Just as an anchor cast down in a ship does not allow it to be carried about nor imperilled, though the winds toss it, but once cast down firmly holds the ship amid storms and waves, so faith, strengthened by the hope of future goods, steadies our mind amid the prosperity and adversity of this age, and leads us into the very sight of the things which we now hold by faith and hope. Therefore the Apostle added, saying, 'And entering in even to that which is within the veil.' By 'that which is within the veil' he calls the secret places of the kingdom of heaven and the joys of the heavenly homeland; for the veil which was before the holy of holies signifies the congregation, while the things that were within the veil signify the secret places of the kingdom of heaven;
but hope penetrates within the veil, while by the contemplation of the mind it beholds future goods, while without any doubting it believes that the heavenly rewards will come to it: it hopes, it loves, and by works it shows what it believes and what it hopes. If we do not have this hope, we shall surely be submerged, not only in spiritual things but also in carnal, just as a ship is submerged that has no anchor cast down; but if we obey the voice of the Prophet who says, 'Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall nourish thee,' then our hope, fixed within the veil, will be able to be submerged by no unbelief. There follows: 'Where the forerunner Jesus is entered in for us, made and appointed High Priest by God the Father for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.'
In order to add to us a firmer hope, he therefore appended this concerning Christ. Now one is called a 'forerunner' from going before and running ahead; and one is the forerunner of someone, as John was of Christ. But it is to be considered that he did not say simply, 'Jesus entered within the veil,' but with an addition, saying, 'Where the forerunner is entered in for us': as though without doubt it behoves us to follow after our forerunner. And it is fitting that the forerunner and the one following be on the same road. Christ, therefore, rising from the dead, ran before us to the height of the heavens; and He became our forerunner by opening heaven to us and restoring to us the joys of the heavenly homeland.
If, then, we wish to follow after our forerunner, we ought, just as He also walked, ourselves also to walk. But this is referred to the nature of the humanity of the Son of God, in which He offered Himself to God the Father on the altar of the cross, a sacrifice for our salvation. Why Christ is said to be a Priest according to Melchisedech has been shown quite plainly (as I think) a little earlier; but when he says that He entered within the veil, he speaks after the manner of the high priests of the Jews, who once in the year entered within the veil and the holy of holies to pray for the people: and Christ, penetrating the secret places of the kingdom of heaven, prays continually for the salvation of His faithful ones. CHAPTER VII.
For this Melchisedech, king of Salem, was priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him, to whom also Abraham divided tithes of all. The Hebrews hand down that Melchisedech is Shem himself, the firstborn of Noah, who at the time when Abraham was born was two hundred and ninety-two years of age; and at the time when Abraham died was five hundred and seventy-five years old, and so outlived Abraham by thirty-five years, upon completing which the whole days of his life were made six hundred years: nor is it any wonder if he went out to meet Abraham and offered him bread and wine, since he owed the rights of fatherhood to his great-great-grandson;
and blessed him, and received from him tithes of the spoil and of the victory, as priest of the Excellent and Most High God, not of false gods and idols: he who was also king of Salem. But Salem, as the blessed Jerome says, is not to be thought to be Jerusalem, as Josephus the historian and very many of ours suppose: rather it is a town near Scythopolis, which even to this day is called Salem or Salim; concerning which, as the blessed Jerome witnesses, it is covered in the Gospel: 'He was' (says John) 'baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there were many waters there.'
