In Epistolas Sancti Pauli

For now, indeed, as long as it has space for repentance, it is very near to a curse; but if it persists in its iniquity, it will be subject to the burning of eternal punishment. For this burning will be for none but those who persist in their sins even to the end, because, On whatever day the sinner turns, he will live and not die. After he has rebuked them sufficiently, terrified and struck them, he addresses them with flattery, so as not to leave them in despair; yet he neither flatters them in everything nor strikes them in everything. He says therefore: But we are confident concerning you, most beloved, of better things and things nearer to salvation, even though we speak thus. Because he had nothing for which to praise them at present, he praises them for the hope of future things, which he had concerning them; as if he were saying, We do not say this as though we thought you full of thorns, but fearing lest you become such; for it is better for you to be terrified by words than to grieve in reality. We are confident that you will do the best works, and things profitable to your salvation, although we speak thus. For what we said above, namely concerning the reprobate land and near to burning, we did not say this concerning you, because we believe better things of you. He also brought back to their memory their past good deeds, so that from the past he might lead them on to every good thing. And therefore he added: For God is not unjust, that he should forget your work and the love which you have shown in his name.

Behold how he revived their spirits and strengthened them, recalling their past good works to mind. Because forgetfulness does not fall upon the almighty Lord, therefore he does not forget the works and labors of his faithful ones. And in this he is just, because he rewards his elect who labor for him: for if he were to forget their works and not reward them, he would be considered unjust—which it is utterly wrong to say. Hence the Apostle says: God is not unjust, he says, to forget your work and the labor of love which you have shown for the love of his name toward one another and toward all. You who 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, You received the plundering of your goods with joy; and of whom Isaiah had foretold: And he who withdrew from evil, he says, lay open to the plundering of the Jews. To such despoiled persons as these, those who had not been despoiled ministered, as they were able. But what kind, and how great, a desire he had for their salvation, he expresses in part in the following words, saying: But we desire that each one of you show the same solicitude. Understand: which you had at the third [time]. Unto the completion of hope, even unto the end. Of your life: or concerning the day of judgment. That you not become sluggish. That is, idle and lazy in good work, and in fulfilling the commandments of God.

We desire, he says, that you conduct yourselves not only in words but also in virtues—not as though we were censuring what is your own, but as those who are solicitous and give warning concerning the future. That is: such as you were at first, such we desire you to be now and in the future. And he did not say, "I will," which belongs to divine authority, but what belonged to fatherly love—that is, "We desire" that each one always show toward the brethren the same great care that you once had for the fulfillment of human hope, the eternal resurrection. For the fulfillment of hope is the obtaining of the things we hope to attain. "But imitators"—we desire you to be—"of those who by faith and patience will inherit the promises." He again exhorts them that with unfeigned faith and perfect patience they should await the promises of God and the inheritance that he promised to his saints. This can be understood 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—who, having perfect faith, by which they believed that God could fulfill what he promised, and most steadfast patience, because they awaited the promises to be fulfilled not in themselves but in their sons, merited to be friends of God and to inherit those same promises in their sons.

It can also be referred to the apostles and other saints, who through faith and patience merited to attain and inherit the promises of eternal blessing promised by the Lord to themselves and to all the faithful. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying: Surely blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you. In order that he might more firmly strengthen what he had said above concerning the saints, that they inherited the promises of God by faith and patience, he therefore uses examples; but with wonderful wisdom of his: for at one time he soothes them by extolling them with praises, at another he terrifies them with threats; for in the earlier passages he terrifies them, lest they be unbelieving and less ready to believe the promises of God, but now he exhorts them by examples to repentance and faith, so that they may believe without doubt, not only when God speaks, but also when he swears by himself. If, when God promises, it is wrong not to believe, how impious is it not to give credence to God when he swears! But God the Father swore to Abraham by himself, because he had no one greater by whom he might swear, saying: Surely blessing I will bless you, etc. The repetition of the word is a confirmation of the matter. Nisi in this place is put affirmatively for "certainly" or for "because"; and the sense is: Certainly I will always bless you in your sons, and I will always multiply you. And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise.

That is, having attained through long patience by believing, he obtained in his children the promise concerning the land of promise, which he promised them, saying: I will give this land to you and to your children. And beyond this, the promise concerning Christ, of whom he said: In your seed all nations will be blessed. It follows: For men swear by one greater than themselves, and the end of every dispute among them is an oath for confirmation. As if to say: If men are believed concerning the future, of whom it is said through the Prophet: Every man is a liar, how much more ought God to be believed on oath, who is truth, and can neither be deceived nor lie, and who besides ought to be believed even without an oath! Men, he says, swear by one greater than themselves, that is, by the Lord, who is their creator. An oath also is the end of every dispute among them for confirmation: because by an oath it must be believed, nor ought a complaint be made afterward once the oath is completed, but the end of a dispute ought to be an oath for confirmation. In which—understand, in the oath—or for this reason, because the confirmation of a matter is an oath. God, wishing to show more abundantly to the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel. That is, to the fathers, or to the heirs of the promise. He interposed an oath, so that through two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have the strongest consolation. That is, we believe him firmly. 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 your seed all nations shall be blessed; and his oath, which he said, I have sworn by myself to you; for his promise is immutable, because it could not be changed, and his oath is truthful. Some also wish one immutable thing to be understood, namely his promise and oath; and the other, the fulfillment of the thing itself. But he calls the hope set before us the truth of things accomplished, namely the promise of the heavenly fatherland, to receive which we have fled for refuge through faith: Which hope we have as a safe and firm anchor for the soul. Just as an anchor cast from a ship does not allow it to be carried about nor to be endangered, although the winds stir it, but when cast firmly holds the ship amid storms and waves, so faith, strengthened by the hope of future goods, steadies our mind amid the prosperity and adversity of this world, and brings us into the sight of the things which we now hold by faith and hope. And therefore the Apostle added, saying, And entering even to the inner part of the veil.

