{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/114/1140104.htm","path":"chr/ecf/114/1140104.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/114/1140104.htm","text":"\u201cWherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart, and they have not known My ways. So 2811 I sware in My wrath they shall not enter into My rest.\u201d\n[1.] Paul , having treated of hope, and having said that \u201cWe are His house, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end\u201d ( Heb. 3.6 ); next shows that we ought to look forward with firmness, and he proves this from the Scriptures. But be attentive, because he has expressed this in a manner somewhat difficult and not readily to be comprehended. And therefore we must first make our own statements, and after we have briefly explained the whole argument, then make clear the words of the Epistle. For you will no longer need us, if you have understood the scope of the Apostle.\nHis discourse was concerning Hope, and that it behooves us to hope for the things to come, and that for those who have toiled here there will assuredly be some reward and fruit and refreshment. This then he shows from the prophet; and what says he? \u201cWherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they do alway err in their heart, and they have not known My ways. So 2812 I sware in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest.\u201d\nHe says that there are \u201cthree\u201d rests: one, that of the Sabbath, in which God rested from His works; the second, that of Palestine, into which when the Jews had entered they would be at rest from their hardships and labors; the third, that which is Rest indeed, the kingdom of Heaven; which those who obtain, do indeed rest from their labors and troubles. Of these three then he makes mention here.\nAnd why did he mention the three, when he is treating of the one only? That he might show that the prophet is speaking concerning this one. For he did not speak (he says) concerning the first. For how could he, when that had taken place long before? Nor yet again concerning the second, that in Palestine. For how could he? For he says, \u201cThey shall not enter into My rest.\u201d It remains therefore that it is this third.\n[2.] But it is necessary also to unfold the p. 394 history, to make the argument more clear. For when they had come forth out of Egypt, and had accomplished a long journey, and had received innumerable proofs of the power of God, both in Egypt, and in the Red Sea (cf. Acts vii. 36 ), and in the wilderness, they determined to send spies to search out the nature of the land; and these went and returned, admiring indeed the country, and saying that it abounded in noble fruits, nevertheless it was a country of strong and invincible men: and the ungrateful and senseless Jews, when they ought to have called to mind the former blessings of God, and how when they were hemmed in the midst of the armies of so many Egyptians, He rescued them from their perils, and made them masters of their enemies\u2019 spoils; and again, in the wilderness He clave the rock, and bestowed on them abundance of waters, and gave them the manna, and the other wonderful things which He wrought; [when they ought, I say, to have remembered this,] and to have trusted in God, they considered none of these things, but being struck with terror, just as if nothing had been done, they said, we wish to go back again into Egypt, \u201cfor God hath brought us out thither\u201d (it is said) \u201cto slay us, with our children and wives.\u201d (Cf. Num. xiv. 3 .) God therefore being angry that they had so quickly cast off the memory of what had been done, sware that generation, which had said these things, should not enter into the Rest; and they all perished in the wilderness. When David then, he says, speaking at a later period, and after these events, after that generation of men, said, \u201cTo-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts,\u201d that ye may not suffer the same things which your forefathers did, and be deprived of the Rest; he evidently [said this] as of some [future] rest. For if they had received their Rest (he says) why does He again say to them, \u201cTo-day if ye will hear His voice harden not your hearts,\u201d as your fathers did? What other rest then is there, except the kingdom of Heaven, of which the Sabbath was an image and type?\n[3.] Next having set down the whole testimony (and this is, \u201cTo-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart, and they have not known My ways. So I sware in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest\u201d), he then adds:\nHeb. 3.12 . \u201cTake heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.\u201d For from hardness unbelief ariseth: and as in bodies, the parts that have become callous and hard do not yield to the hands of the physicians, so also souls that are hardened yield not to the word of God. For it is probable besides that some even disbelieved as though the things which had been done were not true.\nTherefore he says, \u201cTake heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.