But this variety of names arises because in many places the Hebrews write only by consonants, the vowels being left out, and thus according to the reader's discretion it is pronounced not always in one and the same way. There is also shown in the same town the palace of Melchisedech the king, displaying by the magnitude of its ruins the excellence of ancient workmanship. It is read that Jacob went down to this city, or town, which was in the land of Canaan in the region of Shechem. It is also to be considered that Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the enemies whom he pursued as far as Dan, did not on the road of his return have Jerusalem, but rather the town of Salem mentioned above. Firstly indeed Melchisedech, which is interpreted 'king of righteousness';
then also 'king of Salem,' which is 'king of peace,' without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Now the blessed Apostle rather often introduces Melchisedech as a type of the Lord the Saviour; for although almost all the earlier saints and patriarchs and prophets expressed in some matter a figure of the Lord the Saviour, yet from this Melchisedech more especially, who was not of the race of the Jews, preceded as a type of the priesthood of the Son of God, concerning whom God the Father says in Psalm 109: 'Thou art a Priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.' But we can interpret his 'order' in many ways, as
was said above, namely that he alone was both king and priest, and exercised the priesthood before circumcision, so that the Gentiles received the priesthood not from the Jews, but the Jews from the Gentiles; nor was he anointed with visible oil, as the Mosaic precepts appoint, but with the oil of gladness and the purity of faith; nor did he immolate victims of flesh and blood, but with bread and wine and a simple and pure sacrifice he consecrated the priesthood of Christ. But first, as the Apostle says, in this he is likened to the Son of God, because he is interpreted 'king of righteousness.' For Melchon, or Melchi, sounds 'king'; and Sedech, 'righteous' or 'righteousness': and who is the true king of righteousness, except Christ? who says in the Psalm, 'But I am appointed king by Him.'
For He justly and rightly rules and governs His elect, who are made lovers of righteousness. Then also He is likened to the Son of God through that which is called 'king of peace,' which pertains to Christ: for Salem is interpreted 'peace.' Christ, therefore, justifies us, who is king of righteousness, and He Himself makes peace of all things whether in heaven or on earth, who by being born and dying, by rising again and ascending, brought peace to the world, who according to His divinity is king without end and without beginning, eternal from the eternal Father, although He was temporal from a temporal mother: just as of this Melchisedech we do not read a beginning or end in Sacred Scripture, so we do not read a beginning or end of the Son of God:
for there is none of these things in the nature of the Godhead: and in this is the likeness, that neither of the one nor of the other is a beginning or an end read of. Of the former, because it is not written; of the latter, indeed, because there is none at all: for neither is it read under whom Melchisedech was born, nor is it narrated when he died; but he is suddenly introduced, as also Elijah. Nor do I altogether believe that Melchisedech was without father or without mother, since Christ also according to each nature had both a mother and a father; but this is said of him for this reason, because he is suddenly introduced in the divine Scripture, as we have said, and his genealogy is not recorded:
concerning whom it is also said, 'But being made like unto the Son of God' (in all the aforesaid things), 'he abideth a priest for ever.' Not in himself, but in Christ. For Melchisedech died, but his figure abides eternally in Christ. The likeness here, however, is put not for age, but for figure. 'But consider how great this man is, unto whom the patriarch Abraham gave tithes of the chief things.' He turns his discourse to those who boast that they are sons of Abraham, and vaunt that they derive nobility of race from him: whence in the Gospel they tried to set him above the Lord, when they said, 'Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?' So that the Apostle might confound their pride, he said:
'Consider,' and attend diligently, how great was this Melchisedech, priest of the Most High God, unto whom the patriarch Abraham gave tithes of the chief things, that is, of the better spoils. By which words he wishes to show that Melchisedech was of greater dignity and honour than Abraham; and through this, that the priesthood of Christ is greater and holier than that of the Jews: as if he said, He whom you esteem more excellent than all men, this man offered tithes to Melchisedech, who preceded in the figure of Christ. And indeed those who receive the priesthood from the sons of Levi have commandment to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their own brethren: although these too came forth from the loins of Abraham.
So great, he says, is the excellence of the priesthood, that even those who had the same progenitor and descended from one father—on account of the excellence of merit whereby they were better than their brethren, as was Aaron, who, standing between the dead and the living, appeased the wrath of the Lord—deserved to attain the dignity of the priesthood: and therefore, unless Melchisedech had been of greater dignity than Abraham, Abraham would by no means have given tithes to a stranger, just as Aaron was of greater merit than his brethren of the remaining tribes; therefore he says:
'And indeed those of the sons of Levi who receive the priesthood'—as Aaron and his sons received it—'have a commandment and precept according to the law to take tithes from the people' (as though better than they), 'and this from their brethren,' although they had one and the same progenitor: according to which the Apostle makes it plain, saying, 'though they also, the brethren of Levi, came forth from the loins of Abraham.' 'But he whose genealogy'—that is, Melchisedech—'is not counted among them'—that is, among the sons of Levi—'received tithes of Abraham, and this man'—that is, Abraham—'who had the promises'—concerning the Son of God—'he blessed'—that Melchisedech blessed. Here he shows that the uncircumcised priest is much loftier than the circumcised priest. How, then, does he show this?
