Hebrews 13:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore he points directly to this when he continues: “it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by foods.” Such teachings are various. Such teachings are strange. Here he condemns superstitious distinction among foods and shows that by such observance they fell into alien belief. They were carried away by various and strange teachings. And note that he does not venture to say this directly, but speaks covertly: “Do not be carried away by various and strange teachings,” and, “it is good that the heart be established by grace. Not by foods.” This is almost the same as what Christ said: “Not what enters the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth defiles a man” (Mt 15:11). He proves that faith is everything. If faith establishes, then the heart is secure. Faith establishes, while reason wavers, because faith is contrary to reason. “Which,” he says, “have not profited those occupied with them.” Tell me, what benefit is there from such distinction? Does it not cause more harm? Does it not cast such a man into sin? If one must beware of anything, it is of what benefits those who beware. It is good to beware of evil, to preserve uprightness of heart, reverence toward God, and right faith. “Which,” he says, “have not profited those occupied with them,” that is, those who have always observed them. One observance is praiseworthy: abstinence from sin. But what benefit is there when some are so unclean that they cannot partake of the sacrifice? Nothing saves them, although they strive to keep themselves from certain foods. This will not help them at all, because they do not have faith.

He alludes to those who introduce a Jewish attachment to foods. Therefore he says that by grace, that is, by faith, we must be established and fully convinced that nothing is unclean. To the believer all things are pure. Therefore faith is needed, not attention to foods. For those occupied with foods, that is, those who always followed strict observance of rules about eating, brought no benefit to the soul. They are foreign to faith and serve as slaves to the useless law. In general, he says, what benefit did they receive from attention to foods, when they were so defiled that they could not participate in the sacrifices?

“From which those who walked in them received no benefit.” Those who walked in them placed their whole order of life in the distinction of these foods. Those who vigilantly watched over their observance received no benefit, either in cleansing the soul from sins or in attaining moral perfection. For he says, “Food does not commend us to God” (1 Cor 8:8). All things are pure by faith, and there is only one defilement: sin. Or else, “they received no benefit” because faith was absent from them, for the discourse here concerns unbelievers. Since the Apostle, by his disregard for such observance, could give occasion to think that we Christians have no such observance at all, he then says that we too have an observance in food, but one far higher than the Jewish. He speaks of the mystical sacrifice of the Lord’s Body.

It deserves this name only because sacrifices are offered on it. What sacrifices, or what sacrifice, are offered on our altar? It is said further that those who serve the shadow, the tabernacle, cannot eat from this altar. It is clear that on this altar something is placed and offered that can be eaten. The Apostle did not say that there is nothing to eat from this altar. He said that not everyone can eat from it. Therefore something edible is offered up to God on it and afterward set before men. Yet only Christians can partake of it. The sacrifice of praise can in no way be called edible. In another epistle the Apostle Paul said, “Those who serve at the altar share in the altar” (1 Cor 9:13). No one will say that they share spiritual sacrifices with the altar or feed on sacrifices of doxology. Here, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, he clearly says that Christians also have an altar. Therefore they offer sacrifices, and these can and must be eaten. Yet they are eaten only by Christians and Christian priests, and by no means by ministers of the Old Testament or ministers of the typological tabernacle. The excellence of this altar, the excellence of the sacrifice offered on it, and of the Food set forth on it, is the reason Christians must not return to the Old Testament foods that brought no benefit. All this firmly establishes the teaching on the Christian altar, on the Eucharistic Sacrifice offered on it, and on the Lord’s Table prepared on it. At the same time the Apostle says “altar,” not “altars,” although we have many altars, just as we have many churches. He uses the singular because the offering performed on Christian altars is the same. For the same reason he also speaks of one Cup, although then, as now, there were no fewer cups than churches (1 Cor 10:16).