Hebrews 11:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

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

Here, at first sight, the divine command contradicted the divine promise. Faith stood against faith, and command against promise. Thus God said to him: "Go from your country, from your kindred, and from your father’s house... for all the land... I will give to you and to your offspring forever" (Gen 12:1; 13:15). Yet He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s breadth.

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

Do you see the contradiction of the commands to the promise? He commanded what was contrary to the promises. Yet the righteous man was not troubled, nor did he think himself deceived.

But you, says the Apostle, cannot say that He promised you rest and sent affliction. Toward you He does exactly what He promised. How so? "In the world," He said, "you will have tribulation" (Jn 16:33). And again: "He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me" (Mt 10:38). Again: "He who saves his life 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). And 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 there are afflictions, while 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, nor did he think himself deceived.

You, however, endure nothing foreign to the promise, and yet you are troubled. He heard from the very One who promised things contrary to what had been promised. He was not troubled, but fulfilled them as being in harmony with the promise.

Indeed, they were in harmony. They were contrary to human thoughts, but in harmony with faith. The Apostle himself explained how this was so, saying: "He considered that God was able even to raise from the dead."

The meaning of his words is this. By the same faith through which he believed that God would give him a son when he had none, by that same faith he was persuaded that God would raise even the dead, and would raise the slain.

Both things were equally wondrous, that is, according to human reasoning. It was wondrous that a son should be born from a womb already dead, aged, and incapable of bearing children. It was also wondrous that one slain should rise again.

Yet he believed. His former faith guided him toward faith in what was still 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 happens: grief comes first, and pleasure afterward.

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

If Abraham believed so many years beforehand that God was able to raise from the dead, much more must we believe this. Do you see that, as I said above, even before death entered, God stirred up in the patriarchs the hope of resurrection?

He brought them to such conviction that, at His command, they offered in sacrifice their sons, through whom they hoped to fill the world. They slew them with readiness.

The Apostle also expresses something else here in the words: "God tested Abraham" (Gen 22:1). What then? 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, and make his courage manifest to all.

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

But in Abraham’s case, what need was there to devise temptations that did not exist? It is clear that this temptation was by His command. Other temptations occur by His permission, but this one was 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 bear everything courageously.

The Apostle spoke with emphasis here: "By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac." There was no other cause for offering Isaac except this. Then he unfolds the same thought further.

No one, he says, can claim that Abraham had another son and expected the fulfillment of the promise from him, and therefore boldly offered Isaac. "Having the promise," he says, "he offered up his only-begotten."

How was he "only-begotten"? What about Ishmael? From where did he come? I call him only-begotten, he says, in relation to the promise. Therefore, after saying "only-begotten," he adds, to show that this is why he so calls him: "of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your seed be named,’" that is, from him.

Do you see how wonderful the patriarch’s deed is? He had been told: "Through Isaac shall your seed be named," and yet he offered his son in sacrifice.

Then, lest anyone should think that he did this in despair, and that by accepting such a command he abandoned his former faith, the Apostle shows the opposite. He was convinced that this deed too was truly an act of faith.

The Apostle says that here also he had faith. Though this faith seemed at first sight to contradict the former one, Abraham 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 is able even to raise from the dead. For this reason he also received him in a figure, that is, in a type, in the ram.

How so? Isaac was saved by the sacrifice of the ram. Thus he received his son in exchange for the ram, having sacrificed the former instead of the latter. This was a certain foreshadowing. Here the Son of God, being slain in sacrifice, was prefigured.

And observe how great is God’s love for mankind. Since He was going to grant men a great grace, He wished to do this not as a mere gift, but as though He were a debtor.

He ordered events so that first a man gave his own son at God’s command. Thus it would not seem a great thing that He Himself should give His own Son, after a man had done this before Him.

Nor would people think that He does this merely as a gift, but also as a debt. When we love someone, we strive to grant him even this: that it seem as though we first received some small thing from him, and then gave him everything.

We boast not so much of what we gave, as of what we received from him. 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 in a figure, that is, in a type, since the ram was a parable of Isaac, or a figure. Since the sacrifice had been completed, and Isaac had been slain in Abraham’s intention, God also gave him back to the patriarch.

Do you see how from this too the truth I constantly teach is revealed? When we make our mind perfect and show that we despise earthly things, then God gives us even earthly things, but not before.

He does this so that, while we are attached to earthly goods, we may not become still more attached to them after receiving them. First free yourself from slavery, He says, and then receive. Then you will 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.

Then, when you receive, you will receive not as a prisoner or slave, but as a free man. We act this way with little children. When a child strongly desires childish toys, we carefully hide them from him.

We hide, for example, a ball or something else, so that he will not be distracted from necessary lessons. But when he pays no attention to them and does not desire them, then we give them without fear.

We know that no harm will come to him from this, and that the game will not be able to turn him away from necessary things. So also God deals with us.

When He sees that we do not desire earthly goods, He permits us to use them. For then we possess them as free persons 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, will 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 would be great among you must be your servant." And again: "He who humbles himself will be exalted" (Mt 20:26; 23:12).

What are you saying? If I give drink to my enemy, do I punish him? If I distribute my property, do I possess it? If I humble myself, do I become exalted?

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

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

Is it any wonder that this happens in such matters, when the same occurs in everything else? When you harm another, then you harm yourself. When others harm you, then you suffer no harm.

When you take revenge, then you avenge not another, but yourself. The Wise One says: "He who loves injustice 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. Many know this in part. Sometimes they say to one another, "Let us leave here, so that we do not disgrace ourselves." Why?

Because there is a great difference between you, the one insulting, and him, the one insulted. Whatever insults you inflict on him turn 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 act with hostility toward one who wears the purple, the insults directed at him would return upon ourselves.

By blaming him, we ourselves become worthy of blame. Tell me, what do your words mean? Being a citizen of heaven, and possessing 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 authority, he does not know your good. Do not lower yourself by insulting him. Spare yourself, not him. Pay honor to yourself, not to him.

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

Listen to 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 has cheated you through greed, do not do the same. If he has insulted you, do not insult him. Tell me, I ask you: if some poor man took a piece of mud lying in your courtyard, would you drag him to court for this?

No. Why? So that you would not disgrace yourself, and so that everyone would not condemn you. So it is here also.

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.

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.