certainly because Levi himself, from whom the priestly race arose, was tithed by Melchisedech in the loins of his progenitor; and Abraham was already circumcised, and had already received the promises concerning Christ, that in his seed all nations would be blessed, when he was blessed by Melchisedech, an uncircumcised priest, giving him tithes of all the spoil. And Melchisedech, blessing him, says: 'Blessed be Abraham of God, by whose protection the enemies are in his hand,' and the other things which follow in the same place. But without any contradiction, that which is less is blessed by the better. As if he said: It is to all clearer than light that the lesser is blessed by the greater.
Whence Abraham, as the lesser, is blessed by Melchisedech as the better, or received a blessing: and consequently the type of Christ is greater and better than the type of him who had the promises concerning Christ. And here indeed dying men receive tithes: but there it is witnessed that he lives. And, that it may be so put, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, was tithed. Here, he says—that is, in the present age, or in the temple which still stood—dying men, namely the sons of Levi, who are mortal and doomed to die, receive tithes. But there—that is, in another life: in the place where it is said of Christ, 'Thou art a priest for ever'—God the Father witnesses with an oath that Christ lives. Whence the Psalmist says:
'The Lord hath sworn and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.' 'For he was yet'—that is, in the propagation of the seed—'in the loins of his father'—of Levi—'when Melchisedech met him.' How does he say that Levi was tithed by Melchisedech, when he was not yet born, especially since he was the natural son of Jacob? Surely he was tithed not in himself, but in Abraham, from whose progeny he descended: when Abraham offered tithes to Melchisedech, in him all his sons gave. Wherefore the Apostle says, 'He who received tithes in his sons from his brethren was tithed through Abraham,' or in Abraham.
By which words it is declared that, unless the priesthood of Melchisedech, who in the figure of Christ preceded in the priesthood, were of greater dignity, Abraham and all his sons would by no means have been tithed by him: for when one priesthood is tithed by another priesthood, the one is shown to be of greater dignity than the other. If, then, perfection was through the Levitical priesthood—for under it the people received the law—what further need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchisedech, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, it is necessary that a change of the law also be made. Here he begins now more fully to show the differences of the New Testament, saying:
'If perfection'—that is, the perfection of life and of justification—'was by the Levitical priesthood, what need was there that another priest should arise according to the order of Melchisedech?' For that Aaron was the first priest after the giving of the law, from the tribe of Levi, is doubtful to no one: therefore the priesthood which he exercised he named the Levitical priesthood. Or certainly because Levi himself exercised that priesthood in his sons: for his grandsons received it, namely Moses and Aaron with the rest of their brethren of the same tribe: for he begot Kohath, Kohath indeed Amram, and Amram Moses and Aaron. Therefore he says that the people received the law under that priesthood, because Moses and Aaron were leaders
in the people in those times, since they administered the law itself, being of the priestly tribe. Therefore the order of the priesthood of Melchisedech, who bore the type of our Priest, is much better than the Levitical priesthood: for he would by no means have said 'according to the order of Melchisedech,' if that priesthood of Aaron, under which the Jewish people received the law, were better. But if the priesthood of the law has been transferred to Christ according to the order of Melchisedech, it is necessary that a change of the law also be made: that is, from the law of Moses it is necessary to pass to the law of the Gospel: for neither can there be a priest without a law, nor without a covenant, and without precepts.
With utmost efforts the Apostle labours to make men pass from the law of Moses to the law of the Gospel, from carnal things to spiritual. 'For he of whom these things are spoken is of another tribe, of which no one attended at the altar. For it is manifest that our Lord sprang out of Judah'—in which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. 'For he of whom' (he says) 'these things are spoken'—that is, of whom they say that which is, 'a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech'?—they signify that the Lord and Saviour is of another tribe than the priestly one, namely of that from which no one attended at the altar: that is, of the tribe of Judah:
and not only in order, nor in covenant or precepts, was there a change, but also in tribe; and how the priesthood was transferred from tribe to tribe: namely from the priestly to the royal: so that the same priesthood should be both priestly and royal in Christ, who is king and priest. Behold the mystery. First was the royal priesthood of Melchisedech, according to the sequence of this discourse; second was the priesthood that was priestly only, in Aaron; third again was the royal priesthood in Christ, as also the first was. Whence the Church now has a royal priesthood, as Peter the apostle says: 'You are a holy nation, a royal priesthood.'
