repeats, and again, he shows that we depend on the Father: Here am I and the children whom God has given me: 'Yours they were and to me you gave them' (Jn. 17:6); 'Children, have you any fish' (Jn. 21:5)? They are called children on account of their purity: 'If the young men be clean especially from women' (1 Sam. 21:4); and a bit later he continues: 'The vessels of the young men were holy.' They are called children because of their purity: 'Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts' (Is. 8:18). Also on account of their simplicity: 'Brethren do not become children in sense: but in malice be children' (1 Cor. 14:20); also because of their humility: 'unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven' (Mt. 18:3). He shows that not only is He from God, but also the children; hence he continues, whom God has given me. This shows that both he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified have all one origin, because it says in Jn (6:44): 'No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draw him.'

See in what way the writer calls him created: "In so far as he took upon him the seed of Abraham," plainly asserting the begetting of a body. How else, indeed, but in his body did he expiate the sins of the people? In what did he suffer, except in his body—even as we said above: "Christ having suffered in the flesh"? In what is he a priest, except in that which he took to himself from the priestly nation? It is a priest's duty to offer something, and, according to the law, to enter into the holy places by means of blood. Seeing then that God had rejected the blood of bulls and goats, this High Priest was indeed bound to make passage and entry into the holy of holies in heaven through his own blood in order that he might be the everlasting propitiation for our sins. Priest and victim, then, are one; the priesthood and sacrifice are, however, exercised under the conditions of humanity, for he was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.

We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed.

But supposing God became a man—suppose our human nature which can suffer and die was amalgamated with God's nature in one person—then that person could help us. He could surrender His will, and suffer and die, because He was man; and He could do it perfectly because He was God. You and I can go through this process only if God does it in us; but God can do it only if He becomes man. Our attempts at this dying will succeed only if we men share in God's dying, just as our thinking can succeed only because it is a drop out of the ocean of His intelligence: but we cannot share God's dying unless God dies; and He cannot die except by being a man. That is the sense in which He pays our debt, and suffers for us what He Himself need not suffer at all.

It was not otherwise possible for man, forasmuch as he was of a nature that was perishing, to escape death, save by recovering that ancient grace, and partaking once more in God Who holdeth all things together in being and preserveth them in life through the Son in the Spirit. Therefore He hath become partaker of blood and flesh, i.e. He hath become man, being by nature Life, and begotten of the Life that is by nature, i.e. of God the Father—to wit, His Only-begotten Word, with intent that ineffably and inexpressibly and as He alone could skill to do, uniting Himself with the flesh that by the law of its own nature was perishing, He might bring it back unto His own Life and make it through Himself partaker of God the Father. For He is Mediator between God and men, according as it is written, knit unto God the Father naturally as God and of Him, and again unto men as man; and withal having in Himself the Father and being Himself in the Father; for He is the impress and effulgence of His Person, and not distinct from the Essence, whereof He is impress and wherefrom He proceeds as effulgence; but both being Himself in It, and having It in Himself; and again having us in Himself according as He wears our nature and our body has become entitled the Body of the Word. For the Word was made flesh, according to the utterance of John. And He wears our nature, remoulding it unto His own Life. And He is also Himself in us; for we have all been made partakers of Him, and have Him in ourselves through the Spirit; for, for this cause we have Both, being made partakers of the Divine Nature, and are entitled sons, after this sort having in us also the Father Himself through the Son.

For existing essentially as life, the only begotten Word of God united himself to earthy and mortal flesh in order that death, which was pursuing it like some wild beast, might thereafter relax its hold … Indeed, if the only begotten Word of God did not become human, but rather united to himself the external form [prosōpon] of a man, as is the opinion of those who define the union only by good pleasure and by an inclination of will, how would he be likened to "his brethren in all respects"?… How would he have "shared in blood and flesh" unless these had become his own as they are ours?

We say that he partook of blood and flesh in accordance with the meaning established by the interpreters of God. By "he" we do not mean the one who was in flesh and blood by his own nature and could not exist otherwise, but rather the one who never existed in this way and was of a nature different from ours.… For the Word became flesh, only not sinful flesh.… He was God and human at the same time.

Therefore, the one Lord Jesus Christ must not be divided into two sons. The correct expression of the faith is not assisted by taking this line, even when some allege that there is a union of persons, for Scripture says not that the Logos united to himself the person of the human being but that he became flesh. And for the Logos to become flesh is nothing other than for him to "share flesh and blood as we do," to make his own a body from among us, and to be born of a woman as a human being. He did not depart from his divine status or cease to be born of the Father; he continued to be what he was, even in taking on flesh. This is what the correct teaching of the faith everywhere proclaims. And this is how we shall find the holy fathers conceived things. Accordingly, they boldly called the Virgin "God's mother" (Theotokos) not because the nature of the Logos or the deity took the start of its existence in the holy Virgin, but because the holy body which was born of her possessed a rational soul to which the Logos was hypostatically united and was said to have had a fleshly birth.

