Commentary on Revelation & Paul 15 part 7/14

But this man is so mighty that He needed not to offer for Himself, but moreover by the once-offered sacrifice of His own flesh He sufficed for the salvation of all. 'But the word of the oath, which was since the law,' constitutes the Son perfect for ever. Understand, it shows, or constitutes, a perfect priest, not burdened with infirmity, as the law constitutes its own priests after the law; the word of God the Father to David concerning Christ was made with an oath, where it is said: 'The Lord hath sworn and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever.' Here the Apostle sets the name 'Son' for the distinction of the servants who were under the law: because the servants were weak, whether because they were sinners, or because they were mortal;

He shows the Son to be perfect, because He ever lives and is without sin. CHAPTER VIII. 'Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum.' That is, a summing-up of the things which have been said concerning Christ; and by this word he signifies something supreme and great, and, as it were, by a recapitulation of the preceding arrangement, he leads the hearer on to the matter itself. 'We have such a high priest.' Understand, such as we described above: holy, that is, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and such as we shall yet describe in what follows. 'Who is set on the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens, a minister of the saints, and of the true tabernacle, which God pitched, and not man.'

By 'the throne of majesty in the heavens' we ought to understand the fulness of the paternal majesty, in which the Son of God sits; which is also designated by 'the right hand.' Nor is it to be understood in a childish way, as though God the Father had a right hand or a left, He who is a Spirit filling all things, so that the Son should sit at His right hand as a son is wont to sit beside his father the king. But, as we have said, by 'the right hand' we ought to understand the fulness of majesty and the highest glory of blessedness and prosperity, in which the Son sits. And 'to sit' is here put for 'to dwell.' Our high priest, therefore, who is set in the highest glory of the paternal majesty in the heavens, is 'a minister of the saints'; which can be taken in two ways.

For the Lord, coming into the world through the manifestation of the Incarnation, ministered to the holy apostles and to the other faithful, even to those who are yet to come, the bread of the refreshment of the spiritual word, and the drink of the evangelical teaching, saying: 'If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink,' and: 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.' He ministered to them also the instruction of faith and the grace of baptism, and moreover, what was greater, the sacrament of redemption through His own passion, and the knowledge of the mysteries in the Law and the Prophets; and after His ascension He ministered to His elect, appearing in the world. Let it be said also in another way:

He will be a minister of the saints in the time to come, when He will minister His very self to them, and they shall know Him, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, even as He is: namely, when He shall have delivered up His kingdom to God and the Father. Whence in the Gospel, speaking of Himself under the person of the master of the household, He says: 'Verily I say unto you, that He will gird Himself and make them sit down, and passing through He will minister unto them.' For He is said 'to pass through' because He will make His elect pass from judgment to the kingdom, or He will raise us up from the contemplation of His humanity to the knowledge of His divinity. 'He will minister unto them' when He shall manifest Himself and the Father with the Holy Spirit to them: for their food and their life shall be the vision of the Holy Trinity, as He Himself says to the Father:

'This is life eternal, that they may know Thee, with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent, the one and true God.' He is also a minister of the true tabernacle, which God appointed or framed, and not man: that is, of heaven, which He Himself administers to us, that we may be enlightened by the brightness of its stars. For the tabernacle which Bezaleel framed in the desert, or the temple which Solomon made in the land of promise, was not the true one; and it was consumed by age, nor could it endure forever: therefore he calls heaven the true tabernacle, since it shall stand for eternity and shall be consumed by no age.

It can also be understood in a higher sense, so that by the true tabernacle are taken the souls of the saints, to whom the Son of God Himself administers the joys of the heavenly homeland, and in whom He deigns to dwell: according to that which He says through the Prophet: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them.' And the Apostle: that Christ may dwell 'in the inner man' through faith in our hearts; and, 'The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.' For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, whence it is necessary that this one too should have something which he may offer. He cannot be a priest unless he have something to offer: for the high priests of the old priesthood, according to the precept of the Law, offered gifts and sacrifices for the sins of the people;

but Christ, in the eternal nature of His divinity, having nothing to offer, took from us that which He might offer for us: that is, human flesh, namely His very self, whom He offered on the altar of the cross. What, then, is so fit for immolation as rational flesh in the place of irrational? and what is so clean for the cleansing of others as to offer flesh without any contagion and unspotted? And since four things are to be considered in every sacrifice, namely: to whom it is offered, by whom it is offered, what is offered, for whom it is offered, these too we can find here quite elegantly: for since sacrifice is owed to none but God alone, our High Priest offered a clean victim for us to God the Father.