The tribe of Judah, therefore, from which the Lord sprang through Mary the Virgin, though it was always royal, never priestly, in Christ was both royal and priestly: the priesthood being wholly transferred from the tribe of Levi, which was formerly priestly. 'And it is yet far more evident, if there arise another priest according to the order of Melchisedech, who is made not according to the law of a carnal commandment, but according to the power of an indissoluble life.' 'For He testifieth'—God the Father, speaking to the Son—'that Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.' A defect of expression is here sufficiently necessary, wherefore let it be said thus: 'And it is yet far more evident':
understand, that the priesthood of the law has been destroyed, through this: that Christ is said to be a priest for ever not according to the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchisedech: through this, because He was not of the tribe of Levi. For what he says, 'If another priest should arise according to the order of Melchisedech,' he speaks not doubtfully, but affirmatively: as if he said, It is still further demonstrated through this that the priesthood of the law has been destroyed: because according to the order of Melchisedech Christ arose as another priest, who was made a priest not according to the law of a carnal commandment, as Aaron was.
He calls it the law of a carnal commandment, because for the most part it was carnal, enjoining carnal things in circumcision, in the cleansing of the body, in victims and oblations, in the distinction of foods, of days and of times, saying: 'Remain outside the camp: wash thy body: offer this or that: abstain from these foods: observe these times,' and the other things similar to these, all of which were to be ended by death. But the priesthood of Christ is spiritual, and according to the power of an indissoluble life, that is, according to the might of an unfailing life: which by no intervention of death can be dissolved: for Christ has in Himself an indissoluble life: because although He died for a time in the flesh, yet in eternity by His divinity
He lives, and moreover by His humanity, after He rose again a victor from the dead. Whence God the Father witnesses by swearing that He lives, saying through the Psalmist: 'Thou art a priest for ever.' 'There is indeed a rejection of the preceding commandment'—that is, of the law of Moses—'because of the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.' The law had weakness in this place, because it could not help those who wrought in it; and unprofitableness, indeed, because it could open the kingdom of heaven to no one. Whence there follows: 'For the law brought nothing to perfection.' For did the law profit nothing? It profited something indeed, in cleansing bodies, in remitting certain sins:
but it profited nothing towards this, that it might make perfect those serving in it, since it did not take away the graver sins, nor open to anyone the door of the heavenly homeland: wherefore it was rejected, that place might be given to the grace of God, in which perfection consists: it was indeed useful to those having faith in Christ; not to those who placed all their hope in carnal observances. 'But there is a bringing in of a better hope.' Understand, this is now in grace. 'By which'—hope—'we draw nigh to God.' The law had hope indeed, but not such as grace bestowed: for the well-pleasing, and those keeping the law, hoped to possess the land, according to that: 'If you be willing, and will hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land';
and to suffer nothing wretched, to live prosperously, as it was said: 'He that shall do it, shall live thereby.' But here we hope that, mourning and keeping the evangelical precepts, we shall possess not the land but heaven. Moreover also—which is far better than heaven—we hope to stand near to God, to arrive at the very paternal throne, and to minister to Him with the angels, according to what the Saviour said in the Gospel: 'The just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and shall be as the angels of God in heaven.' But this priesthood, through which we are to possess this glory, is not without an oath, that we may believe the firm promise of God. Whence the Apostle adds, 'And inasmuch'—understand, firm is this priesthood of Christ of which we speak, surely by much—
because it was 'not without an oath' confirmed. 'Others indeed were made priests without an oath'—as Aaron and his sons, to whom God did not swear that he should be a priest for ever according to the order of the law. 'But this man with an oath' was made a priest, through Him—that is, through God the Father—'who said unto Him: The Lord hath sworn and will not repent'—that is, He will not change His oath—'Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech.' 'By so much of a better covenant is Jesus made a surety'—or promiser.
