Hebrews 8:5Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"They serve," he says, "a copy and shadow of the heavenly things." What does he call heavenly here? The spiritual. Although it is accomplished on earth, it is worthy of heaven.

When our Lord Jesus Christ lies before us as the Lamb that has been slain; when the Spirit descends; when He who sits at the right hand of the Father is present here; when believers become sons and citizens of heaven through the font, are these not heavenly things?

When we have our homeland, city, and citizenship there, and become strangers to what is here, are not all these things heavenly?

What then? Are the hymns not heavenly? Do we not sing here below in harmony with what the divine choirs of the bodiless powers sing above?

"Who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things." Here he shows the superiority of Christ's priesthood, calling the Old Covenant priesthood a copy and shadow, but ours heavenly.

For when there is nothing earthly, but rather everything in the mysteries is spiritual; when there are angelic hymns, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, the forgiveness of sins, and again binding; when our citizenship is in heaven, how can our priesthood not be heavenly?

Therefore what was revealed to Moses in the Old Covenant served as a type and example of this heavenly priesthood. It was a dim pattern and, as it were, a shadowy outline.

"As it was said to Moses when he was about to make the tabernacle: See, He said, that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Ex 25:9).

For they served typologically and shadow-like according to the likeness of the heavenly ministry. That is, all those services of the Old Testament were likenesses and symbols of this ministry of the Church, which in comparison with them proves to be spiritual and heavenly. Thus a command was given to Moses himself when he was about to build the temporal tabernacle. "See," it is said, "that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Ex 25:40).

The Apostle said this in defense of the law. He teaches that he does not condemn the law, but acknowledges that it too is worthy of honor, since it serves as a type of the heavenly.

For this reason he said that it would have been superfluous to call Christ Priest while He lived on earth, when the priests according to the law were performing the service under the law.

Therefore, if the priesthood under the law has come to an end, and the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek has offered sacrifice and made other sacrifices unnecessary, why do the priests of the New Covenant perform the mystical service?

For those instructed in divine things, it is clear that we do not offer another sacrifice. Rather, we make remembrance of that one saving sacrifice.

"Who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things." The priestly service under the law is a type and shadow, first because through what is fleshly and visible it pointed beforehand to what is spiritual and invisible.

Second, it sketched and prefigured the future as by a shadow, thereby serving God in copy and shadow, that is, typologically and symbolically. By heavenly things the Apostle means what is higher, spiritual, and divine.

Such is our New Covenant service. Although it is performed on earth, in truth it is worthy of heaven. On the mystical and holy table lies Christ Himself, the heavenly King. The Holy Spirit descends upon it.

"You shall make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." When God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle of witness, He first showed him in a vision what the tabernacle should be after its construction. The Apostle Paul regards this as a vision of the Heavenly Tabernacle.

That is, if the tabernacle of Moses, with all the details of its arrangement, had only symbolic significance and was, so to speak, a typological shadow of other higher realities revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, then all Old Covenant worship at the tabernacle, with its sacrifices, had to find its true meaning in Christ's sacrifice.

How, then, could Christ continue this symbolic and typological worship, when in Him Himself all the Old Covenant types and symbols were fulfilled?

Why and where would images and shadows of the realities be needed, when the very reality had come and the realities themselves had appeared? Thus it was impossible for Christ, after completing His messianic work, to remain on earth as priest according to the Jewish law.

We can also show in the word of God the foundation of this custom preserved by tradition in the Church.

"It was said to Moses when he was about to make the tabernacle: See, He said, that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Heb 8:5).

But what was shown to him on the mountain? "A copy and shadow of heavenly things" (Heb 8:5), as the Apostle says.

Here, then, is the fundamental law of the temple, which there is no reason to abolish for the Christian temple. The temple must be made in all things, as far as possible, according to the image of heavenly things shown to a worthy beholder.

As Moses contemplated the image of heavenly things for the Old Covenant temple on Mount Sinai, so the image of heavenly things for the New Covenant temple was shown to John the Theologian in revelation.

That Christ had to become minister of the archetypal sanctuary is proved by the Apostle from this point: Christ could not be a priest on earth.

Here the most important duty of priests, the offering of sacrifices, was already being performed by priests appointed according to the law from the line of Aaron.

At the same time, the Apostle makes clear that one should not regret that Christ did not become minister of the earthly tabernacle. That tabernacle, he says, is only a shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, τῶν ἐπουρανίων; compare τῶν ἁγίων.

But what is this heavenly sanctuary, the pattern, τύπος, which Moses saw on Mount Sinai and which the Apostle now has in mind?

Now is precisely the time to show that the ancient prophets, men who loved God, honored the names Jesus and Christ.

Moses was the first to understand how majestic and glorious the name of Christ is. He gave images, symbols, and mystical representations of heavenly realities, according to the Lord's saying: "See that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain" (Ex 25:40).

To honor the high priest in the highest way available to man, Moses calls him Christ. The high-priestly rank, in Moses' thought, surpasses every human title in dignity. Yet the name Christ gives it greater honor and glory.