Being Himself the same priest for the sacrifice, He also offers a sacrifice acceptable to God the Father through His Church. Therefore, while we offer the sacraments of His body, He Himself offers. 'If then He were on earth.' Understand: an earthly priest according to the order of Aaron. 'He would not be a priest.' According to the order of Melchisedech. 'Since there are.' Priests of the Levitical line. 'Who offer gifts according to the Law, who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as it was answered to Moses, when he had completed'—that is, perfected—'the tabernacle. Of the oracle.'

If there were an earthly high priest upon earth, like Aaron, or another according to the order of Melchisedech, immortal and without sin, who could have cleansed the human race by sacrifices and rendered it perfect, then indeed there would be no priest according to the order of Melchisedech forever: because those who offer the lawful gifts would suffice. But because Aaron and his sons were mortal and sinners, and therefore could not render the human race perfect; on that account Christ came without sin, who might hold His priesthood forever, and by His own sacrifice might most perfectly cleanse the human race: not such as those were who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. An 'example' is a figure and likeness, through which another thing is shown:

as an image portrayed on a wall is the example and figure of the true light. The priests of the Jews, therefore, served unto the example, that is, the figure and shadow of the heavenly mysteries, because all those things were likenesses and figures of these things which are now performed in truth in the Church. But by 'heavenly mysteries' he means spiritual things, which lead those who observe them, in truth, to heavenly things. Is not our life a heavenly altar, on which we daily offer our prayers to God? 'See,' he says, 'that thou make all things according to the example which was shown thee on the mount.' Since our hearing seems to be less apt for receiving instruction than our sight—for we do not so commit to mind the things we hear as those which we perceive by sight itself.

Therefore not only by hearing, but also by sight, it was shown to Moses by the Lord on the mount what he was to make with Bezaleel's help, whence he says: 'See that thou make all things according to that likeness which was shown thee on the mount.' Now what he says is to be understood both of the construction of the tabernacle and its vessels, and of the sacrifices and victims which were to be offered there. 'But now He hath obtained a better ministry'—namely, the dignity of the priesthood—'by how much also He is the mediator of a better testament, which was established upon better promises.' That is, confirmed, appointed, and corroborated.

'You see,' he says, 'by how much this celebration is better than that which was performed at that time, since that was for an example and figure, but this is the truth,' as it is said in the Gospel: 'The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.' Now—that is, in the last age of the world—Christ has obtained a ministry of the priesthood so much better than that legal one had been, by how much also He is the mediator of a better testament: by how much heavenly things are better than earthly, eternal than temporal, by so much Jesus is the giver of a better testament, and by so much it was confirmed with better promises. For that testament indeed promised temporal and earthly things, saying: 'If ye be willing and hearken to Me, ye shall eat the good things of the land'; and:

'Keep the things which I command thee, that thou mayest be long-lived upon the earth'; and other things like these, holding forth temporal and earthly things. But the New, which was given through Christ, promises and bestows heavenly and earthly things, and a perfect life through the grace of baptism, and faith in the Lord's passion, and the remission of all sins. And: 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved'; and: 'They shall be as the angels of God in heaven.' And moreover, what is greater, which is said in the Gospel of John: 'As many,' he says, 'as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God.' Behold how Christ is the mediator and giver of a better testament, and how it was confirmed with better promises.

In this also He has obtained a better priesthood, because that was temporal, this eternal. That could not justify a man, nor unlock the kingdom of heaven to those who observed it; but this both perfectly justifies a man, and straightway opens the kingdom of heaven. And the Lord is called the mediator of the testament, because just as Moses was a mediator between God and the people, carrying the words of God to the people, and again the words of the people to God, so also Christ carried the words of God the Father to us, and again carries ours to Him. The Apostle, passing from priest and sacrifice, then at length makes also the distinction of the testament, saying: 'For if that first'—testament—'had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for the second'—testament.

