Hebrews 11:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Truly, Abraham’s faith was great. In Abel, Noah, and Enoch there was only a struggle of thoughts, and they had to rise above human reasonings. Here it was necessary not only to rise above human reasonings, but to show something still greater.

Here the divine, at first sight, contradicted the divine. Faith stood against faith, and commandment against promise. Thus God said to him, "Go from your land, from your kindred, and from your father’s house." And again, "All the land I will give to you and to your seed forever" (Gen 12:1, 13:15). Yet He did not give him an inheritance in it, not even a foot’s breadth.

Do you see how events contradicted the promise? Again He said, "In Isaac shall your seed be called" (Gen 21:12), and Abraham believed. Then again, "Offer to Me in sacrifice the one who is to fill the whole world with his offspring."

Do you see the contradiction of the commandments to the promise? He commanded what was contrary to the promises. Yet the righteous man was not troubled and did not think himself deceived.

But you, says the Apostle, cannot say that He promised you rest and sent you tribulation. What He promised you, that He also does. How so? "In the world," He said, "you will have tribulation" (Jn 16:33). And, "He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me" (Mt 10:38). "He who saves his soul will lose it." And again, "If anyone comes to Me and does not renounce all that he has, he cannot be My disciple" (Lk 14:26, 33). Again, "They will bring you before governors and kings for My sake" (Mt 10:18). And again, "A man’s enemies will be those of his own household" (Mt 10:36).

Here are tribulations, and rest is there. With Abraham it was the opposite. He was commanded to do what was contrary to the promises, yet he was not troubled. He did not waver, and he did not think himself deceived.

You endure nothing alien to the promise, and yet you are troubled. He heard from the Promiser Himself what was contrary to what had been promised, and he was not troubled. He carried it out as something harmonious with the promise.

Indeed, it was harmonious. It was contrary to human reasonings, but harmonious with faith. How this was so, the Apostle himself explained when he said, "He considered that God was able even to raise from the dead."

His words mean this. By the same faith with which Abraham believed that God would give him a son whom he did not have, by that same faith he was persuaded that God would raise even the dead. He would raise the one slain.

Both were equally wondrous according to human reasoning. It was wondrous that a son should be born from a womb already dead, aged, and no longer able to bear children. It was also wondrous that one slain should rise again.

Yet he believed. His former faith guided him toward faith in what was to come.

On the other hand, he first experienced what was pleasant, and afterward what was grievous, in old age. With you, says the Apostle, the opposite takes place. What is grievous comes first, and what is pleasant afterward.

This is said against those who dare to say that God, having promised us good things after death, may perhaps have deceived us. "God is able," he says, "even to raise from the dead." If God is able even to raise from the dead, then certainly He will repay us everything.

If Abraham believed, so many years beforehand, that God was able to raise from the dead, how much more ought we to believe this.

Do you see that, as I said above, even before death entered, God awakened in the forefathers the hope of resurrection? He led them to such conviction that, at His command, they offered in sacrifice their sons through whom they hoped to fill the world. They slaughtered them with readiness.

The Apostle expresses something else here in the words, "God tested Abraham" (Gen 22:1). What is this? Did God not know that he was a patient and valiant man? He knew it perfectly.

If He knew it, why did He test him? Not so that He Himself might learn, but so that He might show it to others. He made his courage manifest to all.

Here the Apostle shows the reason for temptations, so that they may not think they suffer because they have been abandoned by God. For us it is unavoidable to undergo temptations here, since there are many persecutors and plotters.

But there, what need was there to devise temptations that did not exist? It is evident that this temptation came by His command. Other temptations happen by His permission, but this one happened by His command.

If temptations make people so glorious that God subjects His athletes to them even without external cause, then we should all the more endure everything courageously.

The Apostle spoke precisely here: "By faith Abraham, being tested, offered Isaac." There was no other cause for offering Isaac except this. Then he develops the same thought further.

No one, he says, can say that Abraham had another son and expected the promise to be fulfilled through him, and therefore offered Isaac boldly. "Having the promise," he says, "he offered his only-begotten."

How was he "only-begotten"? What of Ishmael? Where did he come from? I call him only-begotten, he says, with respect to the promise.

Therefore, after saying "only-begotten," and wishing to show that he calls him this in that sense, he adds, "of whom it was said, In Isaac shall your seed be called," that is, from him.

Do you see how marvelous the patriarch’s action is? It had been said to him, "In Isaac shall your seed be called," and yet he offered his son in sacrifice.

Then, lest anyone suppose that he did this in despair, and that by accepting such a command he abandoned his former faith, the Apostle shows the opposite. He proves that this deed too was truly a work of faith.

He says that even here Abraham had faith. Although, at first sight, it contradicted the former faith, he did not resist. He did not measure the power of God by human judgments, but entrusted everything to faith.

Therefore he did not fear to say that God was able even to raise from the dead. For this reason he also received him back in a figure, that is, in an image, in the ram.

How? Isaac was saved by the slaughter of the ram in sacrifice. Thus he received his son in exchange for the ram, having slaughtered the first in place of the latter.

