Hebrews 3:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

When Paul began to speak about the flesh, he then says of Him all that is lowly, without any fear. See precisely what he says next. "Therefore," he says, "holy brethren." He uses "therefore" in place of "for this reason." "Partakers of the heavenly calling." Therefore seek nothing here if you have been called there, for there is the reward; there is the recompense. What then follows? "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ."

"Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling." "Therefore" means: after I have said that He is such a High Priest, faithful and merciful toward our sins, and able to help, consider, and you will find that this is entirely so. He said, "partakers of the heavenly calling," that is, we have been called there, and we must seek nothing here. There is the reward; there is the recompense. What follows? "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ." Because of the flesh, everything lowly is said, as often happens. The Apostle speaks this way because He was sent to the sheep of the house of Israel. "High Priest of our confession" means of our faith, for He is High Priest not of the service under the Law, but of our faith.

See Heb 7:22.

Again, in the Proverbs of the wise Solomon, He is created, for it is said, “The Lord created Me” (Prov 8:22). Yet the one named the beginning of the evangelical ways that lead us to the Kingdom of Heaven is not one who is a creature in essence.

It is He who became the way according to the divine economy. For this is what the words “to become” and “to be created” express.

Thus He became the way, and the door, and the shepherd, and the angel, and the lamb, and again the High Priest and Apostle. For one or another name is given to Him in one or another respect.

Therefore, holy brethren, beloved, partakers of the calling, not of the Law given on Mount Sinai, but of the heavenly calling, that is, the promise given to Abraham from heaven, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. For our confession is offered by Him to God, as a sacrifice by a high priest.

Again the Apostle called Him High Priest and Apostle as man. For if He were High Priest also as God, He would have been so even before becoming man.

That He became the Apostle of our confession after becoming man, the Apostle taught in the Epistle to the Galatians. He says: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman” (Gal 4:4).

He did not say, “He sent Him to be born of a woman,” but “He sent Him, born of a woman.” From this it is clear that the word “sending” corresponds to His becoming man.

By “our confession” he meant the faith. By “making” he named not creation, but ordination. For he says, “being faithful to Him who made Him,” that is, who made Him Apostle and High Priest.

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” For God calls you to Himself from heaven, and calls you to the heavenly height.

“Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ.” Understand Him carefully.

He called Christ Apostle because He was sent to us. He called Him “High Priest of our confession” as the author of perfect faith in God and as the one who, like the high priests of the Old Testament, offers sacrifice to God the Father.

"Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession," τὸν Άπόστολον καὶ ‘Αρχιερέα. The title Apostle is applied to Jesus Christ in the sense that God the Father sent Him for the salvation of men (Jn 3:17), and in particular for the salvation of the Jews (Mt 15:24). The title High Priest means an intercessor before God for men. The Apostle did not apply these titles to Jesus Christ without intention. He wished to show the Jews that Christ unites in His person two offices which belonged to Moses and Aaron, the chief founders of Old Testament worship.

Beginning to explain the incomparable dignity of Christ, the Apostle starts with a comparison between Him and Moses. In this case the Apostle descends to the viewpoint of the Jews, who revered no one as much as Moses.

Moses was their supreme leader, the extraordinary messenger of God, and the mediator of the old covenant. By naming Christ both Apostle and High Priest, the Apostle suggests that Christ united in Himself the dignity of His types, Moses and Aaron.

The outward splendor surrounding the dignity of the great high priest in the old covenant, as well as the glory of Moses, might distract the Hebrews from Jesus Christ.

"Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ" (Heb 3:1). This is the greeting and instruction of the holy Apostle Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, which we have heard in today's church reading.

But before I occupy your attention with this apostolic greeting and instruction, "magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Ps 33:4). Let us also say with the Apostle Paul: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort" (2 Cor 1:3).

Was this temple not built and adorned by His mercies? Was it not sanctified by His grace? Is it not His comfort that has been granted us today, in solemn prayers, "that we may be mutually comforted by the common faith, both yours and mine" (Rom 1:12)?

Remembering also the mercies of the brethren who helped in the building and good ordering of this temple, I thank those who bear fruit and do good in this holy and all-venerable temple. I thank God for them, and I call down upon them first "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Eph 1:3), and then earthly blessings according to the needs of temporal life.