That is, if that testament of the Law could take away sins, so that those who observed it were blameless, no place would be left for the second Testament; but because that was not perfect, when it was taken away, a place fit for the second Testament was found. There follows: 'For finding fault with them'—that is, not approving them as worthy of praise—'He says'—through the prophet—'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and I will complete upon the house of Israel, and upon the house of Judah, a new testament.' As pertains to the letter, by 'the house of Israel' are understood the ten tribes, which separated themselves from the house of David in the times of Jeroboam; but by 'the house of Judah,' the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, together with the priestly tribe, which cleaved to the house of David.

But by a higher understanding, by both houses we ought to understand all who believe, both from among the Jews and from among the Gentiles, who by rightly confessing God—which is the meaning of 'Judah'—are true Israelites, that is, those who see God with the mind, to whom God has accomplished and fulfilled the New Testament, namely the grace of the Gospel. And it is called the New Testament in distinction from the old. But if we speak yet more deeply, the Old Testament is so called because it could not make new the man set in the oldness of sin.

But the New Testament was so named because it makes new in baptism, through faith in the Lord's passion, the old man, that is, the one defiled by the sin of the old man Adam; which is not like the Old Testament that He made with their fathers, because that promised earthly and temporal things, and enjoined carnal things, whereas this promises eternal and heavenly things, enjoining spiritual things. But in that He said, 'In the day when I took hold of their hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt,' almighty God showed the great familiarity which He exhibited toward that people:

for the divine word speaks after the manner of women, who are wont to take the hands of little ones, and often to lead them to themselves, and often too to steady them this way and that lest they fall, inasmuch as they do not yet have firm steps; so almighty God, when that people was childish and small, because it had neither the steps of good work nor the strength by which it might free itself from the yoke of its oppressors, stretched out to it His hand—namely, the great help of His mercy—and drew it out of the iron furnace, drawing it to the knowledge of Himself, and to His most gracious embraces, and at the same time leading it through the vastness of the desert, brought it into a land better than all others.

But because they did not continue in His testament—that is, they did not keep what was enjoined upon them in the Testament—He neglected them, that is, He let them go according to the desires of their heart, according to what the Psalmist said. But it is to be noted that, when the divine word had said, 'I will complete the testament,' it added: 'Not according to the testament which I made with their fathers.' Lest perhaps the Jews might be able to say, snarling, that that testament was to be destroyed of which He said to Abraham, 'In thy seed shall all nations be blessed,' He distinctly made clear of which He was speaking, when He added: 'In the day when I took hold of their hand, to lead them out of the land of Egypt, since they did not continue in My testament, and I neglected them, saith the Lord.'

For He said this concerning the Law, which is established to have been given on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day of their departure from the land of Egypt, in which their fathers did not continue, but made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped it. For that which He covenanted with Abraham was fulfilled in Christ, in whom all nations shall be blessed. 'For this is the testament which I will dispose to the house of Israel'—namely, to all who believe—'after those days, saith the Lord, I will give My laws in their mind, and in their hearts I will superscribe them: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people. And each one shall not teach his neighbour, and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the greater even to the lesser of them:'

for I will be merciful to their iniquities, and their sin I will remember no more.' Great is the distance between law and law, between scripture and scripture, between the teachers of the Law and the teachers of the Gospel, between the letter and the grace of spiritual understanding. For the letter of the Law was written on tables of stone, but the grace of spiritual understanding was given to the faithful through the Holy Spirit in the heart, through which Spirit the love of God has been poured out in the hearts of the faithful. But this that He says, 'I will give My laws in their mind, and in their hearts I will write them,' pertains especially to the holy

apostles, who did not have the grace of the New Testament written on tables of stone, nor on parchments, but had it divinely engraved in their mind and hearts. First indeed the Lord's passion, when (as Matthew narrates) He went up into the mountain, and there held with them that lengthy discourse in which the institution of the whole perfect life is contained. Secondly, after His resurrection, when (as Luke testifies) He opened their understanding, that they might understand all the things which were written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning Himself. Then, on the tenth day from His ascension, they learn whatever was to be known by mortals concerning God.