This was a certain prefiguration. Here the Son of God was prefigured, being slaughtered in sacrifice.

And note how great is God’s love for mankind. Since He was about to grant great grace to human beings, He wished to do this not as a free gift, but as though He were a debtor.

He arranged that first a man should give his son at God’s command. Then it would not seem a great thing that He Himself gave His own Son, after a man had done this before Him. Nor would people think that He did this only freely, but also as a debt.

With those whom we love, we try to arrange that it should appear as though we first received some small thing from them, and then give them everything. We boast not so much of what we have given as of what we received from them.

We do not say, "We gave him this or that," but, "We received this or that from him."

Therefore, he says, he also received him back in a figure, that is, in an image, since the ram was a parable of Isaac, or an image. Since the sacrifice had been accomplished, and Isaac had been slain in Abraham’s intention, God gave him back to the patriarch.

Do you see how from this too is revealed what I constantly say? When we make our mind perfect and show that we despise earthly things, then God grants us earthly things also, but not before.

He does this so that, being attached to earthly goods, we may not receive them and become still more attached to them. First free yourself from slavery, He says, and then receive. Receive not as a slave, but as a master.

Despise wealth, and you will be wealthy. Despise glory, and you will be in glory. Despise vengeance on enemies, and you will avenge yourself on them. Despise rest, and you will receive it.

Thus, when you receive, you will receive not as a prisoner or slave, but as a free man.

We act so with little children. When a child strongly desires childish toys, we carefully hide them from him, a ball, for example, or something else, so that he may not be distracted from necessary tasks.

But when he pays them no attention and does not desire them, then we give them without fear. We know that no harm will come to him, and that this amusement will not be able to turn him away from necessary tasks.

So God also acts with us. When He sees that we do not desire earthly goods, He allows us to use them. Then we possess them as free men and as mature men, not as children.

That when you despise vengeance on enemies, you will then avenge yourself on them, hear what the Apostle says: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him drink." He adds, "For by doing this you will heap burning coals upon his head" (Rom 12:20).

That when you despise wealth, you will then receive it, hear what Christ says: "Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life" (Mt 19:29).

That when you despise glory, you will then receive it, hear again what Christ says: "Whoever wishes to be great among you, let him be your servant." And again, "He who humbles himself will be exalted" (Mt 20:26, 23:12).

What are you saying? If I give my enemy drink, I punish him? If I distribute my possessions, I possess them? If I humble myself, I become exalted?

Yes, He says. Such is My power. It produces opposites through opposites. I am rich and wise, so do not fear. The nature of things obeys My will, and I do not follow nature.

I accomplish all things, and nothing else directs Me. Therefore I can change and transform everything.

Is it surprising that this happens in such matters, when the same thing happens in everything else? Thus, when you harm another, you harm yourself. When others harm you, you suffer no harm.

When you take vengeance, you do not take vengeance on another, but on yourself. "He who loves unrighteousness," says the Wise One, "hates his own soul" (Prov 29:24, Ps 10:5).

Do you see that in such a case you do not harm another, but yourself? Therefore Paul also says, "Why not rather suffer wrong?" (1 Cor 6:7). Do you see that this does not mean suffering harm?

When you wrong another, then you wrong yourself. This is known in part to many. Sometimes people say to one another, "Let us go away from here, so that we do not disgrace ourselves."

Why? Because there is a great difference between you who insult and him who is insulted. Whatever insults you inflict on him are turned into honor for him.

Let us always reason in this way, and we shall rise above insults. I will explain how. If we were to fight against one who wears the purple, the insults directed at him would turn back upon us. By reviling him, we ourselves become worthy of reviling.

What, then, tell me, do your words mean? You are a citizen of heaven and possess the philosophy from above. Why do you lower yourself to the level of one who thinks only of earthly things?

Even if your enemy has countless possessions, even if he has power, he does not know your good. Do not lower yourself by insulting him. Spare yourself, not him. Honor yourself, not him.

Does not the proverb say that he who honors another honors himself? And rightly so. He does not honor the other, but himself.

Hear the words of the Wise One, who says, "By meekness glorify your soul, and give it honor according to its dignity" (Sir 10:31). What does "according to its dignity" mean?

If someone, he says, has deceived you through covetousness, do not do the same. If he has insulted you, do not insult him.

Tell me, I beg you. If some poor man takes a lump of mud lying in your courtyard, would you drag him to court for this? No. Why? So as not to lower yourself, and so that all may not condemn you.

So it is here also. The rich man is poor. The more he grows rich, the more he becomes poor with true poverty.

Abraham is above all in faith. Here not only nature, but even the word of God, entered into conflict with the divine command.

For the One who said, "I will give the land to you and to your descendants" (Gen 17:8), also commands, "Offer your son as a whole burnt offering" (Gen 22:2).

Therefore Abraham is said to be tested, not because God needed to examine his virtue, but so that by this testing and by his deeds we might learn his virtue.

Notice that temptations are so beneficial that God not only permits others to bring them upon believers, but also tests them Himself, in order to show them more proven.

In what sense was Isaac only-begotten, when Abraham also had Ishmael? With respect to the promise he was only-begotten. For he was properly the seed, since "in Isaac shall your seed be called" (Gen 21:12).