He calls us into the inner recesses of the veil, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven and the joys of the heavenly fatherland. For the veil that was before the holy of holies signifies the assembly of the saints; but the things that were within the veil signify the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. Hope, however, penetrates the inner recesses of the veil, when by contemplation of the mind it beholds the good things to come, when it believes without any doubt that heavenly rewards are coming to it. It hopes, it loves, and by its works it shows what it believes and what it hopes for. If we do not have this hope, we shall surely be submerged, not only in spiritual matters but also in carnal ones, just as a ship is submerged when it has no anchor cast out. But if we obey the voice of the Prophet, who says, Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will nourish you, then our hope, fixed in the inner recesses of the veil, will be able to be submerged by no faithlessness. It follows: Where Jesus entered as a forerunner for us, made and appointed High Priest by God the Father forever according to the order of Melchisedech. In order to add a firmer hope for us, he therefore added this concerning Christ. Now a forerunner is so called from going before and running ahead; and one is the forerunner of someone, as John was of Christ. But we must consider that he did not say simply, Jesus entered into the inner recesses of the veil, but with the addition, saying, Where he entered as a forerunner for us, as if without doubt we ought to follow our forerunner. For it is fitting that the forerunner and the one who follows be on the same way.

Christ, therefore, rising from the dead, goes before us to the height of the heavens, and has become our forerunner, opening heaven to us and restoring the joys of the heavenly fatherland. If, then, we wish to follow our forerunner, we ought to walk as he also walked. But this is referred to the human nature of the Son of God, in which he offered himself to God the Father on the altar of the cross, the sacrifice of our salvation. Why Christ is said to exist as a Priest according to the order of Melchizedek has been shown, I think, quite clearly enough a little above; but in saying that he entered into the inner parts of the veil, he speaks after the manner of the Jewish high priests, who once a year entered within the veil and the holy of holies to pray for the people; and Christ, penetrating the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, prays continually for the salvation of his faithful.

CHAPTER VII. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, was priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to whom Abraham also gave a tenth of all things.

The Hebrews hand down that Melchizedek himself was Shem, the firstborn of Noah, who at the time when Abraham was born was two hundred and ninety-two years old; and at the time when Abraham died he was five hundred and seventy-five years old, and so he outlived Abraham by thirty-five years, by the completion of which all the days of his life were made up to six hundred years. Nor is it to be wondered at if he went out to meet Abraham and offered him bread and wine, which he owed to his great-great-grandson by the rights of fatherhood; and he blessed him, and received from him tithes of the spoil and of the victory, as priest of the Most High and supreme God, not of false gods and idols; who was also king of Salem. But Salem, as blessed Jerome says, is not to be thought to be Jerusalem, as Josephus the historian and very many of our own authors suppose; but it is a town near Scythopolis, which to this day is called Salem or Salim; concerning which, with blessed Jerome as witness, it is said in the Gospel: "John," he says, "was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there." And for this reason there arises this variation of names, because the Hebrews in many places write only with consonants, with the vowels subtracted, and so it is pronounced according to the judgment of the reader, not always in one and the same way. In the same town, moreover, the palace of Melchizedek the king is shown, displaying from the greatness of its ruins the excellence of the ancient work.

To which city or town Jacob is read to have descended, which was in the land of Canaan in the region of Shechem. It must also be considered that Abraham, returning from the slaughter of the enemies whom he pursued as far as Dan, did not have Jerusalem on the way of his return, but rather Salem, the town mentioned above. First indeed Melchizedek, which is interpreted as king of justice; then also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. But the blessed Apostle often introduces Melchizedek as a type of the Lord our Savior; for although all the saints and patriarchs and prophets before him expressed the figure of the Lord Savior in some respect, yet Melchizedek more especially, who was not of the lineage of the Jews, preceded as a type of the priesthood of the Son of God, of whom God the Father says in Psalm 109: You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. But we can interpret his order in many ways, as has been said above, namely that he alone was both king and priest, and exercised the priesthood before circumcision, so that not the Gentiles from the Jews, but the Jews from the Gentiles received the priesthood; nor was he anointed with visible oil, as the Mosaic precepts establish, but with the oil of exultation and purity of faith; nor did he sacrifice victims of flesh and blood, but with bread and wine, by a simple and pure sacrifice, he dedicated the priesthood of Christ.

But the first, as the Apostle says, is in this respect likened to the Son of God, because he is interpreted as king of righteousness. For Melchon, or Melchi, means king; but Sedech means righteous, or righteousness. And who is the true king of righteousness but Christ, who says in the psalm, "But I have been appointed king by him"? For he rules and governs his elect justly and rightly, made lovers of righteousness. Then he is likened to the Son of God by this, that he is called king of peace, which pertains to Christ; for Salem is interpreted as peace. Christ therefore justifies us, who is the king of righteousness, and he himself makes peace for all things that are in heaven and that are on earth, who by being born and dying, by rising again and ascending, brought peace to the world, who according to his divinity is king without end and without beginning, eternal from the eternal Father, although according to his temporal mother he was temporal; just as we do not read of the beginning or end of this Melchizedek in sacred Scripture, so we do not read of the beginning or end of the Son of God; for neither of these is in the nature of the Godhead; and in this there is a likeness, that neither of the one nor of the other is a beginning or end read. Of the latter, because it is not written; of the former, indeed, because it altogether is not; for neither is it read under whom Melchizedek was born, nor is it narrated when he died; but he is introduced suddenly, as also Elijah. Nor do I altogether believe.