Together with this, I invite both them and all of you to recognize God's mercies even in your own God-pleasing generosity. What do human intentions mean without God's blessing? What do human actions mean without God's help and assistance? "Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain" (Ps 126:1), says the clear-sighted observer of God's ways.

After the generous royal and national offerings for the building of the temple, King David confessed before God with humble joy: "Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer these things willingly to You? For all things are Yours, and of Your own have we given You" (1 Chr 29:14).

And if, according to the word of the Lord, "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), and if one who gives his neighbor what is needed has in this a certain blessedness, then consider how much greater a blessedness God grants you. By His providence He arranges for you the possibility, and by His grace He breathes into you the zeal, to give something from your possessions to Him Himself and to His holy temple.

Do not flatter yourself with thoughts of your power, superiority, or virtue. With David, joyfully and humbly confess before God: "Who am I? For all things are Yours, and of Your own have we given You."

I turn to the apostolic greeting and instruction.

"Holy brethren" (Heb 3:1). Whom does holy Paul call so lovingly, and at the same time so respectfully? Will you believe that he calls you? Or will you say that the Apostle Paul never saw you, never conversed with you, and never wrote letters to you?

It is true that St. Paul first addressed the Hebrews who had believed in Christ when he wrote the words we have cited. But God appointed him an Apostle not for the Hebrews alone, but for all nations, all times, and all the Churches of Christ. He himself says of himself: "I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish" (Rom 1:14). That is, he must preach the saving teaching to all nations, and to people of every kind and rank.

Therefore, when he addressed a word of instruction to Christians from among the Hebrews, the Holy Spirit, acting in him, extended through him the word of instruction to all Christians of all nations, all times, and all Churches, and consequently to you. So there is no doubt that, among others, the Apostle also calls you by the dear name of "brethren" and the exalted name of "holy."

If we say that we are worthy of neither name, we speak the truth. It would be a great mercy if St. Paul called us children, as he called the Galatian Christians when he wrote to them: "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you" (Gal 4:19).

Do we dare count ourselves brothers of the Apostle? Do we dare be called holy, when, according to the word of another Apostle, "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn 1:8)?

One may think that St. Paul foresaw these perplexities. To remove them, he added to his summons, "holy brethren," another phrase that explains it: "partakers of the heavenly calling" (Heb 3:1).

By "heavenly calling" he means God's calling of men in Christ to heavenly eternal blessedness. We become partakers of this calling through faith in Christ and holy baptism. Since all who believe in Christ are children of God, as St. John the Theologian says, "as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" (Jn 1:12), it is clear and certain that all believers, or otherwise all partakers of the heavenly calling, all Christians from the first to the last, are brethren. They are brethren not according to the flesh, not according to earthly kinship, but according to grace and heavenly kinship, as children of the heavenly Father and children of Mother Church.

Since all who have received Christian baptism in the Church have received in it cleansing from sins and sanctification, according to what is said: "Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify her. Having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Eph 5:25-26), it is also worthy of acceptance that all we who believe, have been baptized, and are partakers of the heavenly calling, must by the power of faith, by the gift of grace, and by the action of baptism be "holy brethren."

I have not been brief in considering the apostolic greeting. I did this not only so that you might understand it rightly and apply it to yourselves, but also so that you might discern how the greeting itself already gives us instruction.

The great Apostle, filled with the Holy Spirit, who while still walking on earth had reached the third heaven, descends and draws near to us. He enters friendship and kinship with us, caresses and magnifies us with the names of brethren, holy ones, and participants in one heavenly calling with him.

Likewise the other Apostles call us now "brethren" (Jas 2:1), now "beloved" (1 Jn 4:1). The Prophets, the Martyrs, and all the Saints are ready to call us brethren, if only we do not reject this kinship by our deeds.

More than this, the Apostle assures us that the Only-begotten Son of God Himself "is not ashamed to call" us "brethren" (Heb 2:11). What, then, shall we do? Shall we be insensible to such goodness, such condescension, such honor, such love?

Shall we not hasten to stand firmly in the rank to which we are already being raised? If we are unworthy of this, shall we wish to remain unworthy when we are already being counted worthy? Shall we not be zealous for the holiness already ascribed to us, since its pledge and firstfruits were given to us in baptism?

Let us not be so ungrateful, so unreasonable, so ill-disposed toward ourselves. Brethren of the saints, let us not be slaves of sin. "Let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor 7:1). Partakers of the heavenly calling, let us be attentive to this calling and diligently follow it, by the path of God's law, by the path of the evangelical and apostolic teaching, and by the path of the example of the Saints.

On this occasion we have from the Apostle a teaching that is brief, yet very instructive and essentially necessary for salvation. "Consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ" (Heb 3:1).

What does it mean to "consider" Jesus Christ? Does it mean simply to know Him initially, or only by name? But did the Apostle need to speak of this, when we become and are called Christians precisely because we have some, even if initial, knowledge of Jesus Christ?

Does it mean to understand Jesus Christ fully and perfectly, as we know certain natural objects or human sciences? But this is impossible, because Jesus Christ is incomprehensible not only in His divine essence, but also in the mystery of His becoming man.

Therefore we must suppose that the apostolic teaching points us to something between these extremes. We must actively exercise ourselves and make progress in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must not dare to investigate His incomprehensibility, yet we must not be content to know Him only by name, superficially and coldly.

Consider Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, consubstantial with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, true God, almighty, all-good, and all-wise. Nourish your faith with the life-giving assurance that, as almighty, He is wholly able; as all-good, He wholly desires; as all-wise, He has at hand perfect means to arrange for us both temporal good and eternal blessedness.

Consider Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who took upon Himself not only our nature but also our infirmities, "tempted in all things according to our likeness, yet without sin" (Heb 4:15). Strengthen your hope by the apostolic reasoning that, "because He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to help" us "who are tempted" (Heb 2:18).

Consider Jesus Christ, the God-man, who in one Person united the divine and human natures indivisibly and without confusion. Be comforted by the thought that here the edges of the abyss, which divided sinful man from God, meet. Man's original communion with God is restored in a perfection greater than before.

Through the deified humanity of Christ, all other humanity is also given "all things of divine power that pertain to life and piety" (2 Pet 1:3), and the heavenly Father draws all to Himself for salvation, life, and glory. Do not only be comforted by this thought. Open your hearts to receive grace and divine powers, and resist earthly attractions, so that you may actively follow the attraction of the heavenly Father.

Consider Jesus Christ, the Apostle of our confession. He is incomparably higher than all messengers of God, not only earthly ones, such as Moses and the Prophets, but also heavenly ones, such as the Angels, "sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Heb 1:14).

He proclaimed the divine confession of the Godhead, revealed mysteries hidden from the ages and unknown even to Angels, and taught the most perfect doctrine of life and salvation. Such knowledge of the Apostle of our confession should dispose us to hold firmly to the confession of faith He proclaimed, to receive His teaching with thirsty hearing and a hungry heart, and not only to hear His words but also to do them.

Consider Jesus Christ, the High Priest of our confession, the great High Priest not according to the temporary order of Aaron, but according to the eternal order of Melchizedek. He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins on the altar of the Cross, and by this "one offering perfected forever" all "who are being sanctified" (Heb 10:14).

Yet for each of them He arranges and prepares everywhere and daily, on the mystical altar, participation in that same saving sacrifice. He passed through the heavens, and there "at the right hand of God" the Father He continually "intercedes for us" (Rom 8:34). From there He sent, and sends, to His Church the Holy Spirit, who fills all things with creative power, and especially fills the Church of Christ with the power of grace.

With such an understanding of the priesthood of Christ, the feeling expressed by the Church's hymn in relation to the temple should be clear to you: "Standing in the temple of Your glory, we think ourselves standing in heaven." For the Church, like heaven, is filled with the divine.

In her prayers, the Holy Spirit "intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Rom 8:26). In the Gospel, Christ speaks to us. On the altar, Christ appears in His Body and Blood, with the remembrance of His sufferings, death, and resurrection, and offers us divine food.

In the mystery of baptism we are clothed with Christ. In the mystery of chrismation the Holy Spirit sets His seal. In the hierarchy and priesthood the Holy Spirit appoints and acts.

Having proved that Christ is higher than the Angels, the founders of the Old Testament, and that therefore the New Testament is higher than the Old already in respect of its foundation, the Apostle next considers Christ as mediator of the New Testament.

He compares Him with the mediator through whom the Hebrews received the Old Testament, namely Moses.

Since the Apostle has already said that through the Incarnation Christ became our brother, our Sanctifier, and our reliable intercessor, he now addresses Christians and calls them holy brethren.