Jesus sanctified baptism when he himself was baptized. If the Son of God was baptized, can anyone who scorns baptism pretend to piety? Not that he was baptized to receive the remission of sins—for he was without sin—but, being sinless, he was nevertheless baptized that he might impart grace and dignity to those who receive the sacrament. For, "since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature," that we, sharing his incarnate life, might also share his divine grace. Thus Jesus was baptized that we, in turn, so made partakers with him, might receive not only salvation but also the dignity. The dragon, according to Job, was in the water, he who received the Jordan in his maw. When, therefore, it was necessary to crush the heads of the dragon, descending into the water, he bound the strong one, that we might receive the "power to tread upon serpents and scorpions." It was no ordinary beast, but a horrible monster. No fishing ship could last under a single scale of his tail; before him stalked destruction, ravaging all in her path. But life came running up, that that maw of death might be stopped and all we who were saved might say, "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?" Baptism draws death's sting.

Now the laws of love summoned him even as far as death and the dead themselves, so that he might summon the souls of those who were long dead. And so, because he cared for the salvation of all for ages past, and in order that "he might destroy him who has the power of death," as Scripture teaches, here again he underwent the dis-pensation in his mingled natures. As a man, he left his body to the usual burial, while as God he departed from it. For he cried with a loud cry and said to the Father, "I commend my spirit," and departed from the body free, in no way waiting for death, who was lagging as if in fear to come to him. Nay, rather, he pursued death from behind and drove him on, trodden under his feet and fleeing, until he burst the eternal gates of his dark realms, making a road of return back again to life for the dead there bound with the bonds of death. Even his own body was raised up, and many bodies of the sleeping saints arose and came together with him into the holy and real city of heaven, as rightly is said by the holy words. …The Savior of the universe, our Lord, the Christ of God, called victor, is represented in the prophetic predictions as reviling death and releasing the souls that are bound there, by whom he raises the hymn of victory. And he says these words: "From the hand of Hades I will save them, and from death I will ransom their souls. O Death where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?" "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law."

He surrenders his life, yet has the power to take it again. Yes, the veil is rent, for things of heaven are being revealed, rocks are being split, and dead men have an earlier awakening. He dies but he brings to life, and by death he destroys death. He is buried, yet he rises again. He goes down to hades, yet he leads souls up, ascends to heaven, and will come to judge the quick and dead.

And again he indicates the superiority and the great interval between us, by what follows: "Since then the children," he saith, "are partakers of flesh and blood" (thou seest where he saith the likeness is? in reference to the flesh), "in like manner He also Himself took part of the same." Let all the Heretics be ashamed, let those hide their faces who say that He came in appearance and not in reality. For he did not say, "He took part of these" only, and then say no more; although had he said thus, it would have been sufficient, but he asserted something more, adding "in like manner," not in appearance, he means, or by an image (since in that case "in like manner" is not preserved) but in reality; showing the brotherhood.

Next he sets down also the cause of the economy. "That through death," he says, "He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil."

Here he points out the wonder, that by what the devil prevailed, by that was he overcome, and the very thing which was his strong weapon against the world, namely, Death, by this Christ smote him. In this he exhibits the greatness of the conqueror's power. Dost thou see how great good death hath wrought?

He destroys the tyranny of the evil one who dominated us by deceit. By casting at him as a weapon the flesh that was vanquished in Adam, he overcame him. Thus what was previously captured for death conquers the conqueror and destroys his life by a natural death. It became poison to him in order that he might vomit up all those whom he had swallowed when he held sway by having the power of death. But it became life to the human race by impelling the whole of nature to rise like dough to resurrection of life. It was for this especially that the Logos, who is God, became human—something truly unheard of—and voluntarily accepted the death of the flesh.

Human beings had been afraid of death because they are held in slavery. The slavery of death means to be a subject of sin. "The sting of death is sin." Now, by his death Christ destroyed "the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil," the inventor and the leader of sin. Sin became a disease. However, as we have been released from the oppression of that slavery, so we have been also delivered from the fear of death. And that is evident from the following illustrations. Before we feared and tried to avoid death as the supreme and invincible evil, but now we perceive it as prelude transition into the superior life and accept it joyously from those who persecute us for the sake of Christ and his commandments.

So let those be put to shame who say that He came as a phantom and an apparition. For the apostle did not merely say that He partook of flesh and blood, as the children, that is, the rest of mankind — though even if he had said it that way, it would have been sufficient to affirm that He was truly incarnate — but he also added "likewise," in order to confirm His identity with us and His true incarnation.

"That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil" — He presents the reason for the economy of salvation. So that, he says, by His own death, which He assumed, having evidently partaken of flesh and blood, He might destroy the devil, who holds the power of death. In what way? — through sin. Since he caused people to sin as a result of that first disobedience, he was the author of death and wielded it like some soldier and powerful weapon against human nature. Therefore Christ also used that very same weapon against him. Truly, it is a matter of great power and wisdom to slay the enemy with the weapon by which he had slain many. Some have understood it this way: the one who holds, they say, sin, that is, the devil, since sin constitutes the power and strength of death.

136. – Having shown the suitableness of Christ's death from the standpoint of the Father causing it, the Apostle now shows the same thing from the standpoint of Christ enduring it. Therefore, he intends to show how He was made the author of salvation by his Passion: first, he shows the condition of the nature through which He could suffer and die; secondly, the benefits He obtained by dying (v. 14b); thirdly, he proves what he had proposed (v. 16).

137. – He says, therefore, I have said that He and the children have all one origin and that He called them brethren. Consequently, it was fitting that He be like them, not only because He confers on them a participation in the divine nature, which is from grace, but also because He assumed their nature. Hence, he says, therefore, because the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature.

