希伯來書講道集 第 29 章

You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin;

and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:

'My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.'

'For whom the Lord loves He chastens,

and He scourges every son whom He receives.'

'If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.'

'For what son is there whom the father does not chasten?' 1.

There are two kinds of exhortation, which seem to be opposed to one another, yet contribute much strength to each other;

both of which he has set down here.

For the one is, when we say that certain persons have suffered many things;

for the soul finds rest when it has many witnesses to its own sufferings;

This is what he set down above when he said, 'Call to remembrance the former days.'

'the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of sufferings.'

And as for the saying, when we declare, 'You have suffered nothing great'—

for by such a word we are turned back and roused up, and become more eager for everything, even to suffer.

The one word gives rest to the worn-out soul and lets it breathe again; the other turns back the soul that has grown slack and supine, and pulls down its high-mindedness.

Therefore, lest from that testimony a proud spirit should be bred in them, observe what he does.

'Ye have not yet,' he says, 'resisted unto blood, striving against sin;'

'and ye have forgotten the exhortation.'

And he did not immediately bring in what follows, but first showed them all those who had stood firm even unto blood, and then, adducing the sufferings of Christ as their boast, he thereupon easily gave the rebuke.

This too he says when writing to the Corinthians:

'There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man.'

For this is enough to rouse and set upright a soul, when it considers that it has not risen up against the whole, and persuades itself from what has gone before.

'Not yet have ye undergone death; your loss has extended only to money, only to reputation, only to being driven out;'

'yet Christ poured out His blood for you, while you have not done so even for yourselves;'

'He contended even unto death for the truth, warring on your behalf;'

'but you have not yet entered into perils that threaten death.'

'And ye have forgotten the exhortation;'

that is, 'And ye have let down your hands, ye have grown faint.'

'Ye have not yet,' he says, 'resisted unto blood, striving against sin.'

Here he shows both that sin breathes very fiercely, and that it too arms itself;

for the phrase 'ye have resisted' is said with reference to those who stand firm.

'Which,' he says, 'speaketh unto you as unto sons, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him.'

He drew his exhortation from the facts;

and out of abundance he brings in also the exhortation from words, from this testimony:

'Faint not,' he says, 'when thou art rebuked of Him.'

And this too is no small comfort, when we learn that it is God's work to be able for such things, He granting it;

even as Paul also says:

'For this I besought the Lord thrice, and He hath said to me, My grace is sufficient for thee;'

'for My power is made perfect in weakness.'

So then it is He who grants it.

'For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,'

'and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.'

'Thou canst not,' he says, 'say that there is any righteous man without affliction;'

for even if one so appear, yet we do not know the other afflictions;

so that every righteous man must of necessity come through affliction.

For it is the declaration of Christ that the broad and spacious way leads away to destruction, but the narrow and afflicted way to life.

If then it is from thence that one may come to life, and there is no other way, it follows that all who have departed to life have entered through the narrow way.

'If ye endure chastening,' he says, 'God dealeth with you as with sons.'

'For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?' If He chastens, then it is unto correction, and not unto punishment, nor unto vengeance, nor unto suffering evil.

See: from the very things whence they thought themselves forsaken, from these, he says, they should believe that they are not forsaken.

'Because you have suffered so many evils, do you suppose that God has abandoned you and hates you? If you had not suffered, then would it have been fit to suspect this;'

for if He scourges every son whom He receives, then he who is not scourged is perhaps not a son.

'Do not the wicked also suffer evil?' They do indeed suffer;

for how could they not? But he did not say, 'Everyone who is scourged is a son,' but, 'Every son is scourged.'

But you would not be able to say the contrary;

for there are indeed many who are scourged and yet are wicked—such as murderers, robbers, sorcerers, tomb-breakers.

But these pay the penalty for their own wickedness, and are not scourged as sons, but are punished as evildoers.

Do you see how he stirs up reasonings from every quarter—from the facts in Scripture, from words, from familiar considerations, from examples in daily life? Then again also from common custom.

'But if ye be without chastening, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.'

Do you see that, as I said before, it is not possible for one who is not chastened to be a son? For just as in

households the fathers despise the bastards, even if they learn nothing, even if they become men of no distinction;

but for the sake of the true-born sons they are anxious lest they should ever grow slack;

so it is also in the present case.

If then to be unchastened belongs to bastards, one ought to rejoice at chastening, seeing that this is a mark of true sonship.

'God dealeth with you as with sons.'

'Then we had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners, and we gave them reverence;'

'shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?' Again the exhortation is drawn from their own sufferings, from the very things which they were undergoing.

For just as there he says, 'Call to remembrance the former days,'

so also here: 'God,' he says, 'dealeth with you as with sons, and you could not say that we cannot bear it,' and as with beloved sons.

But if those give reverence to their fleshly fathers, how shall you not reverence the heavenly Father? And indeed the difference is not from this alone and from the persons, but also from the very cause and from the matter itself;

for He and they do not chasten for the same reasons.

For the one chastened for a few days according to what seemed good to them;

that is, oftentimes gratifying their own pleasure, and not everywhere looking to what is profitable.

But here it is not possible to say this;

for He does not do this for any interest of His own, but for your sake and for your benefit alone.

Those chastened that you might become useful to them also, and oftentimes even to no purpose;

but here there is nothing of the kind.

Do you see that this too brings comfort? For we are most drawn close to those, when we see that it is not for any interest of their own that they either command or exhort, but that the whole earnestness is for our sake.

For this is sincere love, and truly love, when, though we are of no use to the one who loves, we are loved by him.

For we are loved, not that He may receive, but that He may give.

He trains us, He does all things, He is earnest in all things, that we may become capable of receiving His good things.

For our earthly fathers, he says, chastened us for a few days, according to what seemed good to them;

but He does so for our profit, that we may partake of His holiness.

What does 'of His holiness' mean? That is, of His purity, so that we may become worthy of Him according to our ability.

He is earnest that you may receive, and He does all things that He may give to you;

but you are not earnest to receive.

I said, he says, to the Lord, 'Thou art my Lord, for Thou hast no need of my good things.'

Then, he says, we had the fathers of our flesh chastening us, and we gave them reverence;

shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 'To the Father of spirits';

he means either the gifts of grace, or the prayers, or the incorporeal powers.

If we die in this manner, then shall we live.

And well did he say, 'For they indeed chastened us for a few days according to what seemed good to them';

for what seems good is not everywhere profitable;

but this One acts with a view to what is profitable.

So then chastening is a profit; so then chastening is a partaking of holiness.

For when it casts out sloth, when it casts out evil desire, when it casts out the love of worldly affairs, when it draws the soul together, when it makes us despise all things here (for such is affliction), does it not become holy? Does it not draw down the grace of the Spirit? Let us therefore ever call to mind the righteous, and see whence they all shone forth, and before all, Abel and Noah;

was it not indeed from affliction? For it is impossible that one who is alone in the midst of so great a multitude of evils should not be afflicted.

For Noah, he says, being alone perfect in his generation, was well-pleasing to God.

For consider with me: if now, having ten thousand whose virtue we may emulate, both fathers and teachers, we are yet so afflicted, what must it have been likely for him to suffer, alone amid such a multitude? But shall I speak of the matters concerning that strange and marvellous rain? Or shall I speak of Abraham, and what things it befell him to suffer, such as the successive wanderings, the seizure of his wife, the perils, the wars, the temptations? Or of Jacob, how many dreadful things he suffered, driven from every side, laboring in vain, and toiling for others? For it is not necessary to recount all his temptations, but only to bring forward the testimony

it is reasonable, which he himself also said in conversing with Pharaoh:

'Few and evil have been the days of my life, and they have not attained to the days of my fathers.'

But shall I speak of Joseph? Or of Moses? Or of Joshua? Or of David? Or of Samuel? Or of Elijah? Or of Daniel? Or of all the prophets? But you will find all these to have become illustrious through their afflictions.

Tell me then, do you wish to become illustrious through ease and luxury? But you could not.

But shall I speak of the apostles? Yea, these too surpassed all men in their sufferings.

Why do I say these things? Christ Himself also says this:

'In the world you shall have tribulation';

and again, 'You shall weep and lament';

And that 'strait and afflicted is the way that leads to life.'

The Lord of the way said that it is strait and afflicted;

yet do you seek the broad way? And how is this not absurd? For this reason you will not attain to life, walking upon another road, but rather upon that of destruction;

for you have chosen the one that leads thither.

Would you have me speak and bring forward into the midst those who lived in luxury? Let us go up from the last to the first.

The rich man burning in the furnace, the Jews who lived for the belly, whose God was their belly, those in the wilderness who ever sought after ease—why did they perish? Just as also those in the days of Noah, was it not because they chose this loose and dissolute life? And those in Sodom, because of gluttony;

For 'in fullness of bread,' he says, 'they lived wantonly.'

This was said concerning those in Sodom.

But if fullness of bread wrought so great an evil, what should we say concerning the other rich dainties? Was not Esau in ease? And what of those who looked upon the wives of the sons of God, and were led over the precipices? And what of those who raged with madness after males? And did not all the kings of the nations, of the Babylonians and Egyptians, end their life miserably? Are they not in punishment? And as for the things of the present, tell me, are they not such? Hear Christ saying:

'Those who wear soft raiment are in kings' houses';

but those who do not wear such things are in the heavens.

For the soft garment relaxes even the austere soul, and breaks it up and dissolves it;

and though it take a rough and hard body, quickly by such a delicate mode of life it makes it soft and weak.

For whence, tell me, do you suppose that women are otherwise so weak? Is it from nature alone? By no means, but also from their manner of life and their upbringing;

for the sheltered rearing, the idleness, the baths, the ointments, the multitude of perfumes, the softness of the bedding, make them such.

And that you may learn this, give heed to what I say.

From a garden, tell me, take a plant of the trees standing in the wilderness and beaten by the winds, and set it in a moist and shady place;

and you will find it much inferior to that from which you took it at the beginning.

And that this is true, the women reared in the fields are stronger than the men of the city, and they could throw many such in wrestling.

But when the body becomes softer, the soul also must needs share in the injury;

for its activities are for the most part disposed in accordance with the condition of the body.

For indeed in sicknesses we are different persons because of the softening, and again in health we are different.

For just as with a lyre-string, when the notes are soft and slack, and not well strung tight, the excellence of the art also is cut short, being forced to serve the softness of the strings;

so also with the body, the soul receives from it many injuries, many constraints.

For when it needs much tending, that soul endures a bitter servitude.

Therefore, I beseech you, let us make it strong, and let us not nurse it as an invalid.

My word is not to men only, but also to women.

For why do you continually relax it with luxury, and make it feeble, O woman? Why do you injure its strength with fat? Fat is flabbiness to it, not strength.

But if you desist from these things, and conduct yourself otherwise;

then even bodily beauty proceeds according to your wish, when strength and good condition are present;

but if you beset it with ten thousand sicknesses, there will be neither bloom of color nor any good condition;

And you know that just as a fair house, when the air smiles upon it, it shows bright;

so also a comely countenance, when brightness of soul comes upon it, is made better;

but if it be in dejection and pains, it becomes more unsightly;

and dejection is produced by sicknesses and pains, and sicknesses by the body becoming softer from much luxury.

So that on this account also you will flee from luxury, if you are persuaded by me.

But, one says, luxurious living has pleasure.

But not so much as it has difficulties.

And besides, the pleasure reaches only as far as the throat, as far as the tongue;

for when the table is taken away, or the food swallowed down, you will be like one who has not partaken, or rather far worse, bearing from thence heaviness and distension and headache and a sleep resembling death, and often also sleeplessness from repletion, and obstruction of breath, and belching;

and you would curse your belly ten thousand times, when you ought to curse your intemperance.

Let us therefore not pamper the body, but let us listen to Paul saying:

'Make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts.'

Just as if someone were to take food and cast it into a drain, so also is he who casts it into his belly;

or rather, it is not even so, but far worse.

For there the drain is formed apart from any troubles of its own, but here it even breeds countless diseases.

For that which nourishes is what suffices, that which can also be digested;

but what exceeds the need not only fails to nourish, but even spoils that other portion as well.

But no one sees these things, being deceived by untimely pleasure and by the presumption bred of habit.

Do you wish to nourish the body? Take away the excess, give what suffices, only as much as can be digested;

do not overload it, lest you sink it.

That which suffices is both nourishment and pleasure;

for nothing produces pleasure so much as food well digested;

nothing so promotes health, nothing so sharpens the senses, nothing is so effective at driving away disease.

So then, that which suffices is nourishment and pleasure and health, but that which is in excess is ruin and unpleasantness and disease.

For what famine does, this also does surfeit — nay, worse things;

for famine in a few days carries off and releases a man, but surfeit, gnawing at and rotting the body, hands it over to a long disease, and then to a most grievous death.

Yet we consider famine an abominable thing, while we run headlong to surfeit, which is more grievous than it.

Whence comes this disease, whence this madness? I do not say that you should wear yourselves down, but that you should eat only so much as truly has pleasure — pleasure indeed — and can nourish the body, and can render it orderly and well-attuned for the activities of the soul, being well knit together and fitly framed.

But when the body becomes waterlogged by food, then — having loosened, so to speak, the very pegs and the joints that hold it together — it cannot restrain the flood; for the flood, once it comes in, dissolves and dissipates the whole.

'Make no provision for the flesh,' he says, 'to fulfil its lusts.'

And well did he say, 'to fulfil its lusts';

for luxury is the fuel for improper desires, and even if the man who indulges be more self-controlled than all others, he must needs suffer something from the wine, from the food; he must needs be dissipated, must needs bring on a greater flame.

Hence come fornications, hence adulteries;

for a hungry belly cannot give birth to lust — nay, neither can one that keeps to sufficiency;

but that which gives birth to improper desires is the one that revels in luxury.

And just as ground that is very moist breeds worms, and dung that is soaked and holds much dampness, whereas that which is rid of that moisture bears many fruits, provided it has no excess;

for if it is not tilled, it puts forth grass, but if it is tilled, fruits;

Let us therefore not render the flesh useless, nor unprofitable, nor harmful, but let us plant in it useful fruits and fruit-bearing plants, and let us take care not to enfeeble them by luxury;

for those too, when they rot, cast up worms instead of fruits.

So too the innate desire, if you soak it beyond measure, gives birth to improper pleasures, and to exceedingly improper ones.

that we may be able to attain the good things that have been promised, in Christ Jesus our Lord, and so forth.