Hebrews 13:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He is one and the same, and He was before, He is, and He will be unto the ages. Even now the Jews say that another Christ will come. Having rejected the One who came, they will surrender themselves to the Antichrist. [...] “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and unto the ages.” The meaning of these words is this: do not think that Christ, who then worked miracles, does not work miracles now. He is the same. And if He is the same, there is no time when He cannot do the same. Perhaps the Apostle had this in view also when he said, “Remember your leaders” (Heb 13:7).

Son of Man (Jn 3:18), both through Adam and through the Virgin, from whom He was born. He was born from the one as forefather, from the other as Mother, both according to the law and beyond the laws of birth. Christ, according to the Godhead, because the anointing itself sanctifies the humanity, not by its activity as in other anointed ones, but by the whole presence of the Anointer. The result of this anointing is that the Anointer is called man, and what is anointed becomes God. Way (Jn 14:6), as leading us through Himself. Door (Jn 10:9), as the One who brings us in. Shepherd (Jn 10:11), as the One who settles us in green pastures, nourishes us by still waters (Ps 22:2), leads us from here, and protects us from beasts. He turns back the one who has gone astray, seeks the one who is lost, binds up the one who is broken, guards the strong (Ezek 34:4), and gathers them into the fold beyond by the teachings of the shepherd’s art. Sheep (Isa 53:7), as the sacrifice. Lamb (1 Pet 1:19), as perfect. High Priest (Heb 4:14), as granting us access. Melchizedek (Heb 7:3), as born without mother according to the nature higher than ours, and without father according to our nature. He has no genealogy according to the birth from above, for it is said, “Who shall declare His generation?” (Isa 53:8). He is king of Salem, that is, of peace. He is king of righteousness, and He receives tithes from the patriarchs, who fought manfully against the evil powers. You have before you the names of the Son. Walk by them. If they are lofty, walk in a divine manner. If they are bodily, walk as one of like passions. Better yet, walk wholly in a divine manner, that you also may become god, having ascended from earth through Him who came down from above for our sake. Above all and before all, observe what has been said, and you will not err in the lofty and lowly names. Jesus Christ, yesterday and today bodily, the same spiritually and unto ages of ages. Amen.

But since, while disputing with those who hold the teaching of the Church, they hear from them of the true and only Word of the Father, the heretics dare to say such things about Him.

Has anyone seen a teaching more abominable than this? Whoever hears even this, though he may be able to refute them, will surely be indignant and stop his ears.

He will be amazed at the new expressions they utter and that he hears, expressions filled with blasphemy in themselves and in their very utterance.

If the Word is changeable and can pass into various states, where will He stop? What will be the end of His growth?

How can one who is changeable be like the Unchangeable? How will one who has seen the changeable think that he has seen the Unchangeable?

Into what state must He come in order for the Father to be seen in Him? Clearly, a man will not always see the Father in Him, because the Son is constantly changing and has a nature that does not remain in one state.

The Father is unchangeable and does not pass into different states, for He is always the same and always one and the same.

But if the Son, according to them, is changeable and not always the same, and by nature is constantly in a new state, how can He in such a condition be the image of the Father?

How can He be this if He does not have in Himself the likeness of unchangeableness? And, in general, how does He abide in the Father if He has a wavering will?

Perhaps, since He is changeable and progresses from day to day, even now He is still imperfect. But let such Arian madness perish, and let the truth shine forth, so that their folly may be exposed.

For how will He be imperfect Who is equal to God? Or how will He be changeable Who is one with the Father, Who is the proper Son of His essence?

Since the Father's essence is unchangeable, its proper Offspring will also be unchangeable. If this is so, and they falsely ascribe changeability to the Word, let them learn to what danger their word leads them.

The tree is known by its fruit. Therefore he who has seen the Son has seen the Father, and the knowledge of the Son is the knowledge of the Father.

Therefore the Image of the unchangeable God will be unchangeable. For "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and unto the ages."

David, singing of Him, says, "In the beginning Thou, O Lord, didst lay the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest. They all shall grow old like a garment, and like clothing Thou shalt fold them up, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail" (Ps 101:26-28).

The Lord Himself says of Himself through the prophet, "See, see that I am He" (Deut 32:39), and "I do not change" (Mal 3:6).

Although someone may say that this should be understood of the Father, it is also fitting for the Son to say this of Himself.

This is especially so because, having become man, He shows His sameness and His unchangeableness to those who think that by receiving flesh He changed and became something else.

The saints, and still more the Lord, are more worthy of trust than the evil thinking of the ungodly.

In the passage just cited from the psalm, Scripture understands by heaven and earth all that has been created. It calls every creature and its nature changeable and mutable.

By excluding the Son from this, Scripture shows that He is not created at all. Rather, by Him everything else is changed.

It also teaches that He is not changed, saying, "But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail" (Ps 101:28).

This is just. Created beings come from nothing and did not exist until they were created. Because they come from nothing into being, they have a changeable nature.

But this Son is from the Father and belongs properly to His essence. He is unchangeable and immutable, as the Father Himself is.

It is impossible to say that from an unchangeable Essence there is begotten a changeable Word and a changeable Wisdom.

For why is He still Word, if He is changeable? And why is He still Wisdom, if He is subject to alteration?

Unless they want this to be something accidental in the essence, as in some indivisible being there may accidentally be some disposition and capacity for virtue.

Then this is what has been called Word, Son, and Wisdom, and for that reason it may be taken away from this being or added to it.

They have often expressed such speculations, but this is not the Christian faith. It does not show that there is the true Word of God and the true Son of God.

It does not show that Wisdom is true Wisdom. For how can what is changeable, passing through different states and not remaining the same, be true?

But the Lord says of Himself, "I am the truth" (Jn 14:6).

If the Lord Himself says this of Himself and shows His unchangeableness, and the saints, having learned the same, bear witness to it, then piety also recognizes it from the very notion of God.

From where, then, did the ungodly borrow and invent this? Therefore they have vomited it forth from their heart, as from an infected member.