\u201d For since the argument from the future is not so persuasive as from the past, he reminds them of the history, in which they had wanted faith. For if your fathers (he says) because they did not hope as they ought to have hoped, suffered these things, much more will you. Since to them also is this word addressed: for, \u201cTo-day\u201d (he says) is \u201cever,\u201d so long as the world lasts.\n[4.] Heb. 3.13 . Wherefore \u201cexhort ye one another daily, while it is called to-day.\u201d That is, edify one another, raise yourselves up: lest the same things should befall you. \u201cLest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.\u201d Seest thou that sin produces unbelief? For as unbelief brings forth an evil life, so also a soul, \u201cwhen it is come into a depth of evils, becometh contemptuous\u201d 2813 ( Prov. xviii. 3 ), and having become contemptuous it endures not even to believe, in order thereby to free itself from fear. For \u201cthey said\u201d (one says), \u201cThe Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard.\u201d ( Ps. xciv. 7 .) And again, \u201cOur lips are our own: who is Lord over us?\u201d ( Ps. xii. 4 ); and again \u201cWherefore hath the wicked man provoked God to wrath?\u201d ( Ps. x. 13 ); and again, \u201cThe fool hath said in his heart, there is no God; they are corrupt and become abominable in their doings.\u201d ( Ps. xiv. 1 .) \u201cThere is no fear of God before his eyes, for he was deceitful before Him, to find out 2814 his iniquity and to hate.\u201d ( Ps. 36:1, 2 .) Yea and Christ also says this same thing, \u201cEvery one that doeth evil, hateth the light and cometh not to the light.\u201d ( John iii. 20 .)\nThen he adds ( Heb. 3.14 ), \u201cFor we have been made partakers of Christ.\u201d What is this, \u201cWe have been made partakers of Christ\u201d? We partake of Him (he means); we were made One, we and He\u2014since He is the Head and we the body, \u201cfellow-heirs and of the same body; we are one body, of His flesh and of His bones.\u201d ( Eph. 3:6, Rom. 12:5, Eph. 5:30 .)\n\u201cIf we hold fast the beginning of our confidence [or, the principle of our subsistence 2815 ] steadfast unto the end.\u201d What is \u201cthe principle of our subsistence\u201d? The faith by which we stand, and have been brought into being and were made to exist, as one may say.\n[5.] Then he adds ( Heb. 3.15 ), \u201cWhen it is p. 395 said, 2816 To-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.\u201d This is a transposition, 2817 \u201cwhen it is said, To-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts.\u201d [It must be read thus:]\n( Heb. 4:1, 2 .) \u201cLet us fear lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it; for to us was the Gospel preached 2818 as well as unto them when it is said, To-day if ye hear His voice\u201d (for \u201cTo-day\u201d is \u201cat every time\u201d 2819 ).\nThen [he adds] \u201cbut the word of hearing did not profit them, as they were not mixed 2820 by faith with them that heard.\u201d How did it not profit? Then wishing to alarm them, he shows the same thing by what he says:\n( Heb. 3.16-19 .) \u201cFor some when they had heard did provoke, howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses: And with whom was He grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swear He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So 2821 we see, that they could not enter in because of unbelief.\u201d After again repeating the testimony, he adds also the question, which makes the argument clear. For he said (he repeats), \u201cTo-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.\u201d Of whom does he speak (he says) [as] having been hardened? Of whom [as] not believing? Is it not of the Jews?\nNow what he says is to this effect. They also heard, as we hear: but no profit came to them. Do not suppose then that by \u201chearing\u201d what is proclaimed ye will be profited; seeing that they also heard, but derived no benefit because they did not believe.\nCaleb then and Joshua, because they agreed not with those who did not believe, escaped the vengeance that was sent forth against them. And see how admirably he said, not, They did not agree, but, \u201cthey were not mixed\u201d\u2014that is, they stood apart, but not factiously when all the others had one and the same mind. Here it seems to me that a faction too is hinted at. 2822\n[6.] ( Heb. 4.3 .) For \u201cwe who have believed,\u201d he says, \u201cdo enter into rest.\u201d From what this is evident, he adds: \u201cas He said, as I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.\u201d This indeed, is not evidence that we shall enter in, but that they did not enter in. What then? Thus far he aims to show that as that rest does not hinder the speaking of another rest, so neither does this [exclude] that of Heaven. Up to this point then, he wishes to show that they [the Israelites] did not attain to the rest. For because he means this, he says ( Heb. 4:4, 5 ), \u201cFor he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest.\u201d Thou seest how that doth not hinder this from being a rest?