How could the evangelists write, after His ascension, such great miracles and heavenly words, unless they had them divinely engraved on the tables of their hearts? especially blessed John, who wrote his Gospel sixty-five years after the Lord's ascension—how could he set forth so great a divinity of His, which the Lord Himself set forth to them, chiefly on the night when He was taken? But we have it written partly in our hearts, but more fully on parchments, left to us by them, that in meditating on these we may be exercised. But that which he subjoins: 'Each one shall not teach his neighbour, and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord,' is not to be referred to the present time, wherein we are taught by one another; but, as blessed

Augustine says, while the prophet Jeremiah was speaking of the Lord's first coming, he suddenly turned the eye of his mind to the second, after which no one shall teach his neighbour to know the Lord: because all the elect, set in His contemplation, shall see and know Him even as He is: for in the present (as we have said) we are taught by one another. 'Afterward He will not be mindful of their sins': because all, stripped of every dross of mortality and corruption of the body, endowed with immutability and free from sin, granted the glory of resurrection, shall shine as the angels of God in heaven. 'But in saying "new," He has made the former old.' The Apostle, taking confidence and authority from the prophetic sayings, where it is said:

'I will complete a new testament upon the house of Israel,' he shows that the former is now more manifestly to be ended. 'Since God says through the prophet, "I will complete a new Testament," He has made the former old,' that is, He has reduced it to oldness, or has shown that to be old which was before. Whence he also subjoins: 'But that which is antiquated and grows aged is near to destruction.' As if he said: what the divine word signified by saying that a new Testament was to come, showed the former to be old. It is given therefore to be understood that, if the former Testament is antiquated and old, it is soon at hand for it to perish and receive an end.

But this is to be understood not of the precepts of life and morals, in which the Law abides, being in accord with the Gospel, but of the commands concerning carnal sacrifices. In these the Law was to receive its end, upon the coming of Him whom they prefigured. CHAPTER IX. 'The former indeed had also justifications of worship and a worldly sanctuary.' 'The former Testament,' he says, 'had justifications of worship': because through divine worship men were justified from the lighter faults. It had also 'a worldly sanctuary,' in which it received the men of the world, that is, the Gentiles passing over to Judaism: it is evident also to be open not only to Jews, but also to such Gentiles. By 'a worldly sanctuary,' then, he calls the place of the courts where the Gentiles stood to pray, behind the Jews.

'For a tabernacle was made, the first, in which were the candlesticks and the table, and the setting forth of the loaves, which is called holy.' The Apostle here is not going to discourse of that tabernacle which Moses made in the wilderness, where there was only one candlestick, but of the temple which Solomon afterward built in Jerusalem, where there were several candlesticks. Whence what he calls 'first' is not to be referred to time, but rather to place: for the blessed Apostle calls that temple of Solomon two tabernacles; and 'the first tabernacle' indeed he names that part of the temple where were the candlesticks and the table upon which were set twelve warm loaves, six on this side and six on that;

and upon the loaves two golden dishes full of frankincense, one on this side and one on that, and they were there from sabbath to sabbath. There was also there a golden altar, where the incense of the sweet spices was offered morning and evening: with which part of the temple he comprehends the altar of holocausts, which was under the open sky before the doors of the temple of the Lord; into which tabernacle the priests and the other ministers lawfully entered daily. But by 'the second tabernacle' he wishes to be understood the Holy of Holies, namely that part of the temple which was divided by a wall of twenty cubits, and by a veil which hung before the wall, where within was the ark of Moses containing in itself the tables of the Law, and the golden urn in which was the manna, the rod of Aaron also which had budded:

but the ark itself was made with a flat surface, and therefore upon it was a golden plate, which was called the propitiatory, because from thence the Lord spoke to Moses and to the priests. And upon that ark were two cherubim, which with their wings overshadowed the plate of the propitiatory, and with faces turned looked toward the propitiatory. Into that second tabernacle, that is, into the Holy of Holies, no one entered except the high priest alone, once in the year. Having received blood in a small vessel, he entered within to pray for the people, namely on the seventeenth day of the seventh month from the paschal festival, which day indeed was called the Day of Propitiation. And on the morrow followed the festival of Tabernacles.

But spiritually, the first tabernacle, into which the priests lawfully entered, signifies the state of the present Church, where there are several candlesticks—namely the holy preachers, who by word and example give light to themselves and to others. Or also where there are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which the hearts of the faithful are illuminated, who through faith stand fast in the Church. There is also the table of God, namely Scripture, of which the Psalmist says: 'Thou hast prepared a table in my sight.' There is also the setting forth of the loaves upon the table—namely the understanding of holy Scripture, by which the souls of the faithful are daily refreshed. We can also understand by the loaf the body and blood of the Lord, which is consecrated in the Church.

But after the veil, the second tabernacle is that which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden censer, and the ark of the testament overlaid round about on every side with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and the rod of Aaron which had budded, and the tables of the testament. Of these individually, how and in what manner they were arranged, it was elucidated a little above according to the letter: wherefore let us look at the spiritual mysteries. The veil, behind which was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies on account of its dignity (as in the Song of Songs), signifies heaven, behind which is God in the interior of the heavenly homeland. With the veil lifted, the high priest entered with blood into the Holy of Holies to pray for the people:

and the Lord our High Priest, with the blood of His passion, that same passion accomplished, having unbarred heaven, penetrated the Holy of Holies, where He continually entreats God the Father for us. In the Holy of Holies was a censer, because Christ abides in the secret places of the heavenly homeland, through whom we direct our prayers to God the Father. The ark of the testament overlaid on every side with gold is the flesh of the Lord Saviour, who is the author of both testaments, and who, inwardly full of divinity, outwardly shone with the power of miracles and of heavenly words. By gold is wont to be designated the brightness of speech, as Wisdom says: 'Desire wisdom as gold.'

The golden urn holding the manna is Christ, in whom is the manna of divinity, who said: 'I am the living bread, who came down from heaven.' The rod of Aaron which had budded is the dignity of the priests, which ever flourishes in Christ, or it is the imperial power. The two tables of the testament in the ark are the two testaments existing together. There follows: 'Above which were'—that is, above the ark—'the cherubim of glory overshadowing the propitiatory.' The two cherubim covering it (which are interpreted 'fulness of knowledge') are the two testaments, in which is the fulness of knowledge, which cover Christ, who is the propitiation for sins: because He lies hidden in the divine Scripture. 'Of all which'—that is, what mystery they have in themselves—'it is not now to be spoken individually.'

Perhaps he was silent for this reason, because they had need of many words: or because they were not yet capable of bearing all things. 'Now these things being thus composed'—and arranged, which we have said to be both in the first tabernacle and in the second—that is, in the Holy of Holies. 'Into the former tabernacle'—that is, into that part of the temple where was the altar of incense, and before whose doors also was the altar of holocausts—'the priests always entered, accomplishing the offices of the sacrifices.' It is not to be understood that in the temple they offered victims upon the altar of incense or there performed the sacrifices of the victims; but rather by 'the offices of the sacrifices' we can take the incense, for the offering of which the priests always entered morning and evening;

or, the sacrifice being completed and perfected before the temple at the altar of holocausts, they always entered into the temple with incense. It can also be understood in a third way, so that, as we said above, with the temple he has also comprehended the altar of holocausts, and by this he wished to comprehend the whole by a part: yet both can be taken as true. 'But into the second, once in the year the high priest alone, not without blood, which he offers for his own and the people's ignorance.' The second tabernacle, into which the high priest alone entered with blood, signifies the interior of the heavenly homeland. But that high priest designates Christ, who once entered the Holy of Holies within the veil, His passion being fulfilled:

that He may now stand before the face of God, praying for us, not for His own sins, but for our offences. Unless perhaps He be said to pray for His own, on account of the communion which He has with His body, which is the Church: whence He says in His passion: 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Far from My salvation are the words of My sins.' For what are the words of the sins, unless of His body, which we are? For He Himself did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. 'This the Holy Spirit signifying, that the way of the saints was not yet made manifest.' That is, the Holy Spirit signifying this to Moses, that Christ had not yet come, who once with the blood of His passion should enter the secret places of the heavens.