138. – Here it should be noted that by the name flesh and blood is sometimes understood the nature of flesh and blood: 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh' (Gen. 2:23); then by flesh is understood the body: 'You have clothed me with skin and flesh' (Jb. 10:11) and by blood the soul: not as though the soul were blood, but because it is not preserved in the body without blood. Sometimes by flesh and blood are understood the vices of flesh and blood: 'Flesh and blood have not revealed it to you' (Mt. 16:17). But sometimes they signify the corruptibility of flesh and blood: 'Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God, not corruption incorruption' (1 Cor. 15:50). But here it does not refer to vices, for Christ assumed a nature without sin, but with the possibility of suffering, because He assumed a flesh similar to the sinner: 'In the likeness of sinful flesh' (Rom. 8:3). Therefore, like the children, He is partaker of flesh and blood, and all in the same way: for it was not imaginary flesh, as the Manicheans say, not was it assumed in the accidental way, as Nestorius said. But true flesh and blood, such as children have, were assumed into the unity of the person.

139. – That Christ is a partaker of flesh and blood is not to be understood as referring to the vices of flesh and blood, because He did not take on sin or commit any; but as referring to the very substance of animated flesh, because He assumed flesh and soul. It also included the possibility of suffering, because He assumed our nature capable of suffering. Therefore, the sense is: Because the children, i.e., the faithful, has a nature capable of suffering, Christ Himself partook of the same, i.e., of flesh and blood. But we partake of them through our person; and Christ in like manner assumed them to His person: 'The Word was made flesh' (Jn. 1:14). By flesh and blood can also be understood the flesh and blood of Christ according to the statement: 'He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood' (Jn. 6:55), of which the children, i.e., the apostles, partook at the last supper and of which Christ partook: 'He drank His own blood', as Chrysostom says.

140. – Then (v. 14b) he shows the benefits His death brought. In regard to this he does two things: first, he shows its usefulness on the part of the devil, who had the power; secondly, on our part who were held (v. 15).

141. – He says, therefore: He partook of flesh and blood, i.e., He assumed a nature in which He could suffer and die, which he could not do in the divine nature, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, i.e., the devil. But how does the devil have the power of death? For this is God's prerogative: 'The Lord kills and makes alive' (1 Sam. 2:6); 'I will kill and I will make to live' (Dt. 32:39). I answer that a judge has the power of death in one way, because he inflicts death, when he punishes with death; but a thief has it another way in the sense of deserving death because of demerit. God has the power of death in the first way: For in what day you shall eat of it, you shall die the death' (Gen. 2:17). But the devil in the second way, because by persuading men to sin, he yielded him over to death: 'by the envy of the devil, death came into the world' (Wis. 2:24). But he says, that he might destroy him, not as to his substance, which is indestructible, nor as to his malice, so that the devil would become good at some time, but as to his power: 'Despoiling the principalities and powers' (Col. 2:15).

142. – This was accomplished by the death of Christ in three ways: first, on the part of Christ, for the true nature of justice is that the victor subject the vanquished to himself: 'For by whom a man is overcome, of the same is he the slave' (2 Pt. 2:19). But Christ overcame the devil: 'The Lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed' (Rev. 5:5). Therefore, it is just that the devil be subject to Him: 'When a strong man armed keeps his court, those things are in peace which he possesses (Lk. 11:21). Secondly, on the part of the devil: for justice requires that a person who unjustly uses power granted him should lose it. But the devil has been given power over the sinners he seduced, but not over the good. Therefore, because he presumed to extend this power even to Christ, Who did not sin: 'The prince of this world comes, and in me he has nothing' (Jn. 14:30), he deserved to lose it. The third reason is on our part: for it is just that the vanquished be the servants of the victor. But man by sin was the servant of the devil: 'Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin' (Jn. 8:34); consequently, he was subject to the devil and liable to sin. But Christ paid the price for our sin: 'Then did I pay that which I took not away' (Ps. 68:5). Therefore, when the cause of servitude was taken away, man was set free by Christ.

143. – But it should be noted that another satisfaction was suitable. For man was in debt; but one man can satisfy for another out of charity, although no one can satisfy for the entire human race, because he does not have power over it, nor could the entire human race satisfy sufficiently, because it was entirely subject to sin; nor could an angel, because this satisfaction was unto glory, which exceeds the power of an angel. Therefore, it was necessary that the one who satisfied be man and God, Who alone has power over the whole human race. By the death of God and man, therefore, He destroyed him who had the empire of death.

"Since therefore the children," summoned through his promise, "share in flesh and blood," that is sin, as signified by flesh, "and he himself likewise partook of the same nature" in the likeness of flesh, he was mingled with them, so that he might become for them a model of goodness. He consigned himself to death, so that through his death "he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil," who instilled death into living creatures when the fruit was eaten. So he died in order "to free," through his death, those over whom the fear of death ruled and "who were, for all their lives, subject to the slavery of eternal death." You do not receive the medicine that vivifies your life from angels, but from the seed itself of Abraham, to whom it was said, "In your seed all nations will be blessed." "So he had to become similar in everything …" to the children of Abraham, "in order to become as merciful" as Moses, who, as an image of the Son, devoted himself to the salvation of the children of his nation. And [he had to become similar] also in order to become faithful and save all the nations from death, like Aaron, who in the mystery of the Son repelled death from the children of his generation by using the censor, which he received to oppose death. God appointed him high priest not for those things which are generously given to us through sacrifices, as through Eleazar, but for those which are spiritually granted to us in him: that is, in order that he becomes the propitiator through baptism and not through aspersion."Because he himself has suffered and been tempted"—that is, he was tempted through his becoming connatural with us—he is able to assist those who are infirm in their weakness and victims of temptation. In fact, he is now made aware of … the weakness of flesh and knows humans more fully after clothing himself with flesh.

