希伯來書講道集 第 10 章

For the land which has drunk in the rain that comes often upon it, and which brings forth herbage fit for those on whose account it is also tilled, partakes of blessing from God;

but that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto a curse;

Let us hearken to the oracles of God with fear, with much fear and trembling;

for 'Serve the Lord with fear,' it says, 'and rejoice unto Him with trembling.'

But if even our joy and our exultation ought to come to pass with trembling, when the things spoken are also fearful, such as those before us now, of what punishment are we not worthy, if we hearken not with shuddering to the things that are said? Having said that it is impossible for those who have fallen away to be baptized a second time and to receive again the forgiveness that is through the laver, and having shown the awfulness of the matter, he adds:

'For the land which has drunk in the rain that comes often upon it, and which brings forth herbage fit for those on whose account it is also tilled, partakes of blessing from God;'

'but that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto a curse;'

this threat is not Paul's, these words are not a man's;

they belong to the Holy Spirit, to Christ who speaks in him.

Is there then anyone who is clean of these thorns? And even if we were clean, not even so ought we to be confident, but to fear and tremble lest thorns should ever spring up within us;

but when we are wholly and through and through thorns and briers, whence, tell me, do we take confidence and become supine? What is it that makes us grow slothful? If he who thinks he stands ought to fear lest he fall;

For 'let him who thinks he stands,' he says, 'take heed lest he fall.'

How much more must he who has fallen take anxious care to rise again? If Paul is afraid lest, having preached to others, he himself should become disqualified, and dreads becoming disqualified—he who was so approved—

then we, who have already become disqualified, what defense or pardon shall we have—we who have no fear at all, but fulfil our Christianity as a mere custom, and go through it as a perfunctory duty? Let us therefore fear, beloved.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

For it is revealed not against ungodliness only, but also against all unrighteousness, both small and great.

Here he hints at the loving-kindness of God.

By 'rain' he means teaching;

and what he said above—'When for the time you ought to be teachers'—this too he says here.

And in many places Scripture calls teaching 'rain';

for it says, 'I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it,'

speaking of the vineyard;

which elsewhere it calls a famine of bread and a thirst for water.

The river of God is full of waters.

'For the earth,' he says, 'which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it.'

Here he shows that they both received and drank in the word, and often partook of it, yet even so gained no benefit.

'For if you had not been tilled,' he says, 'if you had not enjoyed the rains, the evil would not have been so great;'

for 'if I had not come and spoken to them,' he says, 'they would not have had sin;'

'but if you have drunk often and received, why then, instead of fruit, have you brought forth other things? For I waited,' he says, 'that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth thorns.'

Do you see that everywhere Scripture calls sins 'thorns'? For David too says,

'I was turned to misery, while the thorn was fastened in me.'

For it does not merely come upon one, but fastens itself in;

and even if a little of it remains, and we do not pluck it all out, that little bit pains us just the same, exactly as with the thorn;

did I say the little bit? Even after it has been extracted, it leaves behind for a long while the pain of the wound;

and for this reason there is need of much care and treatment, in order to be completely freed from it;

for it is not enough merely to remove the sin, but the wounded place must also be healed.

But I fear lest what is said apply to us rather than to others—that is, 'The earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it;'

for we are ever drinking, ever hearing, but straightway we lose the moisture when the sun has risen, and for this reason we bring forth thorns.

What then are the thorns? Let us hear Christ saying that the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

'For the earth,' he says, 'which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for those'—

Nothing is so meet as purity of life, nothing so well-ordered as an excellent life, nothing so fitting as virtue.

'And bringing forth,' he says, 'herbs meet for those for whose sake it is tilled, it partakes of blessing from God.'

Here he says that God becomes the cause of all things, gently striking a blow at the pagan Greeks, who ascribe the birth of the fruits to the power of the earth.

'For it is not,' he says, 'the husbandman's hands that rouse the earth to the bearing of fruits, but the command that comes from God;'

It partakes of blessing from God.

And observe how, in the case of the thorns, he did not say 'bringing forth thorns,' nor did he use this favorable word, but what? 'Bearing thorns'—as one might say, casting them up, throwing them out.

'It is rejected,' he says, 'and nigh unto cursing.'

Ah, what great consolation the word holds!

For he said 'nigh unto cursing,' not 'a curse';

and he who has not yet fallen into the curse, but has only come near, will be able to become far from it also.

And he consoled them not by this alone, but also by what follows;

for he did not say, 'Rejected, and nigh unto cursing, which shall be burned;'

but what? 'Whose end is to be burned;'

showing that if one so persists to the end, this is what he will suffer.

So that, if we cut out and burn up the thorns, we shall be able to enjoy ten thousand good things, and to become approved, and to share in the blessing.

And fittingly he called sin a 'brier,' saying, 'Bearing thorns and briers;'

for from whatever side you take hold of it, it wounds and stings, and it is unsightly even to look upon.

Having therefore taken hold of them sufficiently, and frightened and stricken them, he heals them again, so as not to cast them down further, and render them supine;

for he who strikes the sluggish man makes him more sluggish.

Therefore he neither wholly flatters, so as not to puff up, nor wholly strikes, so as not to make them more supine;

but having applied a little of the stinging, he brings much of the healing through what follows, so as to accomplish what he desires.

For what does he say? 'But we are persuaded better things of you, beloved, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.'

That is: We say these things not as having condemned you, nor as thinking you full of thorns, but fearing lest this should come to pass;

for it is better to frighten you with words, that you may not suffer pain in the actual deeds.

And this is especially a mark of Paul's understanding.

And he did not say, 'We think,' nor 'We conjecture,' nor 'We expect,' nor 'We hope,' but what? 'We are persuaded.'

Which also, writing to the Galatians, he said:

'But I have confidence in you through the Lord, that you will be none otherwise minded.'

He did not say, 'You are minded,' but, 'You will be minded.'

For there, since they were greatly to be condemned, and he could not praise them from the present state of things, he does this from things to come, saying, 'You will be none otherwise minded;'

but here, from the present;

'But we are persuaded better things of you, beloved, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.'

And since from the present he could not say so much, he builds his consolation from things past, and says:

'For God is not unrighteous to forget your work, and the labor of love which you have showed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.' Ah, how he has revived their soul and restored their strength, by reminding them of things of old, and bringing them to the necessity of not expecting to be forgotten!

For he must needs sin, who is not fully persuaded concerning the righteous judgment of God, and concerning the recompense which he renders to each according to the worth of the deeds done in life, and who says that God is unrighteous.

So that he wholly constrained them to expect assuredly those things to come.

For him who has despaired from present circumstances and has given up, one may restore from things to come;

as he himself also said, writing to the Galatians, 'You did run well;'

'who did hinder you?' and again, 'Have you suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.'

And just as here he sets down the praise together with rebuke, saying:

'When for the time you ought to be teachers.'

I marvel that you are so quickly falling away.

The praise is uttered with astonishment; for it is of great things that we are amazed when they fall away.

For it is concerning great things, when they fall away, that we are amazed.

Do you see the praise hidden within the accusation and the reproach? And he says this not concerning himself alone, but concerning all.

For he did not say, 'I am persuaded,' but, 'We are persuaded concerning you of better things.'

He says these things either with respect to their manner of life, or with respect to the recompense.

Then, having said above that 'it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned,' lest he should seem to say this concerning them, he immediately added, 'For God is not unjust to forget your work and the labour of love.'

showing that even if we speak thus, we do not by any means say this concerning you.

And if you do not say it concerning us, why then do you rebuke us, calling us sluggish, and terrify us by mentioning thorns? Because we desire, he says, that each one of you show the same diligence unto the full assurance of hope until the end;

that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and long-suffering inherit the promises.

It is not, then, merely in words that we wish this.

We desire that you hold fast to virtue.

not as condemning your former deeds, he says, but as fearing for what is to come.

And he did not say, 'not as condemning your former deeds,' but 'your present ones';

for you have grown faint, you have become more slothful.

But see how gently he intimated it, and did not strike hard.

For what does he say? 'We desire that each one of you show the same diligence until the end.'

For this is the marvel of Paul's discernment, that he does not point out that they had given way, that they had slackened.

For to say, 'We desire each one of you,' is as if one should say:

'I want you to be always diligent, and such as you were before, to be such also now and in time to come.'

For this made the reproof gentler and more readily accepted.

And he did not say, 'I want'—which would have belonged to the authority of a teacher—but that which belonged to a father's tender affection, and more than 'want,' 'We desire';

'Forgive us, even if we utter something burdensome.'

For we desire that each one of you show the same diligence unto the full assurance of your hope until the end.

What is this? Hope, he says, sustains us; this restores us again;

do not grow faint, nor lose hope, lest your hope be in vain;

for he who works good things also hopes for good things, and never despairs of himself.

'That you may not become sluggish'—that you may be at your prime.

Since you have become sluggish in your hearing.

But see how there he limited the sluggishness to the hearing;

here, even if he utters this very word, yet he hints at something else;

for instead of saying, 'Do not remain in your slothfulness,' he said, 'Do not become sluggish.'

Again he leads them out to the time to come, which is free from liability, saying:

'That you may not become more sluggish';

for concerning that which is not yet present, we would not be held accountable.

For he who is exhorted to be diligent for the present time, as being slothful, will perhaps become even more reluctant;

but he who is exhorted for the time to come is not so.

'We desire,' he says, 'each one of you.'

and he cares alike for both great and small, and knows all, and overlooks none, but shows the same solicitude for each, and equal honour toward all;

wherefore he persuaded them the more to accept the burdensomeness of his words.

'That you may not become sluggish,' he says.

For just as idleness harms the body;

so also idleness in good things renders the soul more listless and torpid.

'But imitators,' he says, 'of those who through faith and long-suffering inherit the promises.'

And who these are, he tells next.

First he had said, 'Imitate your former good deeds';

What deeds? He leads them up to the patriarch, bringing them the examples of good deeds from their own household, and drawing them away from thinking they had been forsaken, from the example of the patriarch.

And this he does, that they may not say that they had been forsaken as of no account and despised, but may know that this belongs to the most noble of men—to journey through life by way of trials—and that God has so dealt with wondrous and great men.

'But one must,' he says, 'bear all things with long-suffering';

for this is also to believe.

For if he should say that he gives, and you should receive at once, in what did you believe? For this is no longer a matter of your faith, but of mine, he says—of me who anticipated the promise and gave it.

But if I should say that I give, and will give after a hundred years, and you do not lose hope;

then you counted me trustworthy, then you hold the fitting opinion concerning me.

Do you see that often unbelief arises not only from despair, but also from faintheartedness and from not being long-suffering, not from the One who made the promise? 'For God is not unjust,' he says, 'to forget your love, and the diligence which you showed toward His name, having ministered to the saints, and ministering still.'

He bears great witness to them, not of works only, but of works done with eagerness;

'And not only so, but they also gave themselves to the Lord and to us.'

'Which you showed,' he says, 'toward His name, having ministered to the saints and ministering still.'

See how again he tends them, by adding and saying, 'ministering still'? Even now, he says, you are ministering—rousing them up and showing that they had done it not for those men, but for God.

not simply toward the saints, but toward God;

for this is the meaning of 'toward His name';

as if he said, 'For the sake of His name you have done all things.'

He, therefore, who enjoys such diligence and love from you, will never despise you nor forget you.

Hearing these things, I exhort you, let us minister to the saints.

For every believer is holy, in that he is a believer;

even if one be a man of the world, he is holy;

'For the unbelieving husband,' he says, 'is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife in the husband.'

See how faith produces sanctification.

If, then, we see even a man of the world in distress, let us stretch out a hand;

let us not be zealous only toward those who dwell in the mountains;

for those are holy both in life and in faith, but these also are holy in faith, and many in life as well.

Let us not enter a prison only if we see that the one confined there is a monk.

and if he is a man of the world, refuse to enter.

This man too is holy, and a brother.

'What then,' someone says, 'if he be unclean and defiled?' Listen to Christ who says:

'Judge not, that ye be not judged.'

And what am I saying? Even if we see a pagan in distress, we ought to do him good; indeed, we ought to help simply every man who is in distress, and much more a believing man of the world.

'Do good unto all men, but especially unto them who are of the household of faith.'

But I do not know from where this notion has been introduced, nor from where this custom has prevailed.

For he who seeks out only the monks, and is willing to do good only to them, and moreover scrutinizes even those, saying, 'Unless he be worthy, unless he be righteous, unless he work miracles, I will not stretch out my hand'—such a one has stripped away the greater part of almsgiving, and in time will do away with this very thing altogether.

And yet true almsgiving is that which is shown toward sinners, toward those who are guilty.

For this is almsgiving: not to have mercy on those who have done well, but on those who have transgressed.

And that you may learn this, hear what Christ says through the parable:

'A certain man,' He says, 'was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers;'

and having beaten him, they left him lying by the road half dead.

And by chance a certain Levite came along the road, and seeing him, passed by on the other side;

and likewise also a certain priest, doing the same thing, ran past.

But afterward a certain Samaritan came, and showed great care for him.

He bound up his wounds, poured on oil, set him upon his own donkey, brought him to the inn, and said to the innkeeper:

And behold his great generosity:

'And I,' he says, 'will repay you whatever you spend besides.'

'Which of these, then, seems to you to have been neighbor to him?' And the lawyer, having said, 'He who showed mercy on him,' hears, 'Go, therefore, and do you likewise.'

And consider what a parable He spoke.

He did not say that a Jew did this for a Samaritan, but that a Samaritan displayed all that generosity.

From this we learn to provide equally for all men, not caring only for those of the household of faith while neglecting those who are strangers.

So then, do you too, if you see anyone suffering ill, meddle no further;

his very suffering gives him the claim to your aid.

For if you see even a donkey being choked, you lift it up, and do not busy yourself over whose it is;

much more, in the case of a man, ought you not to busy yourself over whose he is;

he belongs to God, whether he be a pagan or a Jew.

For even if he is an unbeliever, still he stands in need of help.

For if the task of examining and judging had been entrusted to you, you would speak these things rightly;

but as it is, his calamity does not permit you to examine him.

For if we ought not to busy ourselves even about those who are in health, nor pry into others' affairs, much less ought we to do so with those who are suffering ill.

But apart from this, what? Did you see him prospering or held in honor, that you say he is wicked and vile? He is suffering;

but if you see him suffering ill, do not say that he is wicked.

For when a man is prospering, we say these things rightly;

but when he is in calamity and in need of help, we ought not to say that he is wicked;

for that is the mark of cruelty and inhumanity and arrogance.

What, tell me, became more lawless than the Jews? Yet nevertheless God punished them, and justly, and severely—justly indeed;

and yet those who suffered along with them He received, but those who rejoiced over them He punished.

'For they suffered nothing,' He says, 'at the affliction of Joseph.'

'Redeem those who are being led away to death, and do not spare.'

He did not say, 'Inquire and learn who he is;'

and yet for the most part those who are led away are wicked—but he said simply, 'Redeem, whoever he may be,' says he.

For this above all is almsgiving.

For he who does good to a friend does not by any means do it for God's sake;

but he who does good to a stranger—this man works purely for God's sake.

And the one says, 'Do not spare your money, but even if you must empty out all, give it;'

but we, seeing men being throttled, lamenting, suffering things more grievous than a thousand deaths, and often unjustly, spare our money and are unsparing of our brethren;

we take care for lifeless things, but neglect the soul.

And yet Paul commands us to instruct in meekness those who oppose themselves;

'lest,' he says, 'God should give them repentance unto the acknowledging of the truth; and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him unto his will.'

Do you see how full of long-suffering the saying is? Imitating this, let us too despair of no one.

For the fishermen too, having often cast the hook into the sea, met with no success, but afterward, casting it again, took in the whole catch.

So we too do not despair, but expect that you will suddenly show us ripe fruit.

For the husbandman also, when he has sown, waits through the first day and the second, and looks for it over a long time;

then all at once he sees the fruits springing up on every side.

This we expect will come to pass in your case also, by the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory, might, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.