Hebrews 10:31Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

We shall fall, he says, into the hands of the Lord, and not into the hands of men. If you do not repent, you will fall into the hands of God. This is fearful. To fall into the hands of men means nothing. When we see, he says, that someone is punished here, let us not fear the present punishment, but let us fear the future one: "For as His mercy is, so is His wrath, and His anger rests upon sinners" (Sir 5:7).

"We know Him Who said, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Deut 32:35). "And again, 'The Lord will judge His people'" (cf. Ps 134:14). "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (cf. Lk 18:7-8).

He said this in connection with what came before, to show that the Lord has taken upon Himself vengeance against sinners. For He said this through the prophet.

He also comforts those who were falling into faintheartedness because of trials from the Jews who oppressed them. It is as if he were saying: do not lose heart. You have an Avenger and Rewarder Who lives forever, from Whom those who offend you will by no means escape.

You fell into the hands of mortal men, but they fall into the hands of the eternally living God, from Whom they will not hide.

After this, having frightened them with the testimony from the prophet, "The Lord will judge His people" (Deut 32:35-36; Ps 134:14)...

Since what he had said, by which he made them understand their sloth and negligence concerning divine things, was enough to grieve them, the Apostle tempers the severity of his words by reminding them of what they had already accomplished. For nothing so stirs one to zeal as the remembrance of one's own progress.

That is, into the punishing power of God. For as immeasurably great are the future honors given to men by God, so great also will be the punishment. The vengeance of mortals passes quickly, but the vengeance of Him who lives forever is eternal. Having shaken their souls with fear of Gehenna, he next encourages them by praising them.

If a servant came to such madness and frenzy that before his master he dared to shout, make noise, laugh without measure, leap, dance, and do other disorderly things, he would show extreme disrespect and insult to his master. He would provoke his master's great anger.

Christians show such madness and frenzy when, before Christ the Lord, Who sees all things, they commit lawlessness and act self-willedly. This includes disorderly shouting, fistfights, dancing, unseemly songs, horse races, quarrels and disputes, abuse, slander, judging one's neighbor, disorderly gatherings, feasts, drunkenness, fornication, adultery, plunder, theft, and the rest.

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31). Yet one who has experienced, at least in part, the dwelling of the house of the Lord, and has partaken of the grace of God's presence, knows something else. It would be incomparably more dreadful to flee from the Lord's justice to the injustice of God's enemies.

What then does he do? Beholding infinite mercy in Christ, he gives himself with his whole will to infinite justice. He does not renounce any sorrows, sufferings, or mortifications, but recognizes even in them heavenly gifts.

And one must fear judgment for apostasy all the more because this judgment will be carried out by God Himself, whose severity toward sinners is well known.