Hebrews 7:28Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see that the word “Son” is spoken in contrast to a servant? By weakness he means either sin or death.

What does “forever” mean? He is not sinless only now, he says, but always.

If He is perfect, if He never sins, and if He lives faithfully, why would He offer sacrifices for us many times?

For the present, however, the Apostle does not yet prove this. He proves only that He did not offer sacrifice for Himself.

Therefore, if we have such a High Priest, let us imitate Him and walk in His footsteps.

There is no other sacrifice. One has cleansed us. After that come fire and Gehenna.

For this reason the Apostle so often repeats, “one priest, one sacrifice,” lest someone, thinking there are many, begin to sin without fear.

Therefore we who have been deemed worthy of this seal, who have tasted this sacrifice, and who share in the immortal table, must preserve our nobility and honor. Falling away is not without danger.

Those who have not yet been deemed worthy of this should not be presumptuous. He who sins in order to receive holy baptism at his last breath often does not receive it.

Believe me: I am not about to say this to frighten you. I know many to whom this happened.

They sinned greatly in expectation of illumination through baptism. Yet on the day of their death they departed without receiving it.

God gave baptism in order to destroy sins, not in order to multiply sins.

If someone uses it so that he may more freely indulge in greater sins, he is guilty of negligence.

Such a man, if baptism did not exist, would live more temperately, since he would not expect remission of sins.

Do you see how the words are fulfilled in us: “And why not do evil that good may come?” (Rom 3:8).

Therefore I exhort you who have not yet received the Mystery: be watchful.

Let none of you approach virtue like a hired servant, like an ingrate, or as though approaching something hard and unbearable. Rather, let us approach it with zeal and joy.

If no reward had been promised, should we not still be virtuous? Yet let us at least be virtuous for the reward.

Is it not shameful, indeed utterly shameless, to say: if You do not give me a reward, I will not be chaste?

I can say this in reply. Even if you preserve chastity, you will never be chaste if you do it for the reward.

For you do not value virtue at all if you do not love it for its own sake.

Still, because of our great weakness, God is pleased to urge us toward it at least by a reward. Yet even then we do not become virtuous.

Let us suppose, if you wish, that a man who committed many sins departs after being deemed worthy of baptism, though I think this does not often happen.

Tell me, how will he depart there? He will not be condemned for his deeds, but he will not have boldness either, and rightly so.

Indeed, if he lived a hundred years and did not perform a single good deed, but only did not sin, what then?

Or even if he did not do that, but was saved by grace alone, what will he feel when he sees others crowned, glorified, and exalted?

Tell me, can he avoid despondency, even if he does not fall into Gehenna?

I will explain this by an example. Let us imagine two soldiers.

Let one of them steal, wrong others, and seize what belongs to them. Let the other do none of this, but conduct himself well and show much courage.

Let him win victories in war and stain his hand with blood. Then, with time, let him be raised from the rank he shared with the thief to the king’s throne.

Let him be clothed in purple. Let the thief remain where he was, though by the king’s mercy he is freed from punishment for his transgressions.

Let him be placed in the lowest rank and made subject to the king’s authority. Tell me, will this latter man not feel sorrow?

He sees that the one who was his equal has attained the summit of honor, been glorified, and rules the world, while he remains in a low condition.

Even his deliverance from punishment was received not with honor, but only through the king’s mercy and love for mankind.

The king pardoned him and freed him from condemnation, but he himself will live in shame.

Others will not admire him, since in such acts of mercy we admire not those who receive the gifts, but those who bestow them.

The greater these gifts are, the more shameful they are for those who receive them, if they had been guilty of great sins.

With what eyes will he look upon those in the royal courts, who display the multitude of their wounds and exploits?

He himself has nothing to show, and received even his deliverance solely through God’s love for mankind.

It is like a murderer, thief, or adulterer being led to execution, then released from it at someone’s request.

If he were ordered to appear in the forecourt of the royal palace, he could not look at anyone, even though freed from punishment.

So it is with this man as well.

When the Kingdom is mentioned, however, do not think that all will be deemed worthy of the same thing.

Here in royal courts there are prefects, those close to the king, still lower officials, and those holding the place of the so-called δεκανών.

There is great difference between a prefect and a δεκανών. Much more will this be so in the royal dwellings above.

I do not say this on my own. Paul posits an even greater difference there.

As the difference of the sun from the moon, the stars, and the smallest star, he says, so it will be in the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is clear to everyone that the difference between the sun and the smallest star is far greater than that between a so-called δεκανών and a prefect.

The sun at once illumines the whole universe and makes it bright. It hides the moon and the stars.

A star is often invisible even in darkness. There are many stars that we do not see.

