Hebrews 4:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

“Let us hold fast our confession.” He does not ascribe everything to the High Priest, but requires participation from us also. He is able, but on condition that we too show ourselves worthy. What confession does he speak of here? That there is a resurrection, that there is recompense and innumerable blessings there, and that Christ is God. Let us then hold fast this confession. Let us not allow it to dry up within us. What we confessed at the beginning of faith, let us keep firmly, and everything fearful will disappear.

For it is said: "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (Jn 1:29). Yet even to those who love dispute, it is plain that these are human names.

If some have taken them as names of the Godhead, let them also call Him "a curse" (Gal 3:13), "the form of a servant" (Phil 2:7), and everything of that kind.

But if none of these names is proper to the divine nature, then it remains to understand them as names according to the divine economy. Just as He is said to have become man by assuming human nature, so He is called our High Priest insofar as He is man.

The apostolic sayings also teach us this. For the Apostle shows that Christ passed through the "heavens." Yet the Godhead of the Master Christ has an uncircumscribed nature.

It is everywhere and present to all things. The Master Himself taught us this, for He says, "No one has ascended into heaven but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven" (Jn 3:13).

Thus, when He was below and conversed with men, He said that He was also above. Therefore we ought to know that some names belong to theology and others to the teaching concerning the divine economy.

The divine Apostle showed us that our great High Priest first entered the true rest and became higher than the heavens. He then commands us to hold fast the confession.

By "confession" he means our faith. For we confess that we believe not only in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but also in the resurrection of the dead, eternal life, and the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Church, following in the footsteps of the Apostles, beholds in the Master Christ both perfect divinity and perfect humanity.

He assumed a body, not because He needed a body, but so that through it He might grant immortality to all other bodies. In the same way, He also assumed a soul that governs the body.

He did this so that through it every soul might become a partaker of unchangeability. For souls, though immortal, are not unchangeable, but are subject to many and frequent changes, delighting now in one thing and then in another.

For this reason we sin, turning aside from the right path and becoming attached to what is worse. After the resurrection, bodies will enjoy immortality and incorruption, and souls will enjoy impassibility and unchangeability.

For this reason, having assumed a body and a soul, the Only-begotten Son of God preserved them free from every vice and offered them in sacrifice for the human race.

For this reason He is called High Priest (Heb 4:14), not as God, but as man. He Himself offered the sacrifice as man, and He received it together with the Father and the Holy Spirit as God.

If only Adam's body had sinned, then it alone would have needed healing. But since the soul sinned not only together with it, but even before it, it was certainly just to heal the soul also.

For first the reasoning depicts the sin, and then, in accordance with this, the sin is committed through the body. Yet perhaps it is unnecessary to prove this by arguments from reason, when divine Scripture proclaims it clearly.

The divine David and the still more divine Peter expressly teach this. The former foretells it in advance, and the latter explains the prophecy.

The first of the Apostles speaks thus: "Being a prophet, David knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that from the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.

He foresaw and spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption" (Acts 2:30-31; cf. 2 Sam 7:12; Ps 131:11; 15:10).

In these few words he taught us many things at once. First, the assumed nature traces its lineage from the loins of David.

Second, the Son of God assumed not only a body, but also an immortal soul. Moreover, He delivered over to death what He had received from us, and then raised it again, as He willed.

This is His own saying: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (Jn 2:19). We also know that the divine nature is immortal.

For what was passible suffered, while what was impassible remained impassible. God the Word was incarnate not in order to show the impassible nature as passible, but to grant impassibility to the passible nature through suffering.

The Lord Himself speaks in the holy Gospels in one place thus: "I have authority to lay down My soul, and I have authority to take it again. No one takes it from Me.

I lay it down of Myself, that I may take it again" (Jn 10:18, 17). In another place He says, "For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My soul for the sheep" (Jn 10:15, 17).

Again He says, "Now My soul is troubled" (Jn 12:27). Elsewhere He says, "My soul is sorrowful unto death" (Mt 26:38).

Concerning His body He says, "The bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (Jn 6:51).

When He handed down the divine Mysteries, He broke the symbol, the bread, and distributed it. He added, "This is My body, broken for you for the remission of sins" (Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22; Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24).

Again He said, "This is My blood, shed for many for the remission of sins" (Mt 26:28). And again, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you."

And again: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life in himself" (Jn 6:53-54).

Many other similar passages may be found in both the Old and the New Testament. They prove the assumption of both body and soul, and likewise that the body and soul of Jesus Christ trace their lineage from Abraham and David.

Joseph of Arimathea came to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. The four holy Gospels clearly teach us how Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and committed it to the tomb (Mt 27:57; Mk 15:43; Lk 23:52; Jn 19:38).

Cf. Eranistes, dialogue III: Migne, PG 83, col. 225, p. 179.

He passed through the heavens when, after His resurrection from the dead, He ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of God the Father (Mk 16:19). God the Father Himself foretold this, saying through the Prophets: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand” (Ps 109:1). The angels also proclaimed this: “This Jesus, Who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). The Apostles saw with their own eyes that “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). Since the Apostle had spoken above of the rest of the Israelites in the land of promise, which was a type of the heavenly rest of those who believe in Christ, he also said that this word, that is, the divine promise of rest, did not profit the Israelites because they did not believe in Him. “But the word heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Heb 4:2). Therefore, having taught that Christ has already ascended into the heavenly rest, he commands, “Let us hold fast the confession.” That is, let us preserve unshaken and firm faith in this, believing and confessing that there will be the rest of eternal life and the immortal kingdom. Let us confess also everything that faith in Christ teaches. For if we do not hold fast this confession, we shall not enter the true rest of blessedness, just as the unbelieving Israelites did not ascend into the typological rest of the promised land. Rather, their “bones fell in the wilderness” (Heb 3:17). In the following words he presents the compassion and mercy of Christ the High Priest, saying: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (v. 15).

Third, passing on to Christ’s higher high priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, the Apostle first makes a reservation about his difficulty in discussing this exalted subject. He reproachfully refers to the childish immaturity of the Hebrews and fears even the complete falling away of some from Christ. At the same time, he strengthens faith and awakens hope in those who waver (Heb 5:1-9). Third again, passing on to Christ’s higher high priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, the Apostle first makes a reservation about his difficulty in discussing this exalted subject. He reproachfully refers to the childish immaturity of the Hebrews and fears even the complete falling away of some from Christ. At the same time, he strengthens faith and awakens hope in those who waver (Heb 5:9-6:20). Fourth, after these reproving exhortations, the Apostle explains Christ’s most excellent high priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek (Heb 7). Fifth, he finally explains the superiority of the covenant itself, of which Jesus Christ was High Priest. The surpassing features of Christ’s extraordinary high priesthood are these: “Having then a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:14-16). What, then, are the most excellent features of Christ’s high priesthood in comparison with the Old Covenant? First, the high priests of the Old Testament were all equal among themselves. They had precedence only over the priests who assisted them in performing priestly duties. Christ, however, is the only One exalted above all other high priests, the great High Priest. Second, He is the High Priest who has passed through the heavens. That is, He presented Himself as a sacrifice for men to the very throne of the heavenly Father, and sat forever at His right hand. The other high priests had only one privilege: to enter the Holy of Holies with sacrificial blood beyond the veil of the earthly sanctuary, and that only once a year. Third, Jesus, the great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, is the Son of God, consubstantial and coeternal with God the Father. The other high priests, however, were mortal men, born of men like themselves and succeeding them. Fourth, this great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, despite such unattainable majesty, is a High Priest able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in all things like us, except sin, and yet voluntarily took upon Himself the punishment that stood before us for sin. Therefore the Apostle adds: “Let us then approach with boldness the throne of grace,” upon which so compassionate a High Priest sits.

This is the throne of God, from which grace proceeds. For Jesus is, on the other hand, the Son of Man, tempted like us in every respect in which human nature is subject to temptations. Yet this temptation did not bring Him to a fall into sin, χωρίς αμαρτίας. Therefore He is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses.