For if it were otherwise, since it is offered in many places, there would be many Christs: which be far from us. Therefore he is one everywhere, existing full both here and there: having everywhere one full body. And as he who is offered everywhere is one body, not many bodies; so also there is one sacrifice. There follows: For it is impossible that sins should be taken away by the blood of bulls and goats. What reason could there be that a rational man should be cleansed by the blood of an irrational animal? Wherefore the lighter sins were purged, and the body was cleansed, as far as pertains to the law: yet it was impossible that criminal and graver sins should be cleansed by those sacrifices: whence the law brought no one to perfection. Therefore, entering into the world, he said:
Sacrifice and offering you would not: but a body you have fitted for me. Whole burnt offerings for sin did not please you. Then I said: Behold, I come—in the head of the book it is written of me—that I may do your will, O God. By these words the former victims are shown to be useless for a complete and perfect cleansing, and to have been rather a form, and not acceptable to God, since from the beginning they did not please him: for it is not to be thought that Almighty God was ever delighted by the reek of fleshly things and the burning of animals: though he is read to have smelled an odour of sweetness, yet it was the faith and desire of the offerer. Whence he says through Jeremiah: 'Your burnt offerings are not accepted by me, and your victims have not pleased me.' And through Isaiah:
'Offer no more sacrifice,' he says; 'incense is an abomination to me: he who slays an ox is as one who would brain a dog.' But hence no small question can arise: Why did he command that they ought to be offered, if they did not please him, nor were of his will? This can be solved by a twofold solution. Almighty God, considering that the minds of the Jews were prone to worship idols and to imitate the rite of the Gentiles, commanded them to offer many sacrifices; lest, sitting idle without sacrifices, they should fall into the worship of strange gods when they saw others offering; and he preferred that things created by himself be offered to himself, rather than to idols and to the portents of demons; and he imposed on them a servitude, not a justification, because it is not his will that such things be offered.
In like manner the distinguished preacher also, following the Creator as a creature does, dealt in his own sayings, saying: 'I would that all men were even as myself,' that is, chaste and continent. And again: 'I would,' he says, 'that the young marry, and bear children,' on account of fornication and adultery. Behold, he set forth two wills; yet nevertheless both are not his own. First, saying, 'I would that all men were in continence even as myself,' he expressed his own will. But secondly, 'I would that the young marry,' he spoke thus by way of indulgence, on account of the frailty of the flesh. In like manner it was not the will of Almighty God that such sacrifices be offered, but he commanded it on account of their weakness.
Whence above he said that he not only did not will it, but did not even desire it. It can also be solved thus: That because the true sacrifice of Christ was to be in the Church, he commanded the type and figurative sacrifices to go before: and indeed it was necessary that, just as it was foretold in words, so also it should be prefigured in mysteries, so that they might pass from the figurative things to the truth. But because those sacrifices did not please him, he came again, of whom the Apostle says: 'Therefore,' he says, 'because it was impossible that sins should be taken away by the blood of goats, and because such sacrifices did not please God, entering into the world'—there is no doubt but that it is Christ who speaks. Now this entering is nothing else but his mission, his appearing, namely of his humanity.
For when he who was everywhere present, yet invisible, having afterwards become man, appeared visibly to the world, in a certain manner he entered there where he already was. And what does he say to God the Father? 'Sacrifice,' he says, 'and offering you would not: but a body you have fitted (or perfected) for me': that sacrifice, acceptable to you, I will offer. Whole burnt offerings for sin did not please you. Then I said: Behold, I come through the mystery of the Incarnation, that by my sacrifice I may redeem the human race. That sacrifice was called a holocaust which was wholly burned upon the altar, as if wholly kindled: for 'holon' means 'whole,' and 'caustum' means 'burned': just as 'holovitreum' means 'wholly of glass.' But if whole burnt offerings for sin did not please him, it may be asked how men were cleansed by them?