"And should deliver them," he says, "who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Why (he means) do ye shudder? Why do you fear him that hath been brought to nought? He is no longer terrible, but has been trodden under foot, hath been utterly despised; he is vile and of no account. (2 Tim. i. 10.)

But what is "through fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage"? He either means this, that he who fears death is a slave, and submits to all things rather than die; or this, that all men were slaves of death and were held under his power, because he had not yet been done away; or that men lived in continual fear, ever expecting that they should die, and being afraid of death, could have no sense of pleasure, while this fear was present with them. For this he hinted at in saying, "All their life-time." He here shows that the afflicted, the harassed, the persecuted, those that are deprived of country and of substance and of all other things, spend their lives more sweetly and more freely than they of old time who were in luxury, who suffered no such afflictions, who were in continual prosperity, if indeed these "all their life-time" were under this fear and were slaves; while the others have been made free and laugh at that which they shudder at. For this is now as if, when one was being led away to a captivity leading to death, and in continual expectation of it, one should feed him up with abundant dainties (something such as this was Death of old); but now, as if some one taking away that fear together with the dainties, were to promise a contest, and propose a combat that should lead no longer to death, but to a kingdom. Of which number wouldst thou have wished to be - those who are fed up in the prison-house, while every day looking for their sentence, or those who contend much and labor willingly, that they may crown themselves with the diadem of the kingdom? Seest thou how he has raised up their soul, and made them elated? He shows too, that not death alone has been put an end to, but that thereby he also who is ever showing that war without trace against us, I mean the devil, hath been brought to nought; since he that fears not death is out of reach of the devil's tyranny. For if "skin for skin, yea all things a man would give for his life" (Job ii. 4) - when any one has determined to disregard even this, of what henceforward will he be the slave? He fears no one, he is in terror of no one, he is higher than all, and more free than all. For he that disregards his own life, much more doth he disregard all other things. And when the devil finds a soul such as this, he can accomplish in it none of his works. For what? tell me, shall he threaten the loss of property, and degradation, and banishment from one's country? But these are small matters to him who "counteth not even his life dear" (Acts xx. 24) unto him, according to the blessed Paul. Thou seest that in casting out the tyranny of death, he also overthrew the strength of the devil. For he who has learnt to study innumerable truths concerning the resurrection, how should he fear death? How should he shudder any more?

Therefore be ye not grieved, saying, why do we suffer such and such things? For so the victory becomes more glorious. And it would not have been glorious, unless by death He had destroyed death; but the most wonderful thing is that He conquered him by the very means by which he was strong, showing in every point the abundance of His means, and the excellence of His contrivances. Let us not then prove false to the gift bestowed on us. "For we," he says, "have received not a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (Rom. viii. 15; 2 Tim. i. 7.) Let us stand then nobly, laughing death to scorn.

"all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." — [PHOTIUS] Before, he says, death was abolished, throughout their lives, humans were exposed and subjected to the fear of slavery: for they feared death which had not yet been abolished: and nothing of worldly pleasures could delight the courageous, and this was due to the fear of death, in the manner of a cruel and savage master always pressing and terrifying those who were on the earth.

"were held in slavery." The people were bound to death, as they were guilty of this slavery. The slavery of death is to be held and subjected to sin, for sin is the power and sting of death. (1 Cor. 15:56) Therefore, since Christ through death abolished the one who has the power of death, that is,the Devil, the inventor and leader of sin, sin has become weak, and we have been freed from the slavery according to its dominion; we have been liberated from the fear of death. And this is clearly seen in their very actions. For those who before feared and shunned death as the greatest evil and overwhelming, now approach it joyfully as a change of life and a prelude, when they are brought forth for Christ and His laws by those who persecute them. Therefore, is it not evident that the Savior has freed us from the fear of death and from the slavery that comes from it?

How is it possible, he is saying, for Christ to style himself our brother or call us really children unless he bears the same nature? Hence on assuming it he overcame the influence of death and did away with the dread besetting us. We lived ever in the dread of death because we were forced to haul the yoke of mortality. Now, it was very necessary for him to use the phrase "likewise" so as to refute the calumny of mere appearance.

That is, to deliver those who were slaves of death, feared it, and were subject to it, that is, were held in bondage to it, since it had not yet been destroyed. Or, that the ancient people lived in constant fear, always expecting that they would die, and in such fear they could feel no pleasure. This is what the apostle hints at when he says, "through all their life." So they were subject to bondage, that is, they always trembled before death, like slaves of a cruel master, enjoying nothing joyful. From this, understand that whoever fears death is not free and is a slave of everything. And this is a consolation for suffering believers, if now those who are persecuted and bound in chains lead a more pleasant and freer life than the ancients who seemed to live in luxury when death had power. Those, shaken by the fear of death, were slaves, but you are free from this fear.