while it is said that Melchizedek was without father or without mother, whereas Christ too, according to both natures, had both a mother and a father; but this is said of him for the reason that he is introduced suddenly in the divine Scripture, as we have said, and his genealogy is not recorded: of whom it is also said, But likened to the Son of God, in all these things said above, he remains a priest forever. Not in himself, but in Christ. For Melchizedek died, but his figure remains eternally in Christ. But likeness here is not put for age, but for figure. But consider how great this man is, to whom the patriarch Abraham gave tithes of the chief spoils. He turned his speech to those who boast that they are sons of Abraham, and vaunt that they derive the nobility of their race from him: whence in the Gospel they tried to set him before the Lord, saying: Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? Therefore, to confound their pride, the Apostle said: Consider, and attend diligently, how great this Melchizedek was, priest of the most high God, to whom Abraham the patriarch gave tithes of the chief spoils, that is, of the better spoils. By these words he wishes to show that Melchizedek was of greater dignity and honor than Abraham; and thereby that the priesthood of Christ is greater and holier than that of the Jews: as if he were saying: He whom you esteem more excellent than all men, to him Melchizedek offered tithes, who went before in the figure of Christ.

And indeed those of the sons of Levi who receive the priesthood have a commandment to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brothers, although they too came forth from the loins of Abraham. So great (he says) is the excellence of the priesthood that even those who had the same forefather and descended from one father, on account of the merit of their excellence, by which they were greater than their brothers—as, for example, Aaron, who standing between the dead and the living appeased the wrath of the Lord—were worthy to obtain the dignity of the priesthood; and for this reason, unless Melchizedek were of greater dignity than Abraham, Abraham would never have given tithes to a foreigner, just as Aaron was of greater merit than his brothers of the remaining tribes. He says therefore: And indeed those of the sons of Levi who receive the priesthood, as Aaron and his sons received it, have a commandment and precept according to the law to take tithes from the people, as being better than they, and this from their brothers, though they had one and the same forefather: according to what the Apostle declares, saying: Although they too, the brothers of Levi, came forth from the loins of Abraham. But whose generation. That is, Melchizedek's. Is not counted in them. That is, in the sons of Levi. He took tithes from Abraham, and him. That is, Abraham. Who had the promises. Concerning the Son of God. He blessed him. That Melchizedek. Here he shows that the uncircumcised priest is far more exalted than the circumcised priest. How then does he show these things?

Certainly, since Levi himself, from whom the priestly line arose, was tithed by Melchizedek in the loins of his forefather; and Abraham was already circumcised, and had already received the promises concerning Christ—that in his seed all nations would be blessed—when he was blessed by Melchizedek, a priest who was uncircumcised, and gave him tithes of all the spoil. And Melchizedek, blessing him, said: Blessed be Abraham by God, under whose protection his enemies are in his hand, and the other things that follow in the same place. But without any contradiction, what is less is blessed by the better. As if he were saying: It is clearer than light to all that the lesser is blessed by the greater. Hence Abraham, as the lesser, is blessed by Melchizedek as by the better, or received a blessing; therefore the type of Christ is greater and better than that of him who had the promises concerning Christ. And here indeed men who die receive tithes; but there he testifies that he lives. And so to speak, through Abraham even Levi, who received tithes, was tithed. Here, he says—that is, in the present age, or in the temple that was still standing—dying men, namely the sons of Levi, who are mortal and subject to death, receive tithes. But there, that is, in the other life, in the place where it is said of Christ: You are a priest forever, God the Father testifies with an oath that Christ lives.

Hence the Psalmist says: The Lord has sworn and will not repent: you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. For he was still in the loins—that is, in the offspring of his seed—of his father Levi, when Melchizedek met him. How is Levi said to have been tithed by Melchizedek, when he had not yet been born, especially since he was also a natural son of Jacob? He was certainly not tithed in himself, but in Abraham, from whose lineage he descended, when Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek; in him all his sons gave tithes. Therefore the Apostle says: He who received tithes in his sons from his brothers was tithed through Abraham, or in Abraham. By these words it is declared that, unless the priesthood of Melchizedek, which prefigured the priesthood of Christ, were of greater dignity, Abraham and all his sons would by no means have been tithed by him; for when a priesthood is tithed by a priesthood, the one is shown to be of greater dignity than the other. If, then, perfection was through the Levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under it—why was it still necessary for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be said to be according to the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is transferred, it is necessary that a transfer of the law also take place.

Here he begins already to show more fully the differences of the New Testament, saying: If the consummation, that is, the perfection of life and of justification, was through the Levitical priesthood, what need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek? For that Aaron was the first priest after the law was given, from the tribe of Levi, no one doubts; therefore he named the priesthood which he discharged the Levitical priesthood. Or certainly because Levi himself discharged that priesthood in his sons; for his descendants received it, namely Moses and Aaron with the rest of their brothers from the same tribe: for he begot Kohath, and Kohath begot Amram, and Amram begot Moses and Aaron. Therefore he says that the people received the law under that priesthood, because Moses and Aaron were the leaders in those times among the people, since they administered the law itself, being from the priestly tribe. Therefore the order of the priesthood of Melchizedek, which bore the type of our priest, is much better than the Levitical priesthood; for he would by no means have said, According to the order of Melchizedek, if that priesthood of Aaron, under which the people of the Jews received the law, were better. But if the priesthood of the law has been transferred to Christ according to the order of Melchizedek, it is necessary that there also be a translation of the law: that is, it is necessary to pass from the law of Moses to the law of the Gospel; for without law a priest cannot be, nor without a testament, nor without precepts.