To this it must be answered that they were cleansed as worthy through faith and repentance, just as David was cleansed from the sin of adultery and of murder; but the perfect cleansing was given at the coming of Christ. 'In the beginning of the book it is written of me, that I should do thy will, O God.' Concerning the beginning of this book the teachers dispute in various ways. For some understand here the beginning of Genesis, where it is written, 'In the beginning,' that is, in the Son God made heaven and earth. Some understand the first Psalm, which certain ones refer to Christ, and certain ones to any of the elect, in which it is said, 'His will is in the law of the Lord.'
But since in these nothing is prefigured concerning the death of Christ, of which the Apostle speaks throughout this whole passage, it seems better to understand it as spoken of the beginning of the book of Leviticus. For since that whole book is taken up with sacrifices and victims, it commanded the first sacrifice to be offered from a calf, saying, 'If any one of you offers a victim to God from the herds, let him offer a spotless male,' that is, a calf from the oxen or from the herd. That calf, taken from the oxen and offered in sacrifice, is Christ, sprung from the race of the patriarchs and immolated for the salvation of the human race. For it was the will of God the Father that the Son should redeem the human race by His passion; whence the Son Himself, drawing near to His passion, says:
'But that the world may know that I love the Father; and: As the Father gave me commandment, so do I. Arise, let us go hence,' that is, let us go to the passion. Saying above that 'sacrifices and offerings and holocausts for sin thou wouldest not, neither are they pleasing to thee' which are offered according to the law 'then said I: Behold I come, that I should do thy will, O God.' 'He taketh away the first,' understand: the Testament, while He rejects its offerings, 'that He may establish that which followeth,' namely the Testament, that is, He causes it to stand and endure. 'In which will,' of God the Father, which the Son fulfilled, 'we are sanctified,' in baptism, 'by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.' When it says 'once,' it is as if it said:
We are sanctified in baptism through the passion which Christ celebrated once. 'And every priest indeed of the law stands,' at the altar, 'daily ministering, and offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins' understand the criminal and capital ones. 'But this man,' there is no doubt but that it is Christ, 'offering one sacrifice for sins, sitteth for ever at the right hand of God, from thenceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool.' To minister, or to offer, is a sign of ministration, by which the humility of Christ is understood. But the altar is a sign of one judging and ruling, that He may be ministered unto; by which is shown the exaltation and glory of Christ, who appeared humble:
but now, exalted above every creature, He dwells in the fullness of majesty, waiting and considering the time when at length He shall judge. And He explains for what cause this delay takes place, saying: 'That his enemies be made his footstool.' His enemies are the Jews, heretics, and false Christians, and all unbelievers, who are to be subjected to His power. Here both a necessary subjection can be understood, which pertains to the reprobate who remain in wickedness; and a voluntary one, which pertains to the elect, who, abandoning the way of wickedness, willingly submit themselves to Christ. Those priests of the Jews, offering many sacrifices daily, could not take away sins:
but Christ, offering Himself once, took away the sins of the world; He now sits in the glory of God the Father. For by one oblation He has perfected for ever those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after He had said, 'And this is the testament which I will make to them after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my laws in their hearts, and in their minds I will write them; and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.' The Holy Spirit, he says, bears witness to us also, that is, He confirms our words by His testimony, not only through the Psalmist, but also through the prophet, that those sacrifices are no longer to be offered.
In the words that follow there is an omission of a clause quite necessary, wherefore let it be said thus: 'For after almighty God had said through the prophet Jeremiah: And this is the testament which I will make to them after those days, saith the Lord: I will give my laws in their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,' He at once added: 'And their sin I will remember no more,' showing that henceforth the figurative sacrifices would no longer be necessary. This the Apostle also makes plain when he adds: 'But where there is' of these 'sins remission, there is now' no 'necessary oblation for sin.' For after this testament was fulfilled, which God had promised through the prophet, those sacrifices at once came to an end:
because when truth came, the shadow departed. It is therefore to be noted that where there is no remembrance of sins which is forgiven in baptism through faith in the Lord's passion there is no longer any necessary oblation of the law for sin. 'Having therefore, brethren, confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ, which he hath dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is, his flesh, and a high priest over the house of God.' Thus far he has shown the difference between the high priest and the sacrifices, the tabernacle also and the testament and the promise, with much diversity; now, inviting, he exhorts to those things which have come to us in truth through Christ, giving authority concerning the great High Priest and saying:
Therefore, he says, we who are cleansed by the blood of Christ have more confidence than those who offered sacrifices carnally, because our victim is true and rational. For we have so much greater confidence in the entrance into the heavens through the blood of Christ, inasmuch as we have been made more fully co-heirs. No one will be able to attain to the gifts of the Holy Spirit except through faith, or confidence, that is, through the new and living way which Christ inaugurated for us he gave this as the beginning of using it. He calls faith the new way, which was given through Christ, or else the example of humility by which He Himself proceeded, humbling Himself even unto death. We can also take the new way as the entrance to the heavenly homeland opened for us through Christ:
which is therefore called the new way, because it was accessible to no one before. But by saying 'New,' he tries to show that all the greater things are new, since now the way of faith is opened to us, through which we receive the fullest justification, and the gates of heaven are opened to us, which was granted to no one before. He also called it 'living,' that is, always abiding and always open, since both right faith will abide eternally and the gate of heaven will always be open. And Christ inaugurated this way for us, that is, He dedicated and confirmed it, or gave it, through the veil, that is, His flesh.
And He first opened that way, by ascending to the heavenly homeland, and He Himself first gave us the beginning of using it. But the Lord's flesh is not unfittingly designated by the name of a veil; because just as the veil concealed the ark and the things which were beyond it, so beyond it the divinity of the Word lay hidden. And just as through the veil one came to the interior, so through the humanity one comes to the knowledge of the divinity. And the great Priest over the house of God is understood to be Christ, who is appointed by God the Father over the Church; according to what He Himself says: 'But I am appointed king by him.' It follows: 'Let us draw near with a true heart, and in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water.'
These depend on the foregoing, where the Apostle says: 'Having therefore, brethren, confidence in the entering into the holies by the blood of Christ, let us draw near to God with a true heart.' What is it to draw near to Christ with a true heart? He explained it by adding: 'In fullness of faith,' that we may believe that the general resurrection is to come; as if he said: Since we now have confidence to enter the heavenly homeland, we ought not to hesitate as if there were a resurrection of some and not of others; but with true faith we ought to believe that all men will rise, some to glory, some to punishment. For if anyone hesitates about this, he does not have true and full faith. It can also be understood otherwise:
Full faith is that which is conceived in the heart, confessed with the mouth, and adorned with good works. With this faith one must draw near to the Lord, whoever wishes the entrance of the heavenly homeland to be opened. It is therefore necessary that hearts be sprinkled, that is, cleansed in their hearts from an evil conscience, from sins, from an evil will, or having clean hearts; and at the same time he shows that not faith alone, but also a life with virtues is required, since faith without works is dead. The Jews cleansed their bodies, not their conscience. 'And washed,' he says, 'the body,' or having the body washed 'with clean water,' that is, the water of baptism. He says the body is to be washed with the water of baptism, because while the body is washed with water, the soul is sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
'Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he is faithful that hath promised.' We hold the confession of hope unwaveringly if we do not despair of the heavenly homeland, of all the things which the Lord has promised us; or if we firmly observe those things which we professed in baptism. For just as Christ is a faithful and true rewarder in His promises, so He wishes us to be faithful in our promises, which we know we made at the time of baptism to renounce the devil and also to serve Christ. 'And let us consider one another to provoke unto charity and to good works.'
That is, let us carefully consider among ourselves, and whomsoever we see to have greater charity and to be intent on better works, let us be provoked by his example, so that we may imitate him to the utmost; let us fix our gaze on him that we may love him; for from love good works proceed. Wherefore the good of love is great, and there is no good which is not done through charity; since love is the fullness of the law. 'Not forsaking our assembly,' that is, the congregation of the faithful, 'as some have a custom; but comforting' understand: one another. In this place he not only admonished, but also blamed and terrified those who rend the unity of charity:
For there were many who disturbed the congregation of the faithful, as though they could not dwell among them for the sake of their own sanctity, and forsook their assembly, dwelling alone, that they might seem to be more freely at leisure for God. Such men, swollen with pride, despised the rest and rent charity; whom the Apostle both admonishes and terrifies on both counts, exhorting them not to forsake the fellowship of the faithful, but rather to choose to comfort the simpler ones and strengthen them by their own example: for so great is the value of the fellowship of the faithful, that where two or three are gathered together in the name of the Savior, He is in the midst of them. It follows: 'And so much the more,' pursue charity and comfort one another, 'as you see the day approaching' -
the day of Judgment, in which the merits of each will be examined. Or the last day of our life; for he says in another place: 'Be nothing solicitous, for the Lord is nigh.' 'For if we sin willfully after having received the knowledge of the truth,' that is, after the knowledge of true faith and the grace of baptism, 'there is now left no sacrifice for sins.' If we sin willingly and deliberately, after we have received the knowledge of true faith, and after we have been cleansed in baptism, there is no longer reserved for us a sacrifice for sin to be offered on our behalf, as in the Old Testament it was granted to offer sacrifices repeatedly for sin. For neither is Christ, who is our victim, to be immolated again for our sins:
for this was done once, and there is no need for it a second time, but there is rather need, after having received grace, to remain in right faith and in the purity of good works. You have been cleansed in baptism; you are free from crimes and all sins; you have been made a son of God: if you return to the first state, a most grievous judgment will await you thereafter, unless you are recalled through worthy repentance. But by these words he does not exclude repentance, nor the propitiation which is made through repentance; nor does he repel and cast down those who fall into despair; but he excludes a second washing of baptism. For he is not so hostile to our salvation as to say that there is no more repentance nor remission of sins; but, he says, there is no more a sacrifice;
that is, there is no more cross, so that Christ should be crucified again, and we baptized again. For just as Christ died once, and now dies no more, so we too, once baptized in the likeness of His death and burial as the Apostle says elsewhere, 'Buried together with him by baptism into death' can no longer be rebaptized. 'And how much more, where there were more, will His grace be in them?' 'But a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the emulation of fire, which shall consume the adversaries.' Emulation is sometimes taken for imitation, sometimes for envy; but here it is taken for consuming and vengeance. The Apostle therefore terrifies all, that they may fear to slip back into vices after the washing of baptism, because they cannot be rebaptized.
He also terrifies them, that if they have sinned, they may strive at once to do worthy repentance; since whoever neglects the medicine of repentance, the vengeance and consuming of eternal fire will devour him. Wherefore let each one, while he has time, flee to the medicines of repentance, lest he be handed over to the eternal fire. 'A man making void the law of Moses, without any mercy' upon two or three witnesses namely being convicted 'dieth: how much more, do you think, he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath esteemed the blood of the testament unclean, by which he was sanctified, and hath offered an affront to the Spirit of grace?' It is said to be the law of Moses for this reason, because it was given through Moses by the Lord:
just as we too are accustomed to say in the Lord's Prayer to the Lord: 'Give us this day our daily bread' not because it was ours before, but when it is given by Him, it becomes ours. The Apostle strikes terror into the Christians, taking a comparison from the law of Moses, which if anyone had transgressed, making it void and empty, being convicted by two or three witnesses, he was condemned by the judges and at once slain, without any mercy or pardon. He says therefore: If he who has transgressed the law which was given through a servant was slain without any mercy, how much more grievous punishments will he sustain who has trodden underfoot the Son of God!
Indeed, by as much as Christ is greater than Moses, and the grace of the Gospel given by the Son is greater than the law given and administered through a servant, by so much the greater and worse punishments will he deserve who has trodden underfoot Christ. But how can we tread underfoot Him who sits at the right hand of God the Father, exalted above all the heavens? When we count His commandments as nothing, disdaining to fulfill them, then indeed we tread Him underfoot. For just as those things which we tread underfoot we count as nothing and of no honor, so also those who sin freely without fear and without repentance tread Christ underfoot, or despise and scorn Him; they in no way fear Him as the future judge. Or certainly whoever unworthily receives His body treads Christ underfoot.