144. – Then (v. 15) another advantage on our part is mentioned. In regard to this it should be noted that a man is a servant of sin to the extent that he is induced to sin. But the most effective inducements to sin are the love of transitory goods and the fear of present punishments: 'Things set on fire, as to the first and dug down as to the second, shall perish at the rebuke of your countenance' (Ps. 79:17). But these two amount to the same thing, because the more a person loves something, the more he fears its evil contrary. Hence, we see that savage beasts are kept from the greatest pleasures through fear of punishment; thus fear makes cowards of us all. Hence, if a man overcomes his fears, he overcomes everything; and when fear is overcome, all disordered love of the world is overcome. Thus Christ by His death broke this fear, because He removed the fear of death, and, consequently the love of the present life. For when a person considers that the Son of God, the Lord of death, willed to die, he no longer fears death. That is why before the death of Christ, it was said: 'O death, how bitter is the remembrance of you' (Sir. 41:1); but after Christ's death the Apostle expresses a desire to be dissolved and be with Christ: Hence, we are told: 'Fear not them that kill the body' (Mt. 10:28). He says, therefore, and deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to lifelong service, namely, the servitude of sin.

145. – But Christ freed us from a double servitude, namely, that of the Law and that of sin, since the law is called a yoke which neither we not our fathers were able to bear (Ac. 15:10). Now the difference between the Old and the New Law is fear and love. In the New there is love: 'If you love me, keep my commandments' (Jn. 14:15). But the Old was the law of fear: 'You have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear' (Rom. 8:15). Therefore, he says, and deliver them who through the fear of bodily death, which the Law inflicted, were all subject to lifelong servitude.

146. – But why did He not free us at once from death but only from the fear of death? I answer that He freed us immediately from the cause of death, but not from death itself, although He freed us from the fear of death. The reason for this was that if he had freed us from bodily death, men would serve Christ only for their bodily good, and then the merit of faith and hope would be destroyed. Furthermore, bodily evils enable us to merit eternal life: 'Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God' (Ac. 14:21). It should be noted that He freed us from the fear of death, first of all, by showing the immortality that awaited us. As a result, man could scorn temporal death: Christ is risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep' (1 Cor. 15:20); secondly, by giving us a foretaste of death He made us more ready to undergo death for Christ: 'Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example' (1 Pt. 2:2). Thirdly, by opening the gate to glory, which was closed before His death; as a result, we not only do not fear death, but we desire it: 'Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, which is much better' (Phil. 1:23).

For if it was a shadow and an appearance and not really an incarnation, then the Virgin did not give birth, nor did the Word from God the Father assume "the seed of Abraham," nor did he become "like his brothers." … Therefore, if the Word did not become flesh, neither was he tested by what he suffered so as to be able to help those who are tested.

The Only Begotten operated not through his own nature, for that would in no way have improved our state, or through the nature of angels; but he operated through "the seed of Abraham," as Scripture has it. For in this way and no other could the race, fallen into corruption, be restored to salvation.

Paul wishing to show the great kindness of God towards man, and the Love which He had for the human race, after saying: "Forasmuch then as the children were partakers of blood and flesh, He also Himself likewise took part of the same" - follows up the subject in this passage. For do not regard lightly what is spoken, nor think this merely a slight matter, His taking on Him our flesh. He granted not this to Angels; "For verily He taketh not hold of Angels, but of the seed of Abraham." What is it that he saith? He took not on Him an Angel's nature, but man's. But what is "He taketh hold of"? He did not (he means) grasp that nature, which belongs to Angels, but ours. But why did he not say, "He took on Him," but used this expression, "He taketh hold of"? It is derived from the figure of persons pursuing those who turn away from them, and doing everything to overtake them as they flee, and to take hold of them as they are bounding away. For when human nature was fleeing from Him, and fleeing far away (for we "were far off" - Eph. ii. 13), He pursued after and overtook us. He showed that He has done this only out of kindness, and love, and tender care. As then when he saith, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation" - he shows His extreme interest in behalf of human nature, and that God makes great account of it, so also in this place he sets it forth much more by a comparison, for he says, "He taketh not hold of angels." For in very deed it is a great and a wonderful thing, and full of amazement that our flesh should sit on high, and be adored by Angels and Archangels, by the Cherubim and the Seraphim. For myself having oftentimes thought upon this, I am amazed at it, and imagine to myself great things concerning the human race. For I see that the introductions are great and splendid, and that God has great zeal on behalf of our nature.

Moreover he said not "of men (simply) He taketh hold," but wishing to exalt them [the Hebrews] and to show that their race is great and honorable, he says, "but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold."

Since they wished for something great, and to have an advantage over the converts from the Gentiles, he shows that they have an advantage in this while he did not hurt those from the Gentiles at all. In what respect now is this? Because of them is the salvation, because He took hold of them first, because from that race He assumed flesh. "For," he says, "He taketh not hold of angels, but of the seed of Abraham He taketh hold." Hereby he both gives honor to the Patriarch, and shows also what "the seed of Abraham" is. He reminds them of the promise made to him, saying, "To thee and to thy seed will I give this land"; showing by the very least thing, the nearness of the relationship in that they were "all of one." But that nearness was not great: so he comes back to this, and thenceforward dwells upon the dispensation which was after the flesh, and says, Even the mere willing to become man was a proof of great care and love; but now it is not this alone, but there are also the undying benefits which are bestowed on us through Him, for, he says, "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."

That Lord, I say, who in His simple and immaterial Deity, entered our nature, and of the virgin's womb became ineffably incarnate; that Lord, who was partaker of nothing else save the lump of Adam, who was by the serpent tripped up. For the Lord laid not hold of the seed of angels

"but he took hold of the seed of Abraham." The term "he took hold" [ἐπιλαμβάνεται] indicates that we, as humans, flee from him, but Christ pursues, and by pursuing, he reached and took hold. He did not take hold of the nature of angels nor did he assume it, but of human nature. Then, wishing to signify that Christ came according to the flesh from Judah, he says, "the seed of Abraham."