Therefore, when we see others become suns, while we take the place of the smallest stars, which are not even visible, what consolation will we have?

No, I exhort you. Let us not be so careless or so lazy. Let us not negligently receive the salvation given by God.

Rather, let us trade with it and increase it.

Even if someone is only a catechumen, he knows Christ, knows the faith, hears the word of God, and is not far from the knowledge of God.

He understands the will of his Master. Why, then, does he delay? Why does he wait and postpone?

There is nothing better than a virtuous life, both here and there, both for the illumined and for catechumens.

Tell me, what difficult thing has been prescribed for us?

“Have a wife,” the commandment says, “and be temperate.” Tell me, is this difficult?

How could it be difficult, when many are temperate even without a wife, not only Christians but also pagans?

Will you not do out of fear of God what a pagan does from vainglory?

“From your possessions,” Scripture says, “give alms” (Tob 4:7). Is this difficult?

But here too pagans will condemn us, for they have squandered all their property from vainglory alone.

Do not use filthy speech. Is this difficult?

Even if it had not been commanded, should we not do this of ourselves, so as not to appear dishonorable?

On the contrary, filthy speech is difficult. This is clear because a man is ashamed in his soul and blushes when he happens to say something of this kind.

He will not even dare to say it unless he is drunk.

Why do you not do this while sitting in the marketplace, though you may do it at home? Is it not because of those present?

Why do you not at once do this even before your wife? Is it not so as not to offend her?

So, in order not to offend your wife, you do not do this. Yet when offending God, are you not ashamed?

He is present everywhere and hears everything.

“And do not get drunk with wine,” it is said (Eph 5:18). Well said, for is drunkenness not itself a punishment?

He did not say, “weary the body.” What then did He say? “Do not get drunk.”

That is, do not give the body such license that it casts off the soul’s authority.

What then? Must we not care for the body? No, I am not saying this. Rather, do not gratify its desires.

Paul commands this also when he says, “make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Rom 13:14).

Do not seize what belongs to another, it is said. Do not be covetous. Do not swear.

What labors does this require, and what struggles?

Do not speak evil, it is said. Do not slander. Is this difficult?

The opposite is truly difficult. When you say something evil about someone, you are immediately exposed to danger and anxiety.

You wonder whether the one about whom you spoke has heard, whether he is important or unimportant.

If he is important, you will immediately experience real danger. If he is unimportant, he will repay you in kind, and with much more.

He will say still worse things about you.

No, nothing difficult or burdensome has been commanded us, if only we wish it. But if we do not wish it, even the easiest thing will seem difficult.

What is easier than eating? Yet many, from extreme softness, are burdened even by this.

I hear many say that eating too is a labor.

There is no labor in all that has been said above, if only you wish it. After the grace from above, everything lies in the will.

Let us therefore desire what is good, that we may be deemed worthy of the eternal good things, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

By infirmity understand, as Paul himself says in many places, sin and even death. Since the high priests according to the law are mortal and infirm, they themselves were not sinless and could not cleanse others. But He is immortal and mighty.

Hear also what follows. But the word of the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, perfected forever. Observe the contrasts. There is the law; here is the word of the oath, that is, what is most sure and true.

There are men, of course servants; here is the Son, that is, the Lord. There are the infirm, that is, those who stumble, who have sins and are liable to death. Here is One perfected forever, that is, eternal, almighty, and sinless not only now, but always.

Therefore, if He is perfect, if He never sins, if He always lives, why would He offer sacrifice for Himself? Or why would He offer many times for others at all?

Is the daily offering in sacrifice of Christ’s Body and Blood, in the Mystery of the Eucharist and in many Christian churches, consistent with the Apostle’s teaching on the unity of Christ’s sacrifice?

Does Christ’s sacrifice remain one, despite the repeated and universal celebration of the Eucharist? We answer: yes, it remains one.

The unity, or identity, of Christ’s sacrifice is seen from the following.

1. On Golgotha and in the often-celebrated Eucharist, one and the same Thing Offered, or Person Offered, remains.

In His discourse on communion, the Lord said: “The bread which I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).

From this it is clear that in the Eucharist, under the form of bread, the very Flesh of Christ is broken and offered in sacrifice.

It is the same Flesh that was given up for the life of the world to the sufferings and death of Golgotha.

One thing is not offered on the altar’s holy table, while another was once offered on Golgotha. Here and there, there is one offering.

The Apostle Paul says that “we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:17). The Bread of the Eucharist always and everywhere remains one.

For its substance is the one and same unchanging Flesh of Christ.

Were it not for this invisible and everywhere one substance, the Apostle would not have called the Bread of the Eucharist one.