Understand, inasmuch as He holds His priesthood with the oath of God the Father, inasmuch as the priesthood of Christ, which is sanctioned by the oath of God, excels by its dignity, so too the grace of the Gospel excels the law of Moses. 'And the others indeed were made many priests'—according to the law—'because they were hindered by death from continuing'; 'but this man'—Christ, to whom the Father said with an oath, 'Thou art a priest for ever'—'because he continueth for ever, hath an everlasting priesthood.' Two differences the blessed Apostle here sets down: that our Priest has no end, as the priests of the law had, and that He is to possess His priesthood with an oath.
For because the priests of the law were mortal, they were made many in that very law, as Aaron and his sons: therefore, being cut off by death, they were hindered from continuing in the priesthood: for when the fathers died, the sons succeeded to their place: but Jesus alone, because He is immortal, has an everlasting priesthood; nor will He be able to have any successor: because He Himself abides for ever. There follows: 'Whence He is able also to save for ever those who come by Himself to God, always living to make intercession for us.' Whence, he says, because Christ abides for ever, and has an everlasting priesthood, He always makes intercession for us, and always is able to save. But as to what certain codices have, 'coming by Himself to God';
but others in the plural number, 'those coming': either reading can be received. Christ therefore, our high priest, does not Himself come to God the Father through another greater high priest, but through Himself: and therefore He is able to save those who believe in Him. It can also be understood thus, that which he says, 'He is able to save for ever those coming by Himself to God': for because we are mere men, we come through Him to God the Father (because, existing as mediator, He stands before the face of God for us), directing through Him our prayers to the Father. Whence the priests of the Church, assisting at the altar, say: 'Receive, O Lord, the prayers of Thy people, through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son.' And because He always lives, He always makes intercession for us.
But the other high priests, because they were not always, did not always make intercession. But He makes intercession for us through this, that He assumed human nature for us, which He continually shows to the face of God for us, and has mercy according to each substance. 'For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.' We were not worthy, nor did we deserve, to have such a high priest: but it was necessary for us that we should have such a high priest, who was holy in the inner man, innocent in hands, undefiled in body, separated from sinners; likewise immune from all sin, and separated from the conversation of sinners.
For in this He was separated, because other men are conceived and born with sin, and pass out of this world with sin: but He was conceived without sin, was born without sin, and passed out of this world without sin: since He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. He was made higher than the heavens, when on the fortieth day of His wondrous resurrection He was raised above all the heavens and above all the orders of heavenly spirits to the session of the paternal majesty, where He now sits in the fulness of honour and glory. It can also be understood thus, that which he said, 'Such a high priest it was fitting we should have,' as if he said:
The Jews, as servants serving God in the fear of the law, had legal high priests, fellow-servants to them and mortal and sinners, who likewise needed to offer for themselves: but we, to whom it was said, 'Now I call you not servants, but my friends,' and because we are sons of God, serving Him in the love of sonship, it is fitting that we should have an immortal high priest, separated from sinners. There follows: 'Who would not have need daily, as the priests of the law, first to offer sacrifices for His own beloved, then for the people's: for this He did once, by offering Himself.'
What did our Lord Jesus Christ do? Surely He offered a sacrifice not for His own sins, but for ours, and He did this once, no more, because having died once for our sins, He now dies no more, death shall no more have dominion over Him. Here he shows the greatness of Christ's sacrifice, that being offered once it prevailed so much as all the legal sacrifices could not: for it was one and offered once, and suffices for ever to take away all the sins of believers.
But the high priests of the Jews were sinners, and therefore needed to offer sacrifices for their own offences, and for this reason those sacrifices could not justify a man, because it was unfitting that for a rational man an irrational animal should be offered. A high priest without sin was sought, and a rational victim, and none was found: there was found one without sin, God and man, and He offered Himself, a rational sacrifice, for the salvation of rational man. 'For the law makes men priests who have infirmity.' And the Lord said to Moses: 'Thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons to me as priests': but because they had infirmity, that is, sins, they offered sacrifices both for the people and for their own offences.