Hebrews 8:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"A liturgical minister of the sanctuary." Not simply a minister, but "a liturgical minister of the sanctuary." "And of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Do you see Christ's condescension?

Not long before this the Apostle distinguished Him from others when he said, "Are they not all ministering spirits?" For this reason it was not said to them, "Sit at My right hand" (Heb 1:13-14).

He speaks thus because the One who sits is certainly not a minister. Therefore, when he calls Him minister here, he says this of Him according to the flesh.

By "the true tabernacle" he means heaven. Wishing to show its difference from the Jewish tabernacle, he adds, "which the Lord pitched, and not man." See how by these words he encouraged the souls of the Jews who had believed.

As earthly high priests served when entering the Holy of Holies, so He is truly the minister of the holy things, the true sanctuaries above the heavens.

It might seem that Paul contradicts himself here. At the beginning he said, "To which of the angels did God ever say, Sit at My right hand? Are they not all ministering spirits?" (Heb 1:13-14).

By this he implied that it is not fitting for a minister to sit. But now, after saying, "He sat down at the right hand of the throne," he again presents Him as a minister.

How, then, does he say this, unless by perfect condescension toward his hearers, mixing lowly things with lofty things? Some understood it as "minister of the saints," that is, of the people sanctified by Him. For, he says, He is our High Priest.

If someone gives the Father the higher place of presiding, but says that the Only-begotten Son sits lower, then all bodily notions will follow from such a construction of thought.

These notions belong to men whose mind has been clouded by wine and disordered by madness. Is it pious, then, not to worship and glorify together with the Father the One united with the Father in nature, glory, and dignity?

Those taught by Him Himself know that whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father (Jn 5:23). What shall we say? What just defense shall we have at the dread judgment common to all creation?

Then, the One who was so highly exalted was "Minister of the sanctuary" in the very tabernacle of truth. This means either in the Kingdom of Heaven, as He also promised, or in this world, as He in fact accomplished when He washed the disciples' feet (Jn 13:1-5).

The Apostle added the title "minister" because he is speaking about the High Priest. For what ministry does He perform, having once offered Himself and no longer offering another sacrifice? And how is it possible for the same One both to sit and to minister? Unless one calls the salvation of men, which the Master Christ accomplishes, His ministry. By "tabernacle" the Apostle meant heaven, where Christ, though its Creator according to the Apostle's word, ministers as man.

"Minister of the holy things." This refers to Him according to His humanity and to His accomplishment of our salvation. Or else he called the heavens holy, which in what follows he will also call the true tabernacle.

Since the Apostle has already spoken of the priest and the sacrifice, and has called Christ a priest superior to the Jewish priests both by His nature and by the sacrifice He accomplished, a question could naturally arise among the Jews: where, then, is His temple?

To anticipate such a question, the Apostle also points to the temple. "And of the true tabernacle." For the Hebrew tabernacle was only an image of the true tabernacle.

The Lord Jesus Christ, being the most perfect High Priest, for whose sake the Old Covenant high priesthood ceased, is the minister of the most perfect sanctuary, the true tabernacle, which was raised by God and not by men.

After this, are temples built by men unnecessary? Are they false in comparison with the true tabernacle? But the word "true," as applied to the tabernacle in the Apostle's words, is opposed not to anything false or deceitful, but to what is typological or imitative.

The heavenly temple, the heavenly chamber of the Godhead, is true because it is the model according to which the Old Covenant tabernacle was built.

When Moses began to make the tabernacle, it was said to him, "See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (v. 5).

Nearness to the heavenly throne of God the Father. According to the Apostle's own observation, the chief point in Christ's high priesthood is that He sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens. That is, He performs His ministry not in an earthly temple or earthly sanctuary, but in heaven (see Heb 1:3 above). The tabernacle in which He performs His sacred rites was made not by human hands, but by the Lord Himself. By the tabernacle the Apostle here evidently means the Church of the Lord, consisting of the innumerable multitude of those saved by faith in Christ Jesus.

Now explaining precisely what Christ, the great High Priest, did for men, the Apostle recognizes as the most important point of his inquiry that Christ sat at the right hand of God. He performs His ministry in the sanctuary, τῶν ἁγίων, and specifically, καί being explanatory, in the true tabernacle. This tabernacle is the heavenly prototype of the earthly tabernacle, the true dwelling of God, fully corresponding to the exalted being of the true God. This is already evident from its having been fashioned by God Himself.

Let men know and understand why the Most High God willed to clothe Him in flesh and blood. He permitted His Messenger and Herald, sent to convey the commandments of righteousness to mortals, to suffer death after being crucified on the cross.

Since there was no righteousness on earth, the Lord sent the Teacher as the living law of the Spirit of life (Rom 8:2). He did this to establish a new name and a new temple, and to sow the whole earth with seeds of new, true, and pious worship of God.

Yet, to make certain that He was God's envoy, He was not to be born as men are born, from two mortals. Rather, to show clearly that a heavenly principle was also present in this Man, He was born without a father's part in conception.