Hebrews 10:32Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The best physicians make a deep incision and by that wound intensify the pain. Then they try to relieve the suffering member, calm and comfort the grieving soul. Therefore they do not make a new incision, but try to ease the one already made with soothing medicines able to remove severe pains.

Paul did the same. He shook their souls and brought them to compunction by recalling Gehenna. He persuaded them that everyone who mocks the grace of God will surely perish. He proved by the laws of Moses that such people will perish and undergo severe torments.

"Remember your former days." Therefore we did not say in vain that he introduces the words "Vengeance is Mine" in a hidden way for their consolation. For now he speaks to them more clearly, persuading them not to depart from patience.

Do not imitate anyone else, he says, but yourselves. At the beginning of your faith you struggled. Always remember that struggle, lest through negligence you destroy what you previously gained through struggle.

Notice his spiritual wisdom. First he shook their souls by the reminder of Gehenna. Now he calms them with praises, not by flattering them, but by persuading them through their own example. A man is more persuasive when he advises someone to imitate himself and the deeds he has already done.

The Apostle returns to reminding them of that first joy which they had after their conversion to Christianity. Remember, he says, the former days, in which, after you had been baptized, you endured many sufferings and contests. These are your sins.

I want you to call to mind those glorious contests. For as soon as you received the light of the knowledge of God, you gained victory in many glorious struggles. At times you yourselves were subjected to abuse and mockery, and with great nobility of soul you were deprived of your possessions. At other times you remained in fellowship with those who suffered such things and rendered them every kind of service. You did all this with zeal because you had hope in the good things promised in heaven. Then the Apostle continues the exhortation.

"In which, after you were enlightened" by holy Baptism, or by the light of the knowledge of God through Christ, you endured a great contest of sufferings and bore their great severity.

Instead of reaching such a desperate condition, the readers of the epistle should edify and strengthen themselves in the faith by remembering their bright past. Then, with the firmness and readiness given by their recent enlightenment through faith, they not only helped those who suffered, but did not themselves shrink from every kind of suffering that befell the Jerusalem Church generally (vv. 32-34; cf. Acts 4:3; 5:12; 4:18; 8:1).