It was very wise of the divine apostle to use the proper name instead of a generic name: he did not say, "He takes hold of human seed," but "He takes hold of Abraham's seed," reminding them also of the promise made to Abraham.

If he had assumed the nature of angels, he would have proved superior to death; but since what he assumed was human, through the passion he paid humankind's debt, while through the resurrection of the body that had suffered he demonstrated his own power.

"For He does not take hold of angels" — that is, the Lord did not unite Himself with the angelic nature, nor did He assume it. This shows the great love of God for the human race. What He did not grant to the angels, he says, He gave to men — to assume flesh from them.

"But He takes on the seed of Abraham" — He did not say "took hold of," but "takes hold of," to show that He overtook our nature, which was fleeing and had gone far away; and, having overtaken it, He took hold of it and clothed Himself in it, uniting it with Himself and stopping it as it fled from Him. He did not say "the nature of men," but "the seed of Abraham," partly wishing to exalt them and show that their lineage is honorable, and that they have in this an advantage over the Gentiles, since the Lord is from them; for Paul always gratifies them in whatever is harmful to no one; and partly reminding them of the promise: "for all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever" (Gen. 13:15).

147. – Then (v. 16) the Apostle proves the benefits which Christ's death obtained. In regard to this he does three things: first, he shows that by His death Christ freed us by reason of the condition of the nature he assumed; secondly, he concludes a likeness (v. 17); thirdly, he shows the benefit of the likeness (v 17b).

148. – He says, therefore: So I have stated that Christ by His death freed us from sin and death. Nor is there any doubt that in regard to the condition of its nature an angel is greater than man; but because the angels were not subject to servitude or deserving of death, He did not assume an angel. But if he had, this would have been on account of the dignity of its nature. But we have never read that he assumed an angel, but only of the seed of Abraham, i.e., a human nature, not in the abstract but in an individual, and from the seed of Abraham. He adds this in order that the Jews, who glory in being of the seed of Abraham, might venerate Christ more. But he says significantly [take hold of], because that is properly said to be taken hold of, which flees. But not only the human nature fled from God, but also the children of Abraham: 'But they would not hearken, and they turned away the shoulder to depart; and they stopped their ears not to hear' (Zech. 7:11). This taking hold of human nature unto the unity of the person of the Son of God exalts our nature beyond measure. Hence, Chrysostom says: 'It is a great and marvelous thing for our flesh to be seated above and to be adorned by angels and archangels. As I turn this over in my mind, I experience excessive joy, imagining great things about the human race.'

149. – But it would have seemed better to assume an angelic nature than a human nature. For likeness is the reason making the Incarnation of a divine person becoming. But a more express likeness of God is found in the angelic nature than in the human, because the former is the seal of resemblance. Therefore, it would seem more fitting to take hold of an angel than of the seed of Abraham. Furthermore, sin is found in the angelic nature as in the human nature. Therefore, if he took hold of human nature to free it from sin, it seems there was more reason to take hold of the angelic. I answer that a nature is assumable by the Son of God depending on its fitness to be united to the person of the Word. But this fitness depends on the dignity, so that the nature is assumable which is likely to attain to the Word Himself by knowing and loving Him; and also depending on the need, in the sense that it is subject to a reparable sin, although the first is found in the angelic nature, the second is not found. But the first and second are found in human nature, which is capable of knowing and loving God, and which has a reparable sin; consequently, it is assumable. But although the first is found in an angelic nature, it lacks the second: for a sin is irreparable not by reason of its gravity, but by reason of the condition of the nature. But what death was to men, the fall was to the angels. But it is clear that all the sins of man, whether they be small or great, are reparable before death; after death they are irreparable and remain for ever. Therefore, the angelic nature is not assumable.

The mystery of human redemption accomplished through the incarnate and crucified Word is the great sacrament of piety. I say that the incarnate Son of God assumed our poverty. What brought this about? Certainly piety. "Whence he ought in all things to be made like unto his brethren, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest before God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people." Through piety he assumed flesh, ascended the cross, was raised from the dead, sent the Holy Spirit upon the earth, called the Church to himself, and freed all the worthy from misery through piety.

"Wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren." What is this, "in all things"? He was born (he means), was brought up, grew, suffered all things necessary, at last He died. This is, "in all things to be made like unto His brethren." For after he had discoursed much concerning His majesty and the glory on high, he then begins concerning the dispensation. And consider with how great power he doth this. How he represents Him as having great zeal "to be made like unto us": which was a sign of much care. For having said above, "Inasmuch then as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner took part of the same"; in this place also he says, "in all things to be made like unto His brethren." Which is all but saying, He that is so great, He that is "the brightness of His glory," He that is "the express image of His person," He that "made the worlds," He that "sitteth on the right hand of the Father," He was willing and earnest to become our brother in all things, and for this cause did He leave the angels and the other powers, and come down to us, and took hold of us, and wrought innumerable good things. He destroyed Death, He cast out the devil from his tyranny, He freed us from bondage: not by brotherhood alone did He honor us, but also in other ways beyond number. For He was willing also to become our High Priest with the Father.