\nHeb. 4:6, 7 . \u201cSeeing therefore it remaineth\u201d (he says) \u201cthat some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: again he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it has been said before.\u201d 2823 But what is it that he means? \u201cSeeing then\u201d (he means) that \u201csome must\u201d certainly \u201center in,\u201d and \u201cthey did not enter in.\u201d And that an entrance is proclaimed, and that \u201csome must enter in,\u201d let us hear from what this is clear. Because after so many years (he says) David again says: \u201cTo-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts\u201d ( Heb. 4.8 ), \u201cFor if Joshua had given them rest he would not afterward have spoken of another day.\u201d It is evident, that he says these things, as of persons who are to attain some recompense.\n[7.] Heb. 4.9 . \u201cThere remaineth therefore a rest 2824 for the people of God.\u201d Whence [does this appear]? From the exhortation, \u201cHarden not your hearts\u201d: for if there were no rest, these exhortations would not have been given. Neither would they have been exhorted not to do the same things [with the Jews] lest they should suffer the same things, unless they were about to suffer the same. But how were they who were in possession of Palestine about to suffer the same things [i.e. exclusion from the rest] unless there were some other rest?\nAnd well did he conclude the argument. For he said not rest but \u201cSabbath-keeping\u201d; calling the kingdom \u201cSabbath-keeping,\u201d by the appropriate name, and that which they rejoiced in and were attracted by. For as, on the Sabbath He commands to abstain from all evil things; and that those things only which relate to the Service of God should be done, which things the Priests were wont to accomplish, and whatsoever profits the soul, and nothing else; so also [will it be] then. However it is not he p. 396 who spoke thus, but what? ( Heb. 4.10 ), \u201cFor he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from His.\u201d As God ceased from His works, he says, so he that hath entered into His rest [hath ceased]. For since his discourse to them was concerning rest, and they were desirous to hear when this would be, he concluded the argument with this.\n[8.] And [he said] \u201cTo-day,\u201d 2825 that they might never be without hope. \u201cExhort one another daily,\u201d he says, [\u201cwhile it is called today,\u201d] that is, even if a man have sinned, as long as it is \u201cTo-day,\u201d he has hope: let no man then despair so long as he lives. Above all things indeed, he says, \u201clet there not be an evil heart of unbelief.\u201d ( Heb. 3.12 .) But even suppose there should be, let no man despair, but let him recover himself; for as long as we are in this world, the \u201cTo-day\u201d is in season. But here he means not unbelief only, but also murmurings: \u201cwhose carcasses,\u201d he says, \u201cfell\u2019 in the wilderness.\u201d 2826\nThen, lest any think that they will simply be deprived of rest only, he adds also the punishment, saying ( Heb. 4.12 ), \u201cFor the Word of God is quick, and powerful; and sharper than any two-edged sword, and pierceth even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow: and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.\u201d Here he is speaking of Hell and of punishment. \u201cIt pierceth\u201d (he says) into the secrets of our heart, and cutteth asunder the soul. Here it is not the falling of carcasses nor, as there, the being deprived of a country, but of a heavenly kingdom; and being delivered to an everlasting hell, and to undying punishment and vengeance.\n( Heb. 3.13 .) \u201cBut exhort 2827 one another.\u201d Observe the gentleness and mildness [of the expression]: he said not \u201cRebuke,\u201d but \u201cExhort.\u201d Thus we are required to bear ourselves towards those who are straightened by affliction. This he says also in writing to the Thessalonians, \u201cWarn them that are unruly\u201d ( 1 Thess. v. 14 ), but in speaking of the feeble-minded, not so, but what? \u201cComfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men\u201d; that is, do not cease to hope; do not despair. For he that does not encourage one who is straightened by affliction, makes him more hardened.\n[9.] \u201cLest any of you,\u201d he says, \u201cbe hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.\u201d He means either the deceit of the devil (for it is indeed a deceit, not to look for the things to come, to think that we are without responsibility, and that we shall not pay the penalty for our deeds here, neither will there be a resurrection); or in another sense insensibility [or] despairing is deceit. For to say, \u2018What is there left? I have sinned once for all, I have no hope of recovering myself,\u2019 is deceit.\nThen he suggests hopes to them, saying ( Heb. 3.14 ), \u201cWe are made partakers of Christ\u201d; All but saying, He that so loved us, He that counted us worthy of so great things, as to make us His Body, will not suffer us to perish. Let us consider (he says) of what we have been thought worthy: we and Christ are One: let us not then distrust Him. And again, he hints at that which had been said in another place, that \u201cIf we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.\u201d ( 2 Tim. ii. 12 .) For this is [implied in] \u201cWe are made partakers,\u201d we partake of the same things whereof Christ also partakes.\nHe urges them on from the good things; \u201cfor we are,\u201d he says, \u201cpartakers of Christ.\u201d Then, again, from gloomy ones ( Heb. 4.1 ), \u201cLet us fear, lest at any time a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.\u201d For that is manifest and confessed.\n( Heb. 3.9 .) \u201cThey proved Me,\u201d He says, \u201cand saw My works forty years.\u201d Seest thou that it is not right to call God to account, but whether He defend [our cause] or not, to trust Him? For against those [of old] he now brings this charge, that \u201cthey tempted God.\u201d For he that will have proof either of His power, or of His providence, or of His tender care, does not yet believe, either that He is powerful or kind to man. This he hints also in writing to these [Hebrews] who probably already wished, in their trials, to obtain experience and positive evidence of His power and His providential care for them. Thou seest that in all cases the provocation and the angering arises from unbelief.\nWhat then does he say? ( Heb. 4.9 .) \u201cThere remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God.\u201d And see how he has summed up the whole argument. \u201cHe sware,\u201d saith he, to those former ones, \u201cthat they should not enter into\u201d the \u201crest,\u201d and they did not enter in. Then long after their time discoursing to the Jews, he says, \u201cHarden not your hearts,\u201d as your fathers, showing that there is another rest. For of Palestine we have not to speak: for they were already in possession of it. Nor can he be speaking of the seventh [day]; for surely he was not discoursing about that which had taken place long before. It follows therefore that he hints at some other, that which is rest indeed.\n[10.] For that is indeed rest, where \u201cpain, sorrow and sighing are fled away\u201d ( Isa. xxxv. 10 ): where there are neither cares, nor labors, p. 397 nor struggle, nor fear stunning and shaking the soul; but only that fear of God which is full of delight. There is not, \u201cIn the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread,\u201d nor \u201cthorns and thistles\u201d ( Gen. 3:19, 18 ); no longer, \u201cIn sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and to thy husband shall be thy desire and he shall rule over thee.\u201d ( Gen. iii. 16 .) All is peace, joy, gladness, pleasure, goodness, gentleness. There is no jealousy, nor envy, no sickness, no death whether of the body, or that of the soul. There is no darkness nor night; all [is] day, all light, all things are bright. It is not possible to be weary, it is not possible to be satiated: we shall always persevere in the desire of good things. 2828\nWould you that I should also give you some image of the condition there? It is impossible. But yet, so far as it is possible, I will try to give you some image. Let us look up into the heaven when without any intervening cloud it shows forth its crown [of stars]. Then when we have dwelt long on the beauty of its appearance, let us think that we too shall have a pavement, not indeed such [as this], but as much more beautiful as the gold is than the clay, and [let us think] on the higher roof which is again beyond; then on the Angels, the Archangels, the infinite multitude of unbodied powers, the very palace of God itself, the Throne of the Father.\nBut language is too weak (as I said) to set forth the whole. Experience is necessary, and the knowledge which [cometh] by experience. Tell me, how was it (think you) with Adam in Paradise? This course of life is far better than that, as much as heaven [is better] than earth.\n[11.] But however let us search after another image still. If it happened that he who now reigns was master of the whole world, and then was troubled neither by wars nor by cares, but was honored only and lived delicately; and had large tributes, and on every side gold flowed in to him, and he was looked up to, what feelings do you think he would have, if he saw that all the wars in all parts of the world had ceased? Something such as this will it be. But rather I have not even yet arrived at that image [which I seek]; therefore I must search after another too.\nConsider then, I pray you: for as some royal child, so long as he is in the womb, has no sense of anything, but should it happen that he suddenly came forth from thence, and ascended the royal throne, not gradually, but all at once received possession of all things; so is it as regards this [present] and that [future] state. Or, if some captive, having suffered innumerable evils, should be caught up at once to the royal throne.