The Apostle labors with the utmost effort to make them pass over from the law of Moses to the law of the Gospel, from carnal things to spiritual things. For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one stood at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, a tribe of which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. For of whom are these things said? That is, of whom are they said, that he is a priest forever according to the order of Melchisedech? They signify that the Lord and Savior is from another tribe than the priestly one—namely, from that tribe from which no one stood at the altar, that is, from the tribe of Judah. Nor was the change made only in order, or in testament or precepts, but also in tribe; and in this way the priesthood was transferred from tribe to tribe—namely, from the priestly to the royal—so that in Christ the same priesthood might be both priestly and royal, he who is king and priest. Consider the mystery. First there was the royal priesthood of Melchisedech, according to the sequence of this discourse; second there was the priesthood that was only priestly in Aaron; third there was again a royal priesthood in Christ, just as also the first. Hence the Church now has a royal priesthood, as the apostle Peter says: You are a holy nation, a royal priesthood.

Therefore the tribe of Judah, from which the Lord sprang through Mary the Virgin, since it was always royal, never priestly, in Christ became both royal and priestly: the priesthood being wholly transferred from the worn-out tribe of Levi, which previously was priestly. And it is still more evident, if according to the order of Melchisedech another priest arises, who was made not according to the law of a carnal commandment, but according to the power of an indissoluble life. For he testifies, God the Father, speaking to the Son: Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech. A deficiency of expression in this place is held to be quite necessary; wherefore let it be said thus: And it is still more evident: understand, that the priesthood of the law has been destroyed, by this that Christ is said to be a priest for ever not according to the order of Aaron, but according to the order of Melchisedech: by this, that he was not of the tribe of Levi. For what he says: If according to the order of Melchisedech another priest should arise, he speaks not doubtfully, but affirmatively: as if he were saying, It is still further shown by this that the priesthood of the law has been destroyed: because according to the order of Melchisedech Christ arose as another priest, who was made a priest not according to the law of a carnal commandment, as Aaron was.

He calls it the law of a carnal commandment, because for the most part it was carnal, enjoining carnal things in circumcision, in the cleansing of the body, in victims and offerings, in the distinguishing of foods, days, and seasons, saying: Be outside the camp in the morning; wash your body; offer this or that; abstain from these foods; observe these times and other such things like these, all of which were to be ended by death. But the priesthood of Christ is spiritual, and according to the power of an indissoluble life, that is, according to the power of an unfailing life, which can be dissolved by no intervention of death; for Christ has in himself an indissoluble life, because although he was dead in the flesh for a time, yet he lives forever in his divinity, and moreover in his humanity, after he rose as victor from the dead. Hence God the Father testifies by swearing that he lives, saying through the Psalmist: You are a priest forever. There is indeed a rejection of the preceding commandment. This is the law of Moses. Because of its weakness and uselessness. The law had weakness in this place, because it was unable to help those who performed it; but uselessness, because it was able to open the kingdom of heaven to no one. Hence it follows: For the law brought nothing to perfection. For what did the law profit? Nothing.

It was of some benefit, to be sure, by cleansing bodies and by relaxing certain sins; but it was of no benefit for this, that it could make those who served in it upright, since it did not take away the graver sins, nor did it open to anyone the gate of the heavenly fatherland. Wherefore it was rejected, so that a place might be given to the grace of God, in which perfection consists. It was indeed useful for those who had faith in Christ, not for those who placed their whole hope in carnal observances. But the introduction of a better hope—understand, is now in grace. In which—hope—we draw near to God. The law indeed had a hope, but not such a one as grace provided; for they hoped, by being well-pleasing and keeping the law, to possess the land, according to that saying: If you are willing and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land; and to suffer no hardship, to live prosperously, as it is said: He who does it shall live in it. But here we hope that, mourning and keeping the precepts of the gospel, we shall possess not the land but heaven. Moreover, since heaven is much better, we hope to stand near to God, to come to his own paternal throne, and to serve him with the angels, according to what the Savior said in the Gospel: The just shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, and they shall be like the angels of God in heaven. But this priesthood, through which we are to possess this glory, is not without an oath, so that we may believe the firm promise of God. Hence the Apostle adds, And how much.

Hear this, that priesthood of Christ which we are discussing is certainly firm in many respects, because it was established not without an oath. Others indeed were made priests without an oath—as Aaron and his sons, to whom God did not swear that he would be a priest forever according to the order of the law. But this one was made priest with an oath, through him, that is, through God the Father, who said to him: The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent—that is, he will not change his oath—because you are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. To that extent Jesus was made the sponsor, or promiser, of a better testament. Understand this: insofar as he holds his priesthood with the oath of God his Father, and insofar as the priesthood of Christ, which has been sanctioned by God's oath, surpasses even the grace of the Gospel and the law of Moses in its dignity. And others indeed were made priests in greater number according to the law, for the reason that they were prevented by death from remaining; but this one, Christ, to whom the Father said with an oath, You are a priest forever—because he remains forever, he has an everlasting priesthood. Here the blessed Apostle sets forth two differences: that our priest has no end, as the priests of the law did, and that he is to possess his priesthood with an oath.

For because the priests of the law were mortal, many were made priests in that same law, such as Aaron and his sons; therefore, being hindered by death, they were prevented from remaining in the priesthood. For when the fathers died, the sons succeeded in their place. But Jesus alone, because he is immortal, has an everlasting priesthood, nor can he have any successor, since he himself remains forever. It follows: Therefore he is also able to save forever those who draw near through himself to God, always living to intercede for us. Therefore, he says, because Christ remains forever and has an everlasting priesthood, he always intercedes for us and can always save. But as to what some codices have, "drawing near through himself to God," while others have it in the plural, "those drawing near," either can be accepted. Christ, therefore, our high priest, does not approach God the Father through another greater high priest, but through himself; and therefore he can save those who believe in him. It can also be understood in this way, what he says: "He is able to save forever those who draw near through himself to God"; for since we are mere men, we draw near to God the Father through him (because, being the mediator, he stands before the face of God for us), directing our prayers to the Father through him. Hence the priests of the Church, standing at the altar, say: "Receive, Lord, the prayers of your people, through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son." And because he always lives, he always intercedes for us.

