And that He exists as a priest is sufficiently plain, since He offered Himself for us upon the altar of the cross, and now intercedes with God the Father for our salvation. And that He is also anointed, not with visible oil but with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, the Psalmist intimates to us, saying to Him: 'O God, thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows' -- that is, with the fullness of the Holy Spirit. There is also a third reason why Christ is said to be a priest after the order of Melchisedech and not after Aaron: namely, that just as Melchisedech is read of once in divine Scripture, and once of his priesthood, so Christ once offered Himself to be immolated for us. There follows:
'Who in the days of His flesh, offering up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death.' 'Unto God' -- that is, unto God the Father. The days of the flesh of our Lord are the days in which He took flesh, in which He was born and suffered, and in which He inhabited a mortal body. Now all that He Himself did in the flesh were prayers and supplications for the sins of the human race; and the sacred shedding of His blood was the 'strong crying,' wherein 'He was heard.' 'By God the Father.' 'For His reverence' -- that is, on account of His voluntary obedience and His most perfect charity. Did He not pour out prayers with tears, saying, 'My soul is sorrowful even unto death';
and, 'Father, remove this cup from me'? And because He was voluntarily obedient to God the Father even unto death, He heard Him, raising Him up on the third day; according to what the Psalmist says: 'Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption.' Now He is said to have poured out prayers and supplications, not from fear of the death which He was voluntarily undertaking, but rather for the sake of our salvation He set the will of the Father's dispensation before the will of His own flesh, that He might show in Himself the true nature of our humanity. It is to be noted, moreover, that 'reverence,' according to the opinion of Cassiodorus, is sometimes taken for love, sometimes for fear;
but here it is put for the highest charity, whereby the Son of God loved us, and for the highest obedience, whereby He was obedient to the Father even unto death. And indeed, 'though He was the Son of God, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became to all that obey Him the cause of eternal salvation, called of God a high priest after the order of Melchisedech.' 'Though He was,' he says, the Son in truth, He rendered obedience out of those reproaches and torments which He suffered -- that is, He exhibited to the Father a voluntary obedience on the part of His humanity. This obedience, which the Apostle here says the Son of God rendered, that is, took upon Himself voluntarily, he shows in another place, where he says:
'Who, being in the form of God, emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and became obedient to the Father even unto death.' And in that he says, 'And being made perfect' -- that is, made perfect in the priesthood and in all obedience -- 'He became to all that obey Him the cause of eternal salvation': how great a gain it is, His passion and His obedience show, which suffices unto eternal life for all who believe. There follows: 'Of whom' -- not of Melchisedech, but of Christ -- 'we have great things to say, and hard to be uttered.'
Not through any fault in the incarnation, since the mysteries hidden from the ages have been revealed, but rather through their own slowness, because they were weak, that is, feeble in faith and dull of sense to understand the profound mysteries -- they who by this time ought even to have been teachers. Whence he himself renders the reason, saying: 'Seeing ye are become weak to hear.' And then he adds: 'For when for the time ye ought to be teachers' -- under which time ye have had almost from the beginning the Law and the prophets -- 'ye have again need that ye be taught,' by me and the other apostles, 'which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.'
He speaks to those who, having long tarried in the Law, ought to have had a sense exercised concerning the advent of Christ through the sayings of the Law and the prophets, and also through the grace which was brought to believers through Him. These men, who assuredly ought to have been teachers of the Gentiles on account of the time past, in which they had all the things mentioned above, again had need to be taught by him and the rest of the apostles which are the first principles of the oracles of God. They are called 'elementa' (elements) as though 'elevamenta' (raisings-up), because from them the rest take their origin, being the beginnings, namely, and the foundations of created things. By some too they are said to be called 'elimenta,' as it were 'fabricamenta' (framings), from the word 'elimo, elimas,' as though all things were framed out of them.
But here we can understand 'elements,' or 'raisings-up,' in two ways: namely, either the very characters and pronunciations of letters, from which discourses take their beginning; or else the very beginnings and foundations of the faith -- as though he said, 'This ye have need of, that ye be taught which are the elements of letters or the beginnings of the faith, whereas ye ought by searching to understand the depth of the mysteries, and to be perfect in faith.' 'Ye are become,' he says, as it were infants who have need of milk, that is, of simple doctrine, not of strong meat, that is, of perfect doctrine and profound mysteries.
For the blessed Apostle has a custom of designating simple doctrine by the name of milk, but of calling perfect doctrine strong meat; whence he says to the less perfect Corinthians: 'I have fed you with milk, and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to bear it.' Milk, therefore, is of simple doctrine -- the incarnation of the Son of God, His passion, His resurrection, His ascension into the heavens. But strong meat, of perfect discourse, is the mystery of the Trinity: how there are three in persons and one in the substance of the Godhead. But he who cannot understand what the Evangelist says, 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us,' how shall he be able to attain to that height where he says, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God'? There follows:
'For everyone that is a partaker of milk' -- that is, of simple doctrine only -- 'is unskilful in the word of righteousness' -- that is, is a stranger to the discernment of perfect righteousness, because he cannot yet penetrate the secrets of the mysteries, nor knows how, as is fitting, to make discernment between good and evil. And he renders the reason why: 'For he is,' he says, 'a babe' -- in sense and understanding. 'But of the perfect' -- of men -- 'is strong meat' -- that is, of those who have upright senses; to them are opened the high and obscure mysteries concerning the divinity of almighty God. Whence there follows: 'Of them' -- I say it to be strong meat -- 'who by reason' -- of choice -- 'have their senses exercised' -- that is, stretched out by the pursuits of letters -- 'to the discernment of good and evil.'
Not to the discernment of heretical depravity. Just as a babe knows not how to discern between food and food, and often is endangered in taking harmful foods, unless he is restrained by an elder; so any untaught person who knows not the discernment of doctrines is easily deceived and endangered in error. Wherefore he says: 'Because everyone that is a partaker of milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness.' For what difference there is between milk and strong meat, this same difference is between the untaught and the wise. As milk suits little ones, and strong meat those perfect in age, so humble discourse suits the untaught, but to the wise it is fitting to know the hidden mystery -- who have their senses exercised by the study of reading.
For by the practice of reading and the frequent meditation of the divine Scriptures, our senses are made exercised and stretched out for understanding greater things. Whence the Psalmist says that man is blessed who shall meditate in the Law of the Lord day and night. CHAPTER VI. Wherefore, leaving the discourse of the beginning of Christ, let us be carried on unto perfection. Wherefore, since it befits us to have exercised senses in the Law of the Lord, leaving the discourse of the beginning of Christ, let us be led on to the profound and lofty mysteries of His divinity. By 'the discourse of the beginning of Christ' he means the beginning of faith, namely the instruction concerning the human nativity of Christ, His passion, His resurrection, His ascension, and the grace of baptism.
For just as he who is to be instructed in letters must first hear the elements of letters, so also a Christian ought first of all to be instructed concerning these things, and afterward to come to the mysteries of the divinity. 'Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.' He calls it the foundation of repentance, whereof he who is to be baptized ought first to be instructed, if indeed he has come to an age capable of understanding:
That is, that he believe the Lord Jesus Christ to be begotten of God the Father before all ages, born of the Virgin at the end of the ages for the salvation of the human race without the seed of man, to have suffered, died, risen again on the third day, ascended into the heavens, and to be about to come to judgment, that He may render to each according to his works; the resurrection of bodies, the unchangeableness of souls -- that the good shall abide in glory, the evil in punishment; that almighty God, the Trinity, has trinity in persons and unity in substance. After he has confessed that he believes all these things, he ought to confess his sins, and so a penance is to be enjoined upon him, either of forty, or of twenty, or even of seven days, as we read in the passions of the saints:
And he ought then to be baptized, renouncing the devil and all his pomps and all his works. But when baptized he ought to be more fully instructed concerning the divinity, that he believe the Father unbegotten, the Son begotten, the Holy Spirit neither begotten nor unbegotten, but proceeding from both; and also the rule of living according to the evangelical and apostolic doctrine, what good things he ought to do and what evils to shun. Because, therefore, the Jews, to whom the Apostle was writing these things, were already baptized, and had already received the foundation described above, he exhorts them to strive toward these greater things, and that there is no need for them to repeat that foundation of repentance -- which he so calls for this reason, that, as has been said, in baptizing, repentance was first enjoined.