"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises offered his only-begotten, of whom it was said, 'In Isaac shall your seed be called.'"

"For he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead; from which he also received him in a figure" (Heb 11:17-19).

What is the meaning of this figure, if not what the same Apostle says: "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom 8:32)?

Therefore, just as the Lord bore His cross, so Isaac himself carried to the place of sacrifice the wood on which he was to be laid.

Finally, since Isaac was not to be killed after his father was forbidden to lift his hand against him, who was the ram whose slaughter completed the symbolic bloody sacrifice?

When Abraham saw it, it was standing caught by its horns in the thicket. Whom did it represent in this way, if not Jesus, crowned before His slaughter with the Jewish thorns?

Before leaving his father’s house, the elder Abraham heard consolation from above that a great nation would come from him in a new and unknown land.

Abraham settled there. He lived one year, then another. He and his wife grew older and older, yet they had no children.

Thus Abraham lived in weary expectation in the land of promise for twenty-four years. At last God sent them a son, the heir of all the land and all the property.

Most importantly, in that son God gave the future forefather from whom many nations would come, even strong and ruling nations (Gen 17:16).

You can imagine for yourselves with what joy the aged parents received their child, and with what love and care they raised their son. He was their consolation.

When Abraham was tested, by faith he offered Isaac (Heb 11:17). He offered his only-begotten son, the one concerning whom he had received the promise.

In giving his son as a sacrifice, he worshiped the Son of God. When he was forbidden to slay Isaac, he saw in the image of the lamb Christ, who gave Himself as a sacrifice to God.

For the patriarch was only tested through Isaac. In reality it was not Isaac who was offered in sacrifice, but the One of whom Isaiah proclaimed beforehand in type.

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent (Is 53:7). He is the One who bears the sin of the world (Jn 1:29).

By faith Abraham, when tested, offered Isaac in sacrifice (cf. Gen. 22:10), whom he had received according to the promise, so that his seed would be named in him (cf. Gen. 21:12). Abraham did not doubt in the least that, even if he put Isaac to death, his seed would still be named in him. He thought and pondered in his soul that God is able even to raise from the dead. Therefore he received him in a figure, that is, so that through him men might learn the resurrection of the dead, and so that through him he might know the sons of the spirit who belonged to him.

God promised to make the multitude of Isaac's descendants like the sand of the sea, and He Himself commanded Isaac to become a sacrifice.

Therefore the patriarch was besieged by two opposing thoughts. Nature also tore him more cruelly than any executioner. Yet he overcame everything without difficulty and offered the sacrifice.

But the Apostle also shows the thought by which Abraham, guided by it, scattered all the other thoughts: "Considering that God was able even to raise him from the dead."

The patriarch overcame the thought that arose in him about the multitude of descendants by believing that one slain according to God's will could become alive.

"From which he also received him in a figure," that is, as a sign and type of the resurrection.

"By faith Abraham offered Isaac." He offered him as a sacrifice to God, as the book of Genesis recounts in detail (Gen 22).

He believed that God was able to raise him even after death, so that the promises concerning the great multiplication of his seed and the inheritance of Palestine might be fulfilled.

"Being tested." For Scripture says, "God tested Abraham" (Gen 22:1), namely, by commanding him to offer his son Isaac as a whole burnt offering.

He "tested" him, that is, proved him, not because of any ignorance in Himself. Rather, it was so that later generations might know Abraham's courage and greatness of soul.

They might know how he considered every human reasoning, and even the nature of nature itself, secondary in comparison with the command of God.

Isaac was a type of the Lord. As a human child he was the son of Abraham; as Christ, He was the Son of God.

As Lord, He is the sacrifice. Yet being Lord, He did not perish in it.

Isaac carried the wood for the sacrifice. In like manner, the Lord carried the wood of the cross.

But He laughed in a mystical way, foretelling that He would fill us with joy, we who are saved from destruction by His blood.

The difference is only this: Isaac did not suffer, yielding the firstfruits of suffering to the Lord.

By not being offered in sacrifice, he symbolically portrayed the Godhead of the Lord. For after the burial the Lord rose as though He had not suffered, remaining, like Isaac, untouched by death.

Where was the height and purity of Abraham's faith shown here? It was precisely in this: when he came into the promised land, he did not hasten to settle in it with his son and grandson as its wealthy material possessor. Rather, he was content for the time being to dwell in tents. He was filled with the conviction that God's promise to him concerning possession of the land of Canaan would be fulfilled in a far better and higher sense. It would be fulfilled as possession of the heavenly fatherland (Heb. 11:13-19).

The patriarchs proved their faith in deed. Thus Abraham revealed the greatness of his faith by offering his son Isaac, with whom the fulfillment of all the promises given to him concerning his posterity was bound up.

More than this, by receiving his son alive from the sacrificial pyre, Abraham revealed still more his faith in God. There he uttered the saying, "Jehovah will provide" (Gen 22:14).

The return of the son offered to God in faith was for Abraham a factual confirmation of this truth: God would fulfill all His promises given to Abraham.