But the other high priests, because they were not always, did not always intercede. He intercedes, however, for us by this, that he assumed human nature for us, which he continually shows to the face of God for us, and he has mercy according to both substances. For such a one was it fitting that we should have as high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. We were not worthy, nor did we deserve to have such a high priest; but it was necessary for us that we should have such a high priest, who would be holy in the inner man, innocent in hands, undefiled in body, separated from sinners; the same immune from every sin, and separated from the conduct of sinners. For in this he was separated, because other men are conceived with sin, and are born, and pass from this world with sin; but this one was conceived without sin, was born without sin, and passed from this world without sin: because he did not commit sin, nor was guile found in his mouth. He was made higher than the heavens, when on the fortieth day of his wondrous resurrection he was raised above all the heavens and above all the orders of the heavenly spirits to the throne of the Father's majesty, where he now sits in the fullness of honor and glory.

It can also be understood in this way, what he said: "Such a one it was fitting for us to have as high priest," as if he were saying: The Jews, serving God as slaves through fear of the law, had legal high priests, their fellow slaves, mortal and sinners, who likewise needed to offer sacrifice for themselves; but we, to whom it has been said: "I no longer call you servants, but my friends," and because we are sons of God, serving him out of the love of sonship, it is fitting that we have an immortal high priest, separated from sinners. It follows: "Who would not have daily need, as the priests of the law did, first to offer victims for his own sins, then for the people's": for this he did once by offering himself. What did our Lord Jesus Christ do? He offered a sacrifice, certainly not for his own sins, but for ours, and he did this once, not more, because he died once for our sins, and now he dies no more; death shall no longer have dominion over him. Here he shows the greatness of Christ's sacrifice, that offered once it availed as much as all the legal sacrifices could not avail; for it was one and offered once, and it suffices forever to take away all the sins of believers. But the high priests of the Jews were sinners, and therefore they had need to offer victims for their own sins, and for that reason those sacrifices could not justify a man, because it was unfitting that an irrational animal should be offered on behalf of a rational man.

A high priest was being sought who was without sin, and a rational victim, and he was not found; there was found one God and man without sin, and he offered himself as a rational sacrifice for the salvation of rational man. For the law appoints men as priests who have weakness. And the Lord said to Moses: You shall anoint Aaron and his sons as priests to me; but because they had weakness, that is, sins, they would offer victims for their own offenses as well as for the people's. But this one is so powerful that he did not need to offer for himself, but moreover, once his own flesh had been offered as a sacrifice, he sufficed for the salvation of all. But the word of the oath which comes after the law is the Son, perfect forever. Understand: he shows, or establishes, a perfect priest, not weighed down by weakness, as the law established its own priests after the law; the word of God the Father was made to David concerning Christ with an oath, where it is said: The Lord has sworn, and he will not repent, you are a priest forever. Here the Apostle sets down the name of the Son to distinguish him from the servants who were under the law: because the servants were weak, whether because they were sinners, or because they were mortal; but he shows the Son to be perfect, because he always lives and is without sin.

CHAPTER VIII. But the heading concerning the things that are said. That is, a repetition concerning the things that are said about Christ; by which word he signifies something highest and great, and as it were by a recapitulation of the preceding arrangement he leads the hearer to the matter itself. Such a high priest we have. Understand, such as we have said above, namely holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and such as we are still to speak of in what follows. Who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens, a minister of the holy things and of the true tabernacle, which God established, and not man. We ought to understand the throne of majesty in the heavens as the fullness of the Father's majesty, in which the Son of God sits: which is also designated by the right hand; nor is it to be taken childishly, that God the Father has a right hand or a left, who is spirit filling all things: so that the Son sits at his right hand, as a son is accustomed to sit beside his father the king. But, as we have said, we ought to understand by the right hand the fullness of majesty and the highest glory of blessedness and prosperity, in which the Son sits. But to sit is put for to dwell. Therefore our high priest, who has sat down in the highest glory of the Father's majesty in the heavens, is the minister of the holy things: which can be understood in two ways.

For the Lord, coming into the world through the manifestation of his incarnation, ministered to the holy apostles and to other faithful ones—even those who were still to come—the bread of refreshment of the spiritual word and the cup of the evangelical teaching, saying: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, and: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. He ministered to them also the teaching of faith and the grace of baptism, and beyond that, what was greater, the sacrament of redemption through his passion, and the knowledge of the mysteries in the law and the prophets; and after his ascension he ministered to his elect, appearing in the world. It may also be said otherwise: He will be a minister of the saints in the future, when he will minister himself to them, and they will know him with the Father and the Holy Spirit as he is—that is, when he has handed over his kingdom to God and the Father. Hence in the Gospel, speaking of himself under the figure of the householder, he says: Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself and make them recline, and passing by he will minister to them. For he is said to pass by, because he will make his elect pass from judgment to the kingdom, or he will lift us up to the contemplation of his humanity into the knowledge of his divinity. He will minister to them when he manifests himself and the Father with the Holy Spirit to them; for their food and life will be the vision of the holy Trinity, as he himself says to the Father: This is eternal life, that they may know you with the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent, the one and true God.

He is also the minister of the true tabernacle, which God, and not man, established or composed—that is, of heaven, which he himself administers for us, so that we may be illumined by the brightness of its stars. For the tabernacle that Bezalel composed in the desert, or the temple that Solomon made in the land of promise, was not the true one; it was consumed by age and could not endure forever. And therefore he calls heaven the true tabernacle, because it will stand forever and will be consumed by no age. It can also be understood in a deeper sense, so that the true tabernacle is taken to be the souls of the saints, to whom the Son of God himself administers the joys of the heavenly fatherland, and in whom he deigns to dwell—according to what he says through the Prophet: I will dwell in them and walk among them. And the Apostle says: That Christ may dwell in the inner man through faith in your hearts; and, The temple of God is holy, which you are. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary that this one also have something to offer. He cannot be a priest unless he has something to offer. For the high priests of the old priesthood, according to the precept of the law, offered gifts and sacrifices for the sins of the people; but Christ, in the everlasting nature of his divinity, since he had nothing to offer, took from us what he might offer for us—that is, human flesh, namely himself, whom he offered on the altar of the cross. What, then, is so suited to immolation as rational flesh for the irrational?

