Hebrews 4:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Moses, he says, did not enter into rest, but He entered. How this is so I shall explain. Yet it is not surprising that the Apostle nowhere expressed this directly.

Either he included Moses among the others so that the Jews might not think to seek justification for themselves, or he did not speak clearly so that they might not think he was blaming that man.

For if, even when he said nothing of the sort, they accused him of speaking against Moses and the law, they would have accused him much more if he had said that the rest is not Palestine, but heaven.

Yet he does not attribute everything to the High Priest. He also requires some action from us, namely confession.

"Therefore, having," he says, "a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." Of what confession does he speak?

The confession that there is a resurrection, recompense, and countless good things. The confession that Christ is God and that our faith is right. This we must confess, and this we must hold.

The truth of all this is evident from the fact that the High Priest entered heaven (Heb 9:24). Therefore let us confess, lest we fall away.

Although these good things are not here now, let us confess them. If they were present already, they would be a lie.

It is also true that they are deferred, because our High Priest is great. "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses."

He is not ignorant of our condition, as many high priests are. They do not know those who suffer, nor even what suffering is.

Among men, it is impossible for one who has not himself experienced and felt the sufferings of the sufferer to know them. But our High Priest experienced everything.

For this reason He first experienced everything, and then ascended, so that He might be able to suffer with us. "He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin."

As above the Apostle said, "likewise" (Heb 2:14), so here he says, "as we are." That is, He was subjected to persecution, spitting, insults, mockery, slander, exile, and finally crucifixion.

"Tempted in all things according to our likeness, except sin." Here he also suggests something else, namely that it is possible for one who is in affliction to be without sin.

When he says, "in the likeness of flesh," he does not mean that Christ assumed a mere likeness of flesh, but that He assumed flesh.

Why, then, does he say "likeness"? Because he has sinful flesh in mind. His flesh was like our flesh. According to nature it was the same as ours, but with regard to sin it was not the same.

And when He endured these things, He neither said nor did anything sinful. Therefore you also, when in afflictions, can be preserved from sin. Why, then, have you been freed and delivered? Some have understood the phrase “without sin” to mean that He endured this not as one punished for sins.

For us and for our sins. Because of our disobedience to God the Creator, Christ appears obedient to Him even unto death, and death on a cross. Because of our lack of self-restraint, He fasts, endures hunger, and suffers temptations. And what of us? We live from day to day without reflecting on the importance of the Savior’s merits on the Cross. Nor are we especially zealous for our confession of faith. How many Christian deeds have we accomplished in the course of a whole day? Is there in our soul and life a considered rule, constantly and strictly fulfilled, of being useful to every person in every good thing? Such is how Christ showed Himself, and such He was, is, and always will be, granting us grace for timely help. Therefore the holy Church, knowing our weaknesses, omissions, and sloth, sets before us the Cross. Especially in view of the approaching days of Christ’s Passion, she teaches us through the Apostle’s words to be more grateful to God and more attentive to our confession of faith. Today you heard the following: “Having a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Heb 4:14). Our Savior Jesus Christ, being the only Advocate and Mediator between God and man, was indicated from ancient times by the divinely instituted ministry of the high priest among the Jews. Who was the high priest? Among the Jews before the Nativity of Christ, the high priest, or chief priest, was the highest spiritual person. By the will of God he was appointed from one particular family, that of Aaron. Aaron, the brother of Moses, was the first chief priest among the Jews appointed by God. After him, according to God’s command, the eldest of the senior family among Aaron’s descendants ordinarily received the rank of high priest. Thus after Aaron, his son became high priest. The high priest directed all the sacred ministers and sacred rites. He was mediator between God and the Jews.

Nor would God the Father have sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sacrifice for sin (Rom 8:3). But since through the envy of the devil death entered the world, and those of his portion experience it (Wis 2:24), mankind could be freed from captivity in no other way. The work of our salvation had to be taken upon Himself by the One Who, without loss of majesty, became true man, the only One Who knew no sin (2 Cor 5:21). The work of our rebirth by the grace of the Trinity was divided in this way. God the Father received propitiation, God the Son offered the propitiatory sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit accomplished the propitiation. It was also necessary that those being saved should themselves act for their salvation and be freed from the enemy’s power with hearts turned toward our Redeemer. The Apostle Paul says of this: “God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father!” (Gal 4:6). For “the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17). Therefore I tell you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says anathema to Jesus, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3). By these and many other testimonies, He Who is the image of God (Phil 2:6), yet humbled Himself (Phil 2:7) in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom 8:3), enters our hearts for our renewal in all things according to the image of God (Col 3:10). Without sin, He was not exempt from the effect of all our weaknesses that come from sin, such as hunger and thirst, sleep and weariness, sorrow and tears. He endured the heaviest sufferings unto death on the Cross. For no one could be freed from the bonds of mortality unless He, in Whom the nature of all was innocent, allowed Himself to perish at the hands of impious murderers. Then our Savior, the Son of God, established the Mystery for all believers and left an example. The first they should grasp for renewal, and the second they should follow in imitation. The blessed Apostle Peter teaches the same in these words: “Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow in His steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him Who judges righteously. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we, having been freed from sins, might live for righteousness. By His wounds you were healed” (1 Pet 2:21-24).

He was pleased to take human flesh, so that He might become like us in all things except sin, and make us partakers and heirs of His glory and His kingdom. O how great and rich is His goodness. How ineffable is the condescension toward us of our Master and God.

Because of the hypostatic union with the Godhead, the human nature of Jesus Christ was wholly alien to and without participation in blameworthy weaknesses, as the nature of a perfect man. Therefore He “hungered after the forty-day fast, and grew weary and thirsted after the journey” (Mt 4:2; Jn 4:6-7). He “slept in the boat” (Mt 8:24), and His soul was sorrowful unto death when the time of His Passion drew near (Mt 26:38). He was so worn by His struggle that “His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Lk 22:44). In these blameless weaknesses, Paul says, Jesus Christ was “tempted,” that is, He experienced and knew them in every way. “According to the likeness” means equally with other men and completely. Likewise, “being in the form of God” (Phil 2:6) means that He was perfect God and equal to the Father. And “taking the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7) means that He became perfect man and equal to all men. Thus the human nature of Jesus Christ possessed these blameless weaknesses as properties inseparable from nature, but without any sin. It was not as with us, who, when oppressed by them, often murmur and grow despondent, and therefore sin. For although Jesus Christ felt the severity of tormenting sufferings during His saving Passion, He endured them with such patience that the Prophet Isaiah, foreseeing His exceedingly great patience, said: “He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so He opened not His mouth” (Is 53:7). See how bold Paul makes those who come to Christ. We have, he says, a High Priest Who can be compassionate toward our weaknesses, since He experienced them in every way equally with us, yet without any sin. From this he draws the following conclusion.

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.