Or (to state it in a third way) he treads Christ underfoot who by living badly drives Him out of the tabernacle of his own heart Him who said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them.' He also esteems the blood of the testament unclean or, as it is in the Greek, common, or defiled who counts as nothing the blood of Christ's passion, by which the New Testament was confirmed, and by which he himself also is sanctified from the time of the passion. In another way no less, to esteem the blood of the testament unclean is to receive the mystery of Christ's blood unworthily, and to make no difference between it and other things: since in it he was sanctified at the time of baptism, and can also be sanctified daily, if he receives it worthily; concerning such the Apostle says:
'He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself,' not discerning or distinguishing the body and blood of the Lord from other foods and drinks. He also offers an affront to the Spirit of grace, that is, to the Holy Spirit, who by living badly casts Him out of the tabernacle of his own heart. Or he who does not believe that through Him the remission of sins takes place in the Church; or certainly he who blasphemes Him, by denying His works and attributing them to the devil. Whence the Lord says: 'He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither here, nor in the world to come.'
He is called the Spirit of grace for this reason, either because through Him our sins are freely forgiven us, or certainly because, by His distribution, the graces of the gifts of the spirits are divided among the faithful, which the Apostle mentions, saying: 'And to one indeed is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge,' and the rest, until he concludes, saying: 'All these things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one according as he will.' 'For we know him that said: Vengeance is mine, I will repay.' Almighty God speaks through the prophet: To me, doing injury and affront, I will render vengeance; and I will repay them according to what they deserve. And again: 'For the Lord will judge his people.' This was said of His enemies.
I will repay those who do evil, not those who suffer evil. That is, of those who live negligently, and are unwilling to purge themselves through repentance; but who, though they do evil, approach the Lord's table securely. But the people whom the Lord is said to judge we can understand in two ways, referring it both to the elect people and to the reprobate. For the Lord will judge His people, that is, He will separate His folk; and He will discern the good from the wicked, the faithful from the unfaithful. But if it be referred to the reprobate, 'to judge' must be taken for 'to condemn.' And they are called the people of the Lord, not through grace, but through creation. 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'
He falls into the hands of the Lord who, trembling at the judgment of man, makes light of the judgment of almighty God. He also falls into the hands, that is, into the power and judgment of almighty God, whoever after sin scorns to do repentance. Whoever therefore is a sinner, if he does not repent of his sins, will fall into the fearful and greatly-to-be-dreaded judgment of almighty God, who will render to each according to his works. 'But call to mind the former days, wherein, being illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions.' The best of physicians, when they have cut a wound, and by the incision have caused an increase of pain, apply consolation and remedy to that place where the pain is, and revive the disturbed soul.
But after they have restored him, they no longer make another incision; rather, with milder and effective medicines they mitigate the extent of what has been done, and soothe the pains. So too the Apostle in this place acts after their manner. For after he had shaken their souls, and pricked them with the mention of Gehenna, affirming in every way that those who at any time do injury to the grace of God will perish and teaching this from the law of Moses and other testimonies, and saying that it is to be feared to fall into the hands of the living God at once, lest through great fear they should rush into despair, he consoles them with praise, blandishments, and prayers, recalling to their memory their past good works:
'Call to mind,' he says, 'the former days, wherein, being illuminated' through faith and strengthened through divine grace 'you endured a great fight of afflictions'; as if he said: When you were brought to the faith, when you were at the beginning of faith, you displayed such fortitude that you endured a great fight of afflictions for the name of Christ from your fellow-countrymen. For some of the believing Jews were despoiled by the unbelievers; but some were not. But those who were not despoiled ministered to the others from their own means; wherefore when the unbelievers had learned this, they inflicted many evils on both. Whence the Apostle does not say simply that they endured a fight, but added 'great';
nor does he say 'temptations,' but 'sufferings.' 'And on the one hand indeed, by reproaches and tribulations, being made a spectacle' you were, 'and on the other, becoming companions of them who were so used.' 'On the one part,' he says, by reproaches, that is, by insults and mockeries, and by tribulations, you were made a spectacle that is, publicly and in the sight of many you were mocked. 'On the other part' you became companions in the compassion of those who were so used namely of the apostles, and of those who were despoiled of their own possessions, and afflicted with beatings, and thrust into prison. In two ways he shows that they labored well: namely, either because publicly they were afflicted with various reproaches and tribulations: