Hebrews 3:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Intending to describe His advantages in comparison with Moses, the Apostle speaks about the law concerning the priesthood, because everyone held a high opinion of Moses.

Here he already indicates the seeds of this superiority. Yet he begins with the flesh and then passes to the Divinity, in regard to which there could be no comparison.

Beginning to compare them according to the flesh, he says: “as also Moses in all His house.” He does not immediately prove Christ’s superiority over Moses, lest the hearers recoil and at once stop their ears.

Although they were believers, in their soul they were still much devoted to Moses.

Intending to describe Christ’s advantages over Moses, the Apostle speaks about the high priesthood. He says that the people were entrusted to both, but to Christ in a greater way.

At first he does not show Christ’s superiority, lest they turn away. For although they were faithful, they were still devoted to Moses.

For the moment he likens the Lord to him, saying that He also is faithful to the Father, who appointed Him High Priest and Apostle. Here the discourse is not about essence, but about stewardship.

“Faithful” means benevolent, interceding for those who belong to the Father, and not allowing them to perish, but instead seeking their salvation.

It is evident that, in teaching that the created and the Creator must not be honored equally, he in no way allows the Son to be ranked with created things. For, he says, the one who built the house has greater honor than the house.

Who, then, made all things? Let the same one who spoke concerning the Son say again: "For by Him were created things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things" (Col 1:16-17).

How, then, can the Creator be among created things? If time itself is included among all things, as one of them, and He is before all things, then it is evident that the Son is older than time.

And He, Jesus Christ, was faithful to Him who made, or appointed, Him High Priest, not in the Holy of Holies, but over all that is in heaven and on earth. He was faithful as Moses was faithful in all his entrance into the inner Holy of Holies (Num 12:7).

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.

"Being faithful to Him who appointed Him." He was devoted to the Father and of one mind with Him, who made Him Apostle and High Priest. That is, the Father was well pleased to send Him to teach us the faith and to appoint Him High Priest to offer sacrifice for us. "As also Moses in all His house." That is, as Moses was faithful. For in the Book of Numbers it is written: "And the Lord said, Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house" (Num 12:7). Just as the church is not only an inanimate temple but also the assembly of the faithful, so here the house of God is not only the tabernacle but also the assembly of the people.

"Being faithful to Him who appointed Him." Jesus Christ is compared first with Moses, then with Aaron, beginning at Heb 4:14, and in both cases His superiority is shown. As Moses was faithful in all God's house (Num 12:7), that is, a trusted person, guardian of the whole Old Testament Church, and caretaker of God's people, so Christ was appointed, rather than created, over the whole Church of God and over all men.

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.

Further, it is useful for the Hebrews to take into consideration that Moses, according to God’s own testimony (see Num 12:7), was faithful in his ministry, which embraced the whole Old Testament Church of God, the house of God.

So also Jesus, as Apostle and High Priest, is faithful, pistos, that is, firm and constant, both in the past and in the present. He is the eternal High Priest and intercessor for us before God.

God made Him the Apostle and High Priest of our faith; poiein tina means to give someone a definite historical significance.

Having thus invited his readers to attention in relation to Christ, the Apostle sets forth special reasons for this for his readers, the Hebrews.