Whence in the Acts of the Apostles Paul says to the Jews running to the faith: 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you.' There is no need, he says, that we should again lay the foundation of repentance from dead works, and the foundation of faith by which access is had to God, which was laid in you before ye came to the grace of baptism. To do repentance from dead works is to blot out by penance those very evil works which were mortifying the soul; for the works of death are sins. For just as the soul is quickened by faith and the other virtues, so it dies by unbelief and by sins. There follows: 'not laying again the foundation' -- of the doctrine of baptisms.
The foundation of the doctrine of baptisms is the instruction and teaching of baptism, namely what baptism contains in itself, and what it confers on those coming to the faith. But in that he said in the plural number 'the foundation of baptisms,' he put it because of the variety of those receiving, not that many baptisms are to be understood, but one; because as there is one God and one faith, so also there is one baptism. 'And of laying on of hands' -- the foundation we ought not to lay again. He calls 'the laying on of hands' that whereby it is most fully believed that the gift of the Holy Spirit is received, which after baptism is wont to be done by the bishops for the confirmation of unity in the Church. These things, therefore, being received in the Church, faith in the resurrection and in the judgment to come is to be held.
Whence the Apostle adds, saying: 'And of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.' The foundation ye ought not to lay again, that ye should again be instructed concerning the faith of the general resurrection and of the eternal judgment, which shall be given to the just and likewise to the unjust -- as though ye were not already instructed in these things. And it is to be noted that in all these clauses there is always to be understood 'not again.' 'And this will we do, if God permit.' That is, and we will lead you on to greater things, and will most fully teach you concerning all these things which we have enumerated, so that there be no need again wholly and from the top to lay the foundation. But lest anyone should in any way suppose that a second or third baptism is performed after sins, he immediately subjoined, saying: 'For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened.'
Under the light of the Holy Spirit in the baptism of faith. 'They have also tasted the heavenly gift.' That is, they received remission in baptism, or communicated in the Body and Blood of the Lord after baptism. 'And were made partakers of the Holy Spirit' -- namely in the distributions of gifts. 'They have moreover tasted the good word of God' -- that is, they understood the evangelical doctrine. 'And the powers of the world to come' -- that is, glorification, resurrection, and the life to come. 'And have fallen away' -- from the faith of Christ, by denying Him; or even have fallen into criminal sins. 'To be renewed again unto repentance' -- that is, to be made new through penance. From the foregoing there is understood: 'it is impossible.'
It is impossible, he says, that those can be renewed again through repentance and through baptism, who, after they have received all the things mentioned above, have fallen away into the uncleanness of criminal sins, or even into unbelief. He did not say, 'It is difficult,' but 'impossible.' For what is difficult can somehow be done; but that is impossible which can in no way come to pass. What then? Is repentance excluded after baptism, and the pardon of offences? God forbid! For there are two kinds of repentance: one indeed before baptism, which may be called the entreaty of baptism, of which we spoke above, that it is enjoined upon those who are instructed before they come to baptism -- which the blessed Apostle here excludes, saying:
That they cannot be renewed again through repentance, so that, penance being done, one should be baptized again. But the other kind of repentance is that through which, after baptism, sins are blotted out; and this the blessed Apostle does not exclude. He therefore terrifies all, that they may fear to entangle themselves in graver sins after the grace of baptism, because a second renewal through the laver of baptism cannot be done. For just as Christ, once dead and once rising, dies no more, so once is the grace of baptism to be administered, nor can it be repeated -- unless there be doubt whether one taken captive by enemies has been baptized. Now he said 'to be renewed' meaning 'to be made new'; but to make a man new belongs to sacred baptism, of which the Prophet says: 'Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's.'
It is impossible, I say, that anyone can be renewed again through the repentance which is done through baptism, to this end that he should be baptized again, penance being completed; because those things which were mentioned above they have received, they have tasted the powers of the world to come. In that he said, 'They have tasted the powers of the world to come,' it is as if he said: If they have known that in the resurrection the elect are to come as the angels of God in heaven, and that the just shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, they can in no way be renewed again through repentance and a repeated baptism, if they have sinned a criminal sin, as they were made new in their first baptism. For there were those who wished to repeat baptism, saying:
'Whatever I shall sin, it is no care to me, since I shall command myself to be baptized again, and shall be wholly renewed, as before.' This the Apostle wholly denies can in any way be done; and because the power of baptism consists chiefly in the cross and in the burial of Christ, therefore he subjoined: 'Crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and putting Him to an open shame.' Nevertheless repentance is not for this reason denied, because, although they are not renewed in baptism again, yet they shall see themselves receive indulgence through the confession of sins, through humility, through penance, through almsgiving, if the means be had, and if they have forgiven the brethren who sin against them. That is, those who wish to be baptized again and to hold it in mockery -- for this is 'to put to an open shame.'
