Hebrews 12:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking," that is, do not disobey.

"For if they did not escape when they refused Him who spoke on earth."

Whom does he mean here? It seems to me that he means Moses. The sense of his words is this: if they did not escape punishment when they disobeyed the one who commanded on earth, how can we disobey the One who commands from heaven?

Here he does not mean that there was one lawgiver there and another here. Certainly not. He does not point to one there and another here, but says that the One who speaks from heaven is fearful.

Though the same One is present both there and here, He is especially fearful as He speaks here. The Apostle speaks of a difference not in persons, but in gifts.

From where is this clear? From his following words: "If they did not escape when they refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven."

"See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking."

Do not refuse Him through unbelief in His promises and through despair. And who is the One speaking, if not Christ? For if His Blood speaks, much more does He Himself speak.

"For if they did not escape when they refused Him who spoke on earth."

What did they not escape? Punishment and destruction. By "Him who spoke on earth" he means Moses, or also God, who came down from heaven but spoke on earth through Moses.

For on Mount Sinai He spoke, that is, He conversed, reasoned, and established all things.

"Much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven."

That is, from Christ, who prophesies from heaven. After His Ascension He gave us the law through the Spirit.

Through the course of the ages there have been two celebrated transformations of human life, called the two covenants and, according to the well-known saying of Scripture, shakings of the earth (Hag 2:6-7).

One led from idols to the Law (cf. Ex 20:3-5), and the other from the Law to the Gospel (cf. Mt 27:51; Heb 9:3-15; Gal 2:14).

I also proclaim a third shaking, the passage from what is here to what is there, which is unshaken and immovable.

But the same thing happened with both covenants. What was it? They were not introduced suddenly, nor at the first undertaking of the matter.

Why? We needed to know that we are not compelled, but persuaded. For what is not voluntary is not lasting, just as a stream or a plant is held by force only for a short time.

What is voluntary is stronger and more secure. The first belongs to the one who uses force, but the latter is properly ours. The first belongs to coercive power, but the latter to God's justice.

See that you are not led astray by heretical sects, and do not reject Him who speaks. For if those who refused and begged that He speak through Moses could not escape Him who gave the law on earth, much more shall we be liable to condemnation if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven. He means either the voice from heaven at the River Jordan, "This is My beloved Son" (cf. Mt 3:17), or Him who spoke with him, the Apostle, on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4).

Since they said, "You speak with us, and let not God speak to us" (Ex 20:19), the Apostle commands believers not to imitate the coarseness of their fathers. They must not, like them, leave the Master or flee to the servant. They must not choose Moses instead of God, nor remain with the old instead of the new. Moreover, he says, God gave them the law not from heaven, but on Mount Sinai, while we await the Master's coming from heaven. And to teach that the Lawgiver of both the old and the new is one, the Apostle adds:

"See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking."

Do not refuse Christ, who offers you His teaching through the Gospel and moves you to keep His commandments, to believe the promised rewards, and to endure.

Do not refuse Him through unbelief or despair, which are produced by faintheartedness and idleness.

"For if they did not escape when they refused Him who prophesied on earth, much more shall we not escape if we refuse Him from heaven."

For if the Hebrews of that time refused God, who was giving the law on Mount Sinai, and that mountain was on earth, saying, "Let not God speak with us" (Ex 20:18), as has already been said, they did not escape destruction.

Then the Apostle again turns to exhortation. He persuades his readers not to grieve Him who spoke to the Israelites on earth, that is, on Sinai, and thereby founded only a transitory kingdom.

Now He speaks to us from heaven. That is, He founded and confirms through Christ an eternal kingdom of heavenly character.

If Israel, having refused to receive the law directly, when it was proclaimed with a great voice, could not avoid submission to Him who declared His will on earth, much more shall we not avoid submission to Him who speaks Himself from heaven.

This remains true even if we should refuse to hear Him, that is, Christ (Heb 12:25).