\nBut not even thus have I attained to the image exactly. For here indeed whatever good things a person may obtain, even shouldst thou say the kingdom itself, during the first day indeed his desires are in full vigor, and for the second too, and the third, but as time goes on, he continues indeed to have pleasure, but not so great. For whatever it be, it always ceases from familiarity with it. But yonder it not only does not diminish, but even increases. For consider how great a thing it is, that a soul after departing thither, should no longer look for an end of those good things, nor yet change, but increase, and life that has no end, and life set free from all danger, and from all despondency and care, full of cheerfulness and blessings innumerable.\nFor if when we go out into a plain, and there see the soldiers\u2019 tents fixed with curtains, and the spears, and helmets, and bosses of the bucklers glittering, we are lifted up with wonder; but if we also chance to see the king himself running in the midst or even riding with golden armor, we think we have everything; what thinkest thou [it will be] when thou seest the everlasting tabernacles of the saints pitched in heaven? (For it is said, \u201cThey shall receive you into their everlasting tabernacles\u201d\u2014 Luke xvi. 9 ) when thou seest each one of them beaming with light above the rays of the sun, not from brass and steel, but from that glory whose gleamings the eye of man cannot look upon? And this indeed with respect to the men. But what, if one were to speak of the thousands of Angels, of Archangels, of Cherubim, of Seraphim, of thrones, of dominions, of principalities, of powers, whose beauty is inimitable, passing all understanding?\nBut how far shall I go in pursuing what cannot be overtaken? \u201cFor eye hath not seen,\u201d it is said, \u201cnor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.\u201d ( 1 Cor. ii. 9 .) Therefore nothing is more pitiable than those who miss, nor anything more blessed than those who attain. Let us then be of the blessed, that we may attain to the everlasting good things that are in Christ Jesus our Lord, with whom to the Father together with the Holy Ghost be glory, might, honor, now and for ever and world without end. Amen.\n\u1f00 \u03c1\u03c7\u1f74\u03bd \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f51\u03c0\u03bf\u03c3\u03c4\u03ac\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2 . St. Chrys. understands \u1f51 \u03c0\u03cc\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2 in its prior sense, as \u201c subsistence, \u201d \u201c subsisting, \u201d \u201c being brought into real existence. \u201d\n395:2816\n\u1f10 \u03bd \u03c4\u1ff7 \u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 , \u201c in its being said. \u201d\n395:2817 395:2818\nThat is, these words are addressed to us as well as to them.\n395:2819 395:2820\n\u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03ba\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 . Sav. and Ben. have \u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03ba\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b7\u03c2 (i.e. \u1f00 \u03ba\u03bf\u1fc6\u03c2 ). The received text of the New Testament has \u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03ba\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 , \u201c the word not being mixed. \u201d [This is also given in the margin of W. H. and of the Revisers.] Lachmann [and Tisch., W. H., and the Revisers] read \u03c3\u03c5\u03b3\u03ba\u03b5\u03ba\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1\u03c3\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2 , which is the reading of some mss. of St. Chrys.\n395:2821 395:2822\n\u03b1\u1f30\u03bd\u03af\u03c4\u03c4\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9 . That is, is indirectly condemned, by the contrast of the conduct of Caleb and Joshua. St. Chrys. reverses the expression of the Epistle, and says, \u201c Caleb and Joshua were not mixed with the unbelievers, \u201d when the Apostle had said, \u201c the unbelievers were not mixed with them. \u201d\n395:2823\n\u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 . This is the correct reading of the sacred text Heb. iv. 7 : for which the common editions [i.e. the Textus Receptus . All critical editors have \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03b5\u03af\u03c1 .\u2014F.G.] have \u03b5\u1f34\u03c1\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 , \u201c it is said. \u201d\n395:2824 396:2825\nSt. Chrys. returns here to Heb. 3.13 , connecting the \u201c To-day if ye hear His voice, harden not your heart, \u201d with \u201c Exhort one another daily while it is called To-day \u201d : as he had said, \u201c to-day is at every time. \u201d\n396:2826\nThe words of the Apostle, Heb. 3.17 , are those of Num. xiv. 29 , &c., where murmuring is the sin specified.\n396:2827\n\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c4\u03b5 . The word includes the idea of comforting and encouraging as well as of exhorting.\n397:2828\nRhythm of Bernard de Morlaix , translated by Dr. Neale, p. 15.]","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. XIV: The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews.: Homily VI","type":"page"}