"That He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God." For this cause (he means) He took on Him our flesh, only for Love to man, that He might have mercy upon us. For neither is there any other cause of the economy, but this alone. For He saw us, cast on the ground, perishing, tyrannized over by Death, and He had compassion on us. "To make reconciliation," he says, "for the sins of the people. That He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest."

What is "faithful"? True, able. For the Son is a faithful High Priest, able to deliver from their sins those whose High Priest He is. In order then that He might offer a sacrifice able to purify us, for this cause He has become man.

Accordingly he added, "in things pertaining to God," - that is, for the sake of things in relation to God. We were become altogether enemies to God, (he would say) condemned, degraded, there was none who should offer sacrifice for us. He saw us in this condition, and had compassion on us, not appointing a High Priest for us, but Himself becoming a High Priest. In what sense He was "faithful," he added, namely, "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people."

Why said he not, of the world, instead of "the people"? for He bare away the sins of all. Because thus far his discourse was concerning them, the Hebrews. Since the Angel also said to Joseph, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people." For this too ought to have taken place first, and for this purpose He came, to save them and then through them the rest, although the contrary came to pass. This also the Apostles said at the first, "To you God having raised up His Son, sent Him to bless you"; and again, "To you was the word of this Salvation sent." Here he shows the noble birth of the Jews, in saying, "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." For a while he speaks in this way. For that it is He who forgives the sins of all men, He declared both in the case of the paralytic, saying, "Thy sins are forgiven"; and also in that of Baptism: for He says to the disciples, "Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

"Therefore, he had to be made." Since he deemed it necessary to fully partake, from this point onward, he had to be in all respects made similar to humans. For he was born, he grew, he ate, he drank, he slept, he died, he rose again. "that he might be a merciful." These things, he says, were arranged for no other reason than that he may have mercy on those on earth and lift them up from the grave. "and a faithful high priest." Faithful, true.For it is the unusual function of the true and real high priest to free those of whom he is high priest from sins. Therefore, in order to offer a sacrifice capable of cleansing us, a man has come and offered himself. Then he explains how this has come to be, and why he is a faithful high priest. He says, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For this reason, he has come to atone for us and to cleanse us from our sins. "in the things pertaining to God." In matters that pertain to God. For in these, high priest has come to be, not to demand bodily tithes and first fruits, but he knew that we had become enemies and rejected before God, and having had mercy on us, he gave himself to us as a high priest.

For in this manner Jesus also wrought marvellous things, so that He might also bring Himself down to those whom, by His grace, He called, His "brethren"; and that it might not be grievous unto them that they were not answered until they had prayed He humbled Himself and prayed, and was afterwards answered. For the Lord took upon Himself equality with His servants in order that that which is written might be fulfilled, "In everything it was meet that He should be like unto His brethren." He gave unto them dominion that they might speak with authority, and be answered, so that by this they might be known to be the servants of God; and He gave boldness to faith that it might do everything that it wished.

Since, he says, He was pleased to accept our nature, it was entirely consistent for Him to become like us in all things, that is, to be born, to be brought up, to grow, to endure all that was necessary, and finally, to die; this is what it means — to become like us in all things.

"To be a merciful and faithful high priest before God" — it was for nothing other, he says, than to through it have mercy on us and restore the deeply fallen that He assumed our flesh. In what way? By becoming our high priest and bearing that flesh which He received from us, in place of some other sacrifice, in order to cleanse us from sins and to be our mediator before God; for we were at enmity with Him. "Faithful" — meaning: true, one who could fulfill the work of a high priest; for it is the duty of a true high priest to free from sins those of whom he is high priest; or that He is acceptable to God in His mediation before Him.

"For the propitiation of the sins of the people" — He showed what it means: "faithful before God," that is, to cleanse the sins of the people. In this is the great proof of His love, that He did everything to expiate sins. Why did he not say: the sins of the world, but: of the people? Because the Lord first of all had care for the Jews, for whose sake He also came primarily, so that when they are saved, through them the rest would also be saved, although the opposite turned out to be the case. And the angel says to Joseph: "for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). Thus he shows here the nobility of the Jews and what great care they were deemed worthy of from the Lord.

150. – Then (v. 17) he concludes to a likeness. As if to say: Therefore, because He did not assume an angel but the seed of Abraham, it behooved him in all things to become like unto his brethren. In all things, I say, in which they are brethren, not in guilt but in punishment. Therefore, it behooved Him to have a nature that could suffer; hence 'one tempted in all things as we are, without sin' (Heb. 4:15). Likewise, they are brethren as to grace: 'Behold, what love God showed to us: that we should be called and be sons of God (1 Jn. 3:1); 'Those whom be foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son' (Rom. 8:29).

151. – Then he shows the usefulness of that resemblance when he says, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest. Here he does two things: First, he mentions the likeness; secondly, he explains it (v. 18).

152. – Christ as mediator has two functions: one sets Him over the whole human race as judge: 'He gave him power to do judgment, because He is the Son of man' (Jn. 5:27); the other is in relation to God, before Whom He intercedes for us as our advocate. In a judge mercy is desired particularly by the guilty; but in an advocate fidelity. Now both of these qualities were exhibited by Christ during His Passion. Hence, in regard to the first, he says that by His Passion He was made like unto his brethren, that he might become merciful.

153. – But wasn't He merciful from all eternity? It seems so, because 'his mercies are above all his works' (Ps. 144:9). For mercy consists in having a heart grieved at another's misfortune: in one way, by merely recognizing the misfortune, which is the way God recognized our wretchedness without suffering; in another way, by experiencing our misfortune, which is how Christ experienced our misery, especially during the Passion. In addition He is a faithful advocate; hence, he is called a faithful high priest. 'But Christ, being come a high priest of the good things to come' (Heb. 9:11); and it is required that He be faithful: 'Here now it is required among the dispensers that a man be found faithful' (1 Cor. 4:2): and all this that He might be a propitiation for the sins of the people, for whom He willed to die.

"For," he says, "in that He hath suffered Himself being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted." This is altogether low and mean, and unworthy of God. "For in that He hath suffered Himself," he says. It is of Him who was made flesh that he here speaks, and it was said for the full assurance of the hearers, and on account of their weakness. That is (he would say) He went through the very experience of the things which we have suffered; now He is not ignorant of our sufferings; not only does He know them as God, but as man also He has known them, by the trial wherewith He was tried; He suffered much, He knows how to sympathize. And yet God is incapable of suffering: but he describes here what belongs to the Incarnation, as if he had said, Even the very flesh of Christ suffered many terrible things. He knows what tribulation is; He knows what temptation is, not less than we who have suffered, for He Himself also has suffered.

What then is this, "He is able to succor them that are tempted"? It is as if one should say, He will stretch forth His hand with great eagerness, He will be sympathizing.

And be not astonished, that the words "Himself being tempted" are spoken more after the manner of men. For if the Scripture says of the Father, who was not made flesh, "The Lord looked down from heaven, and beheld all the sons of men," that is, accurately acquainted Himself with all things; and again, "I will go down, and see whether they do altogether according to the cry of them"; and again, "God cannot endure the evil ways of men," the divine Scripture shows forth the greatness of His wrath: much more, who even suffered in the flesh, these things are said of Christ. For since many men consider experience the most reliable means of knowledge, he wishes to show that He that has suffered knows what human nature suffers.

"For because he himself has suffered and been tempted." The statement is humble and not outside the measures of emptiness. Furthermore, it was said also because of the infancy of those who hear. For what does he say? For because he himself has suffered, that is, since he himself has been tempted in his own body, he will more willingly help those who are being tempted. As he said: Having learned by experience what it is to fall into temptations, not only as God, but also as a man, having learned by experience the passion (he is able, that is, he will more willingly reach out his hand to those who are being tempted).

He can help those who are being tempted, thus it must be understood. For when, he says, the Evil One attacked the sinless body of the Lord and attempted to surround it with temptations (Matt. 4:1-11); (for he attacked, tempting for his own sake; and he was the one inciting the Jews to murder against the Lord) therefore, since he was tempted and suffered while having a sinless body, he possesses righteous and reasonable strength against the Evil One, and is able to rescue those who are being led by sin from the temptations coming from there, and to become a helper to those who are being tempted. For the boldness of the Evil One against the sinless body provided just and reasonable strength to the Lord, to rescue those under sin from the temptations coming from there, and to be found a helper to those who are being tempted.

"He is able to help those who are tempted" … should be interpreted as follows. As the sinless body of the Lord was subjected to the evil and the temptations of suffering befell it … therefore, having the sinless body, having been tried and having suffered, he has the just and blessed power over evil, can deliver humans who are dying under sin from the temptations that fall on them, and he can defend from the temptations. If the Lord had righteous and blessed power over the audacious evil that tempted his sinless body, he also is able to release those who are subject to sin and temptations and to be the helper of those who are tempted.

He presented his saving death as an offering: the body he had assumed he offered for the whole of creation. He included something else as well for their consolation: having learned by experience the weakness of human nature in living under the law and under grace, he extends assistance to those under attack. This is said in respect of humanity: he is our high priest not as God but as human; he suffered not as God but as human; it was not as God that he learned our condition, but as God and creator he has a clear grasp of everything.

This, it would seem, is humiliation, humble and unworthy of God. When Paul speaks of the flesh, he touches on everything humiliating, yet not unworthy of the flesh; and there is nothing surprising in this, since even concerning the Father who did not become incarnate, Scripture says much that is anthropomorphic and lowly: "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see" (Ps. 13:2), and: "I will go down and see" (Gen. 18:21), and a great multitude of similar expressions. Therefore, much more is said concerning Christ, who became incarnate and suffered in the flesh, especially for the complete reassurance of the listeners and on account of their weakness; for even people consider experience to be the surest of all means. The meaning of the words is this. He knew not only as God, but also as a man, tested in all things — and the very flesh of Christ endured many sufferings. He knew what temptation is; therefore He can help, or in other words, He is ready to be always compassionate.

154. – Then when he says, For in that wherein he himself has suffered and been tempted, he shows its utility. As if to say: I do not speak of Christ as God, but as man. Therefore, in that, i.e., in that nature which He assumed, in order to experience in Himself that our cause is His own. Hence he says, he suffered and was tempted; therefore, he is able to succor them also that are tempted. Or, another way: He became merciful and faithful, because in suffering and being tempted He has a kinship to mercy. He says, tempted, not by the flesh but by the enemy: 'Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil' (Mt. 4:1). For in Christ there was no rebellion of the lower powers against the higher, but He suffered for us in the flesh: 'Christ suffered for us, leaving you an example that you should follow in his footsteps' (1 Pt. 2:21); 'Christ, therefore, having suffered in the flesh, be you also armed with the same thought' (1 Pt. 4:1).