For bread, as the work of human hands, will not be tomorrow what it is today, nor in one church what it is in another (1 Cor 11:25-27).

Although the Eucharistic service is celebrated by various persons, the One Who offers the sacrifice of the Body and Blood remains the one Christ. Priests are only His visible instruments.

That Christ, Who gave His Flesh over to suffering and death, Himself gives it in the Eucharist for the faithful to eat, is seen from the same discourse on communion.

There the Lord says that He Himself, and no other, will give the bread of life, which is His Flesh (Jn 6:51 and others).

The Jews understood His words in no other way when they said, “How can He give us His flesh to eat?” (Jn 6:52).

But if Christ gives us His Flesh in the Eucharist to eat, then He also offers it at that time as a saving sacrifice.

For we know that the giving of the Body and Blood in this Mystery has the meaning of a sacrifice.

Therefore the Lord said: “This is My Body, given for you, broken for you. This cup is the New Testament in My Blood, which is poured out for you” (Lk 22:19-20; 1 Cor 11:24).

He did not say, “given to you” or “broken to you,” as though He wished only to show for whom the Body is broken and given.

He said, “for you,” wishing to show for whom the Body is offered in sacrifice.

Therefore in the Eucharist, the One Who Gives, Breaks, and Pours Out, even by the hands of priests, is at the same time the One Who offers sacrifice.

And who among men, even if sanctified by the grace of the Holy Spirit, would dare to dispose of the Flesh and Blood of Christ?

He would not dare unless the very One Offered presided over the sacrifice.

Therefore in the Eucharist, always and everywhere, there is one Offerer: the King of kings, “Who comes to be slain” as sacrifice “and to be given as food to the faithful,” in the words of the Church hymn.

The Stundists will say to us: why do you present Christ as repeatedly offering His Body and His Blood, when the Apostle clearly teaches that Christ sanctified us by the one offering of His Body (Heb 10:10, 14)?

But we too acknowledge that Christ’s offering of His Body was once for all. The Body and Blood of Christ do not repeatedly become a sacrifice for us.

Yet, having been offered once, they did not afterwards lose the sacrificial significance that became theirs in the days of the Son of God’s saving self-emptying for us.

Always and everywhere they are a sacrifice for us.

The Blood of the covenant did not dry up on Golgotha, nor is it silent. It speaks and cries out, like the blood of Abel.

Only it speaks better. It cries out not for vengeance on the guilty, but for their forgiveness and mercy (Heb 12:24).

Where, then, is this interceding Blood on earth? Nowhere but in the Church, in the Chalice where the Lord Himself appointed it to be.

He said: “This cup is the New Testament in My Blood,” and, “This is My Blood of the New Testament” (Lk 22:20; Mt 26:28).

Thus the Body and Blood of Christ were offered in sacrifice once for all. But their sacrificial, or intercessory, significance was joined to them forever.

It remains unchangeably with Christ’s humanity in every condition. This is so whether it sits at the right hand of the Father on the throne of glory.

It is so whether it is present under the forms of bread and wine on the holy table of the church. It is so whether it is broken or given to the faithful.

In the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ are a sacrifice for us, not by virtue of a new sacrifice of them, but by virtue of the change of bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood.

The following circumstance can clarify the thought about the constant intercessory, or sacrificial, significance of Christ’s Body and Blood.

When the Lord instituted the Eucharist, He designated His Body as sacrificial not only once, and not only in one condition of that Body.

He said first, “broken for you” (1 Cor 11:24), and then, “given for you” (Lk 22:19).

The expression “for you,” which indicates the intercessory, or sacrificial, significance of the Body, belongs to it both when it is broken and when it is given.

Therefore it belongs to it constantly and can never be taken from it.

The same thought is also suggested by this. In the Old Testament, the sacrificial animal was considered and called a sacrifice and a holy thing not only at the moment of sacrifice.

It was so called also after the sacrifice, when the remains of the sacrifice were given to the priests or eaten (Lev 2:3, 10; 6:18, 26, 30; 7:6, 16; 10:17, and many others).

The meat of pagan sacrifices is also called idol-sacrifice when it is set upon the table (1 Cor 10:28).

Therefore Christ’s Body is a sacrifice wherever it may be, but especially in the Eucharist, where it is offered to us for eating.

Thus the Body and Blood of Christ appear in the Eucharist as sacrifice through their very presence there, and not because they are offered there anew in sacrifice.

They could not and never can lose the sacrificial quality they received in the days of the Son of God’s self-emptying.

Christ’s sacrifice is one in the object of the offering, for the One Offered is one. It is one in the Person Who performs the offering, for the Offerer is one.

It is also one in the action of the sacrifice, as a once-for-all offering that continues in its effects.