But it cannot be done, since just as Christ once died in the flesh upon the cross, so also we can die once in baptism for sin. 'For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God.' By this parable he reproves the Jews, who often drank in the rain of heavenly doctrine, but never brought forth the buds of faith and of good works. Now he first sets down the comparison of the good earth, and then of the bad. 'The earth,' he says, 'drinking in the rain' -- that is, the soul of good will receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit and the rain of the divine oracles, and bringing forth fitting herbage, that is, producing virtues and perfect faith.
To its own preachers, by whom it is cultivated, or to its very self, it receiveth the blessing of eternal life, or an abundance of virtues, so as to bear fruits thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and likewise a hundredfold; for nothing is more fitting than perfect faith in the Son of God together with the best of lives. Having therefore brought forth this example concerning the soul flourishing with virtues, and the worthy blessing of God, the Apostle straightway subjoined another parable concerning that soul which neglects its own salvation, while it could frequently receive the rain of heavenly doctrine. 'But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing.' By thorns and briers we can understand the prickings of sins, wherewith the soul is pricked; of which the Lord said to Adam:
'Thy ground shall bring forth thorns and thistles to thee' -- that is, thy flesh shall bring forth to thee the prickings of sins and the stings of vices. Or by thorns and thistles we ought to understand the superfluous cares and anxieties of this world, of which the Lord says in the Gospel: 'The cares therefore of this world' and the anxiety about riches: 'the earth is rejected,' that is, unworthy of praise and nigh unto cursing. And it is to be noted that he did not say 'it is cursed,' but 'nigh unto cursing'; for as long as it is reserved for repentance, it is as though not cursed; but if it will not do penance, it will now be cursed. Whence there follows: 'Whose end' -- that is, the end of that soul in evil work and in evil perseverance even unto the departure of life.
'For burning.' Understand: it shall be of eternal fire. Now indeed, as long as it has space for repenting, it is nigh unto cursing; but if it shall remain in its iniquity, it shall be subject to the burning of eternal punishment. For this burning shall not be except for those who shall have remained in their sins even unto the end; because 'In whatsoever day the sinner shall be converted, he shall live in life and shall not die.' After he had sufficiently rebuked them, terrified and struck them, he addresses them with soothing words, lest he should render them desperate; but yet he neither flatters in all things, nor strikes in all things. He says therefore: 'But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.'
Because he had no ground on which to praise them for the present, he praises them from the hope of things to come, which he had concerning them; as though he said: We say this not as thinking you full of thorns, but fearing lest ye become such. For it is better that ye be terrified by words than that ye should grieve over the facts. We are persuaded that the very best things are to be wrought by you, and profitable to your salvation, although we thus speak. For what we said above, namely concerning the rejected earth, and that which is nigh unto burning, this we said not concerning you, because we believe better things of you. He also recalled to their memory their past good deeds, that from things past he might be able to lead them to good things of every kind. And therefore he subjoined:
'For God is not unjust, that He should forget your work and love, which ye have showed toward His name.' Behold how he refreshed their spirits and strengthened them, recalling their past good works to mind. Because upon the almighty Lord forgetfulness falls not, therefore He does not forget the works and labours of His faithful ones. And in this He is just, that He rewards His elect who labour for Him; for if He should forget their works, nor reward them, He would in some way be thought unjust -- which it is altogether unlawful to say. Whence the Apostle: 'God is not,' he says, 'unjust, that He should forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed for the love of His name toward one another and toward all.'
'In that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister' -- still according to your ability. He speaks of those saints who, coming to the faith of Christ, were despoiled by the Jews; whom he praises in this Epistle, saying, 'Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods'; and concerning whom Isaiah had foretold: 'And he that departed from evil,' saith he, 'lay open to be the prey of the Jews.' To such despoiled ones, those who had not been despoiled ministered, as they were able. But what great, and how great, a desire he had for their salvation, he expresses in part in the following words, saying: 'And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence' -- understand, which ye had at first -- 'to the full assurance of hope unto the end' -- of your life, or concerning the day of judgment.
'That ye be not slothful' -- that is, sluggish and lazy in good work, and in fulfilling the commandments of God. 'We desire,' he says, that ye be conversant not only about words, but also in virtues; not as though blaming what is your own, but admonishing you as solicitous concerning things to come: that is, such as ye were at first, such we desire you to be even now and in the future. And he did not say 'I will,' which is of divine authority, but what belonged to fatherly love: that is, 'We desire that every one show always the same greatest care toward the brethren which ye once had,' unto the completion of human hope, the eternal resurrection. For the completion of hope is the attainment of the things which we hope to obtain. 'But imitators' -- we desire you to be.
'Those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.' He again exhorts them that with unfeigned faith and perfect patience they may await the promises of God, and the inheritance which He promised to His saints; which can be taken in two ways: namely, that it be referred to the patriarchs and saints of the Old Testament, who received many promises concerning Christ and the inheritance of the land of promise. These, having perfect faith, whereby they believed that God was able to fulfil what He promised, and most solid patience, because they awaited the promises to be fulfilled not in themselves but in their children, merited to be friends of God, and to inherit those same promises in their children.
It can also be referred to the apostles and other saints, who through faith and patience merited to obtain and inherit the promises of the eternal blessing, promised by the Lord to themselves and to all the faithful. For when God promised to Abraham, since He had no one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself, saying: 'Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.' In order more firmly to corroborate those things which he had said above concerning the saints -- that they inherited the promises of God by faith and patience -- he therefore uses examples; but wondrous is his wisdom: for sometimes he flatters them by exalting them with praises, sometimes he terrifies them with threats:
For in the foregoing he terrifies them, lest they should be unfaithful and less credulous of the promises of God; but now he exhorts them by examples to repentance and faith, that they may undoubtingly believe, not only God speaking, but also swearing by Himself. If, when God promises, it is unjust not to believe, how impious it is not to lend faith to God when He swears! Now God the Father swore to Abraham by Himself, because He had no one greater by whom to swear, saying: 'Surely blessing I will bless thee,' etc. The repetition of the word is the confirmation of the matter. 'Surely' (nisi) in this place is put affirmatively for 'certainly' or for 'because'; and the sense is: Certainly I will always bless thee in thy children, and always multiply thee. 'And so, patiently enduring, he obtained the promise.'
That is, believing long through patience, and enduring, he obtained the promise in his children -- concerning the land of promise, which He promised to them, saying: 'This land will I give to thee, and to thy children.' And moreover the promise concerning Christ, of whom He said: 'In thy seed shall all nations be blessed.' There follows: 'For men verily swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.' As if to say: If credit is given to men concerning the future, of whom it is said through the Prophet, 'Every man is a liar,' how much more ought credit to be given to the oath of God, who is truth, and can neither be deceived nor lie, and to whom moreover credit ought to be given even without an oath!
'Men,' he says, 'swear by the greater' -- that is, by the Lord, who is their Creator. An oath also is the end of all their contention, for confirmation; because through an oath belief is to be given, nor ought there afterward to be any complaint when the oath is completed, but the oath under confirmation ought to be the end of contention. 'Wherein' -- understand: in the oath; or for this reason, because an oath is the confirmation of a matter. 'God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel' -- that is, to the fathers, or to the heirs of the promise -- 'interposed an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have the strongest consolation' -- that is, we firmly believe Him -- 'who have fled for refuge' -- by believing.
'To hold fast the hope set before us.' That is, to receive the promised reward. Here we ought to understand two immutable things: God's promise concerning Christ, whereby He said, 'In thy seed shall all nations be blessed,' and His oath, whereby He said, 'By myself have I sworn to thee.' For His promise is immutable, since it could not be changed, and His oath is truthful. Some, however, wish only one immutable thing to be understood, namely His promise and oath together; and the other thing to be the fulfilment of the matter itself. But by 'the hope set before us' he means the reality of the things accomplished, that is, the promise of the heavenly homeland, to obtain which we flee for refuge by faith: 'Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, safe and firm.'