Hebrews 6:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Though able to present many examples, the Apostle leaves all the others aside and points to Abraham. He does this because of the greatness of the person, and especially because this happened to him, as he says at the end of the epistle: “These all did not receive the promises. But saw them afar off and were glad.” And again, “they did not receive what was promised, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb 11:13, 39-40).

Indeed, Abraham withdrew from the sinful world and settled in the land shown by God. He lived there one year, then another, and more. Yet he was old and childless, and no offspring appeared.

Abraham's wealth increased. He gained victory over enemies. He received a blessing from Melchizedek, yet he had no offspring. Thus God's promise of numerous descendants from Abraham was not fulfilled for ten years after his migration into a foreign land.

Sorrow entered his believing soul (Gen 15:1-3). The Lord encouraged him, and Abraham believed. This faith of Abraham was reckoned by God as a lofty, pious, and holy deed (Gen 15:6).

At last the Lord God gave Abraham a son by his wife Sarah. This only, longed-for son, the heir of all the wealth and promises given by God to Abraham, had scarcely grown up when the Lord demanded him for Himself.

God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice (Gen 22:2). Abraham obeyed. He took his thirteen-year-old son, wood, and fire, and for three days he walked to the appointed mountain.

In his soul Abraham had already devoted his son as a sacrifice. He had already prepared the wood, laid his son upon it, and raised the knife over him. But the Lord did not allow Isaac to come to death itself.

For such faith in God and love for Him, Abraham was granted by the Lord an oath-bound assurance that everything, everything promised by God, would certainly come to pass.

"By Myself I have sworn," God says to Abraham. "Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed... And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 22:16-18).

"By Myself I have sworn," says the Lord. The Lord swears. An oath is ordinarily used in special and important cases, either to confirm statements and testimonies, or to exalt the very matter in which different persons take part.

The Lord entered into a covenant, an agreement, with Abraham. He promised him and his descendants that from Abraham's line the Savior of the world would appear, and certainly appear.

He promised that people must live constantly by faith in the Savior, and expect from Him every blessing and sufficiency in this world, and blessedness beyond the grave. To strengthen such faith, the Lord swore to Abraham.

Righteous Abraham saw many privations in his life and offered many sacrifices to God on his part. He did all this with obedience, filial love, and faith.

For such longsuffering Abraham received the promise, everything promised to him: the land and the son, numerous descendants, glory, and the blessedness of paradise.

So we also, if we desire good and peace for our soul, must live with faith in God and hope in Him. The Lord cares for us as for small children. He guides us and guards our life.

He wants us to have full trust in Him and in His word. He even swears for our sake, weak in faith as we are. But do we, His children, remain grateful to Him, our Father, for His care for us and His love for us?

The phrase “by Himself” means by His holiness, or by His truth, or by His glory. He says, “Once I have sworn by My holiness: I will not lie to David.” And again, “The Lord has sworn in truth to David, and He will not turn from it” (Ps 88:36; Ps 131:11). “The Lord has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm” (Isa 62:8). Paul said that God swore by Himself because He had no one greater than Himself by whom to swear: “Since He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself.” Truly, who is greater than God? But should the phrase “He swore” be taken in its proper sense, and should we believe that God established oaths, when we hear the same God say, “But I say to you, do not swear at all” (Mt 5:34)? What need did God have of an oath to confirm His promises, when He spoke of Himself to believers as immutable truth itself? It is therefore clear that “He swore” is said of God in the same way as “He breathed,” “He planted,” “He walked,” and similar expressions, for the comprehension of our weak mind (Gen 2:7-8; Gen 3:8; see Basil the Great on Psalm 17). Whenever God wished to show men His firm and immutable decree, He was always pleased that the words “He swore” be written in His divine books. This is confirmed by the very word of oath, “surely,” that is, immutably, truly, and beyond doubt, “I will bless you and multiply you,” increasing your offspring.

"When God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself." By these words the Apostle points to what God said to Abraham after the sacrifice of Isaac: "By Myself I have sworn. Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, for My sake, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed" (Gen 22:16-17).

"Men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of every dispute." By the greater, κατὰ τοῦ μείζονος, the Lord is meant here. This is why an oath has confirmatory force. This is why that force extends to every dispute among them, so that an oath removes every possibility of contradiction.

"Thus God, desiring to show the immutability of His counsel, interposed with an oath." To make these last words clearer, one must know that the Slavonic says a verb meaning "acted as mediator," while the Greek has ἐμεσίτευσεν, from "mediator," μεσίτης. Both mean that He became mediator through an oath.

A mediator is a person who strives to reconcile two hostile or disputing sides, or who helps negotiations between people divided by distance and mutual difference. When God mediated by an oath, it means that He placed Himself between man and Himself.

This idea is very proper to Scripture. According to its teaching, God is advocate, surety, and mediator between man and Himself. Thus Job cried out, turning to God: "Lay down a pledge for me with Yourself; who is there who will pledge himself for me?" (Job 17:3).

If God placed Himself as mediator in that unique oath when He swore by Himself, then clearly He appears as the same mediator and surety when He does not swear by Himself, but men swear by Him as the greater.

From this the true understanding of an oath becomes clear. It consists in this: when men assure one another, they call God as witness, mediator, and surety. They do this with the thought that He will help fulfill the promise and punish intentional violation or false assurance.

What impious or irreverent thing can be found in such an oath? God Himself swore, though He had no one by whom to swear except Himself. His promises, being incapable of falsehood, needed no confirmation by oath. Distrust of them would have been a crime on man's part.

Therefore an oath is all the more fitting among men. Human words can be true insofar as they are accompanied by thought of the Most High, the all-knowing God, who is the highest Truth and hates all who speak falsehood (Ps 5:6).

As soon as the remembrance of God leaves a man, his mouth and heart are filled with falsehood. Whoever in an oath calls God as mediator and surety of his promises or assurances thereby confesses a reverent remembrance of Him as the Knower of hearts.

He confesses Him as the One who knows that his words are sincere and that his promises contain no deceit. It is therefore understandable why, as the Apostle says, "an oath," used for confirmation, "ends every dispute" among men.