And what is so clean for the cleansing of others as to offer flesh without any contagion and immaculate? And since four things must be considered in every sacrifice—namely, to whom it is offered, by whom it is offered, what is offered, and for whom it is offered—we can also find these here quite elegantly: for since a sacrifice is owed to no one except God alone, our High Priest offered a clean victim for us to God the Father. Being himself both priest for the sacrifice, he also offers through his Church a sacrifice acceptable to God the Father. Therefore, while we offer the sacraments of his body, he himself offers. If therefore he were on earth. Understand: a earthly priest according to the order of Aaron. Neither would he be a priest. According to the order of Melchizedek. Since they were. Priests of the Levitical race. Who would offer gifts according to the law, who serve the copy and shadow of heavenly things, as it was answered to Moses, when he had completed, And had finished. The tabernacle. Of the oracle. If he were a earthly high priest on earth, like Aaron, or another according to the order of Melchizedek, immortal and without sin, who could by sacrifices cleanse the human race and make it perfect, he would certainly not be a priest according to the order of Melchizedek forever: because those who offered legal gifts would be sufficient.

But because Aaron and his sons were mortal and sinners, and therefore could not make the human race perfect, Christ came without sin, to hold his priesthood forever and to cleanse the human race most perfectly by his sacrifice—not such as those were who serve the copy and shadow of heavenly things. A copy is a figure and likeness through which another thing is shown, just as an image expressed on a wall is the copy and figure of the true light. The priests of the Jews, then, served the copy, that is, the figure and shadow of the heavenly mysteries, because all those things were likenesses and figures of those things which are now done in the Church in truth. But he calls the heavenly mysteries spiritual, which lead those who observe them to heavenly things in truth. Is not our prayer a heavenly altar, on which we offer our prayers to God daily? See, he says, that you make all things according to the copy that was shown to you on the mountain. Since our hearing seems less suited to receiving instruction than sight—for we do not commend to the mind the things we hear in the same way as those we perceive by sight itself—therefore it was shown to Moses by the Lord on the mountain, not only by hearing but also by sight, what he was to make with the cooperation of Bezalel; whence he says: See that you make all things according to that likeness which was shown to you on the mountain!

But what he says must be understood both of the construction of the tabernacle and of its vessels, and of the sacrifices and offerings that were to be made there. But now he has obtained a better ministry—that is, the dignity of the priesthood—inasmuch as he is also the mediator of a better testament, which is established in better promises. That is, it is confirmed, established, and strengthened. Do you see, he says, how much better this celebration is than that which was then performed, since that was for a pattern and figure, but this is the truth, as it is said in the Gospel: The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Now—that is, in the last age of the world—Christ has obtained a ministry of priesthood so much better than that legal one was, inasmuch as he is also the mediator of a better testament; and as much better as heavenly things are than earthly, eternal than temporal, so much better is Jesus the giver of a better testament, and it has been confirmed by better promises. For that testament promised temporal and earthly things, saying: If you are willing and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land; and: Observe what I command you, that you may live long upon the earth; and promising other similar temporal and earthly things. But the new one, which was given through Christ, promises and bestows heavenly things and earthly, and a perfect life through the grace of baptism, and faith in the Lord's passion, and the remission of all sins.

And: He who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; and: They will be elect like the angels of God in heaven. And moreover, what is greater, what is said in the Gospel of John: As many (he says) as received him, he gave them power to become sons of God. Behold how Christ is the mediator and giver of a better covenant, and how it has been confirmed by better promises. In this too he has obtained a better priesthood, because that one was temporal, this one eternal. That one could not justify a man, nor open the kingdom of heaven to its observers; but this one both perfectly justifies a man and immediately opens the kingdom of heaven. But the Lord is called the mediator of the covenant, because just as Moses was a mediator between God and the people, conveying the words of God to the people, and again those of the people to God, so too Christ conveyed to us the words of God the Father, and again conveys ours to him. The Apostle, passing from the priest and the sacrifice, then at last also makes a distinction of the covenant, saying: For if that former covenant had been without fault, a place would certainly not be sought for a second covenant. That is, if that covenant of the law could take away sins, so that its observers would be blameless, no place would be left for a second covenant, but because that one was not perfect, when it was removed a place was found suitable for the second covenant. There follows: For blaming them. That is, not approving them as worthy of praise. He says through the prophet.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will complete upon the house of Israel and upon the house of Judah a new covenant. As far as the letter is concerned, by the house of Israel the ten tribes are understood, which separated themselves from the house of David in the times of Jeroboam; by the house of Judah, however, the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin with the priestly tribe, which adhered to the house of David. By a deeper understanding, however, by both houses we ought to understand all who believe, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles, who by rightly confessing God—which is what Judas means—are true Israelites, that is, those who see God with the mind, for whom God has perfected and completed the new covenant, namely the grace of the Gospel. But it is called the new covenant for the difference from the old. Yet, to speak more deeply, the old covenant is so called for this reason, that it was unable to make new a man placed in the oldness of sin. But the new covenant is so called for this reason, that it makes new in baptism, through faith in the Lord's passion, the old man, that is, one defiled by the sin of the old man Adam, which is not like the old covenant that he made with their fathers, because that one promised earthly and temporal things and commanded carnal things, but this one promises eternal and heavenly things, commanding spiritual things.

But what he said, "In the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt," shows the great familiarity of almighty God, which he displayed toward that people; for the divine word speaks in the manner of women, who are accustomed to take the hands of little children and often to lead them to themselves, and often also to support them this way and that so that they do not slip, as those who do not yet have firm steps. So almighty God, when that people was childish and little, because it had neither the steps of good works nor the strength by which it could free itself from the yoke of those oppressing it, stretched out his hand to it—that is, the great help of his loving-kindness—and drew it out of the iron furnace, drawing it to the knowledge of himself and to most welcome embraces, and at the same time leading it through the vastness of the desert, he brought it into a land better than all lands. But because they did not remain in his covenant—that is, they did not keep what was commanded them in the Testament—he neglected them, that is, he let them go according to the desires of their heart, just as the Psalmist said. But it must be noted that, when the divine word had said, "I will complete a testament," it added: "Not according to the testament that I made with their fathers.

Lest perhaps the Jews could say by way of objection that that testament was to be destroyed, of which he said to Abraham, "In your seed all nations shall be blessed," he clearly made manifest of which he was speaking, when he added: "In the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not remain in my testament, and I disregarded them, says the Lord." For he said this of the law, which it is established was given on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after their departure from the land of Egypt, in which their fathers did not remain, but made a calf at Horeb and worshiped it. For that which he covenanted with Abraham was fulfilled in Christ, in whom all nations shall be blessed. Because this is the testament which I will establish for the house of Israel. That is, for all who believe. "After those days, says the Lord, I will give my laws in their mind, and I will write them over upon their hearts: and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no one shall teach his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying: Know the Lord, because all shall know me, from the greatest to the least of them: because I will be propitious to their iniquities, and their sin I will remember no more." Great is the distance between law and law, between scripture and scripture, between teachers of the law and teachers of the Gospel, between the letter and the grace of spiritual understanding.

For the letter of the law was written on tablets of stone, but the grace of spiritual understanding was given to the faithful through the Holy Spirit in the heart, through which Spirit the love of God has been poured out into the hearts of the faithful. But this which he says, I will give my laws into their mind, and I will write them on their hearts, pertains especially to the holy apostles, who had the grace of the New Testament not written on tablets of stone, nor on parchments, but divinely inscribed in their mind and hearts. First, indeed, at the Lord's passion, when (as Matthew narrates) he went up onto the mountain, and there held with them that long sermon in which is contained the instruction of the whole perfect life. Second, truly after his resurrection, when (as Luke testifies) he opened their understanding, that they might understand all things which had been written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms concerning himself. Then truly on the tenth day of his ascension they learn whatever mortals were to know concerning God. How could the evangelists write such great miracles and heavenly words after his ascension, unless they had them divinely inscribed on the tablets of their hearts? Especially blessed John, who wrote the Gospel in the year after the Lord's ascension—how could he set forth that divinity of his so great, which the Lord himself set forth to them, especially on the night on which he was arrested?

But we have it written partly in our hearts and more fully on parchments, left to us by them, so that we may exercise ourselves in meditating on these things. But what he adds: No one will teach his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying: Know the Lord, is not to be referred to the present time, where we teach one another; but, as blessed Augustine says, while the prophet Jeremiah was speaking of the first coming of the Lord, he suddenly turned the eye of his mind to the second, after which no one will teach his neighbor to know the Lord: because all the elect, placed in the contemplation of him, will see and know him as he is; for in the present (as we have said) we teach one another. Afterwards there will be no remembrance of sins: because all, stripped of every dreg of mortality and of the corruption of the body, through the immutability of the resurrection and freedom from sin, having been granted the glory of the resurrection, will shine like the angels of God in heaven. But by saying new, he has made the former old. The Apostle, taking confidence and authority from the prophetic sayings, where it is said: I will consummate a new covenant upon the house of Israel, shows that it must now be more clearly completed. When God (he says) says through the prophet, I will consummate a new covenant, he has made the former old: that is, he has brought it into old age, or has shown that what was before is old. Whence he also adds: But what is becoming old and growing aged is near to destruction.

As if he were saying: by the very fact that he said the new Testament was to come, the divine word showed that the old was prior. It is therefore given to be understood that, if the former Testament is made old and is ancient, it is near to perishing and receiving its end. But this must be understood not of the precepts of life and morals, in which the law remains, agreeing with the Gospel, but of the commandments of carnal sacrifices. With the coming of him whom they prefigured, the law was to receive its end in these.

CHAPTER IX. The former also had, indeed, justifications of worship and a worldly sanctuary. The former Testament (he says) had justifications of worship, because through divine worship men were justified from lighter faults. It had also a worldly sanctuary, in which it received worldly men, that is, Gentiles passing over to Judaism; it is clear that it received not only Jews but also such Gentiles. The worldly sanctuary, then, he calls the place of the outer courts where the Gentiles stood to pray after the Jews. For the first tabernacle was made, in which were the lampstands and the table and the setting forth of the loaves, which is called holy. The Apostle is not here about to dispute concerning that tabernacle which Moses made in the desert, where there was only one lampstand, but concerning the temple which Solomon afterwards built in Jerusalem, where there were several lampstands.

Hence what he calls "first" should not be referred to time, but rather to place. For the blessed Apostle calls that temple of Solomon "two tabernacles"; and he calls "the first tabernacle" that part of the temple where were the lampstands and the table on which were placed the twelve warm loaves, six on one side and six on the other; and over the loaves two golden dishes full of incense, one on this side and one on that, and they were there from Sabbath to Sabbath. There was also there a golden altar, where the incense of spices was offered morning and evening. With this part of the temple he includes the altar of burnt offerings, which was in the open air before the doors of the Lord's temple; into which tabernacle the priests and the other ministers might lawfully enter daily. But by the second tabernacle he wishes to be understood the holy of holies, namely that part of the temple which was divided off by a wall of cubits, and by the veil which hung before the wall, where within was the ark of Moses containing in itself the tablets of the law, and the golden urn in which was the manna, and also Aaron's rod which had sprouted. This ark itself was made with a flat form, and therefore over it was a golden plate, which was called the propitiatory, because from there the Lord spoke to Moses and the priests. And over the ark itself were the two cherubim, which with their wings overshadowed the plate of the propitiatory, and with faces turned toward each other looked upon the propitiatory.

Into this second tabernacle, that is, into the Holy of Holies, no one entered except the high priest alone, once a year. Taking blood in a vessel, he entered within to pray for the people, namely on the seventeenth day of the seventh month from the feast of Passover, which day was indeed called the Day of Propitiation. On the next day followed the feast of Tabernacles. Spiritually, however, that first tabernacle, where the priests entered lawfully, signifies the state of the present Church, where there are many lampstands—that is, holy preachers, who shine for themselves and for others by word and example. Or also where there are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which the hearts of the faithful are illuminated, who stand in the Church through faith. There is also the table of God—namely, the Scripture, of which the Psalmist says: You have prepared a table in my sight. And there is the setting forth of loaves on the table—that is, the understanding of sacred Scripture, by which the souls of the faithful are refreshed daily. We can also understand the bread as the body and blood of the Lord, which is consecrated in the church. After the first covenant, however, the second tabernacle is what is called the Holy of Holies, having the golden censer and the ark of the covenant covered all around with gold, in which was the golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that had budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Concerning each of these, how and in what manner they were arranged, according to the letter, it has been explained a little above; therefore let us consider the spiritual mysteries.

The veil behind which was the tabernacle that was called the Holy of Holies because of its own dignity (as with the Song of Songs) signifies heaven, behind which God is in the inner parts of the heavenly fatherland. With the veil lifted, the high priest entered with blood into the Holy of Holies to pray for the people; and our High Priest, with the blood of his passion, when that same passion was accomplished and heaven was opened, penetrated into the Holy of Holies, where he ceaselessly entreats God the Father for us. In the Holy of Holies was the censer, because Christ abides in the secret places of the heavenly fatherland, through whom we direct our prayers to God the Father. The ark of the covenant, woven around on every side with gold, is the flesh of the Lord and Savior, who is the author of both testaments, and who, full of divinity within, shone outwardly with the power of miracles and of heavenly words. In gold the clarity of speech is customarily designated, as Wisdom says: Desire wisdom as gold. The golden urn holding the manna is Christ, in whom is the manna of divinity, who said: I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. The rod of Aaron that had sprouted is the dignity of priests, which always flourishes in Christ, or it is imperial power. The two tablets of the testament in the ark are the two testaments abiding together. There follows: Over which were. That is, over the ark. The cherubim of glory overshadowing the propitiatory.

The two cherubim covering (which are interpreted as fullness of knowledge) are the two testaments, in which is the fullness of knowledge, which cover Christ, who is the propitiation for sins, because he lies hidden in the divine Scripture. Concerning all these things—what mystery they contain in themselves—it is not now to be said one by one. Perhaps he was silent for this reason, because they needed many words, or because they were not yet capable of bearing all things. These things being thus arranged and ordered which we have said were both in the first tabernacle and in the second, that is, in the Holy of Holies. Into the first tabernacle indeed, that is, into that part of the temple where the altar of incense also was, and before whose doors was also the altar of burnt offerings, the priests always entered, completing the offices of the sacrifices. It is not to be understood that in the temple they offered victims upon the altar of incense or completed there the sacrifices of victims; but rather we can take the offices of the sacrifices to be the incense, for the offering of which the priests always entered morning and evening; or, the sacrifice having been completed and perfected before the temple on the altar of burnt offerings, they always entered into the temple with incense.

It can also be understood in a third way, as we said above, that with the temple he also included the altar of holocausts, and by this he wished to comprehend the whole from a part; yet either interpretation can be accepted as true. In this second [tabernacle], however, once a year the high priest alone, not without blood which he offered for his own and the people's ignorance. The second tabernacle, into which the high priest alone entered with blood, signifies the inner recesses of the heavenly fatherland. That high priest designates Christ, who once entered the Holy of Holies within the veil when his passion was accomplished, so that he may now stand before the face of God praying for us, not for his own sins but for ours. Unless perhaps it is said that he prays for his own, because of the communion which he has with his body, which is the Church; whence he says in his passion: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my salvation are the words of my sins. For what are the words of his sins, if not those of his body, which we are? For he himself committed no sin, nor was guile found in his mouth. The Holy Spirit signifying this, that the way of the saints was not yet made manifest—that is, the Holy Spirit signifying this to Moses, that Christ had not yet come, who would once enter with the blood of his passion into the secrets of the heavens.

As if he were saying in other words: Therefore the high priest alone entered once with blood into the Holy of Holies, so that we may learn that the heavenly kingdom was still inaccessible to mortals until Christ should come, who by his completed passion would open for us the door of the heavenly fatherland, with the veil, that is, heaven, having been unbarred; for the way of the saints into the heavenly fatherland was not yet manifest, or its understanding was not yet made manifest, because men did not know what those mysteries signified. Nor should we think that we cannot enter there because our high priest entered first; for he himself says to the Father: Father, I will that where I am, these also may be with me. And elsewhere: Where I am, there also shall my servant be. And because the temple was still standing when the Apostle was saying these things, and legal gifts were being offered there, though without cause, he therefore added, saying: While the former tabernacle still had its standing: which. Understand “things.” It is a parable, that is, a figure and similitude, of the time then present, or of the present time; for what was being done in the temple at that time was a figure and similitude of this truth which was also being fulfilled in the Church. There follows: According to which. Understand “parable” or “figure.” Gifts and sacrifices are offered, still there by the priests. Which. Gifts, or sacrifices. They cannot make the servant perfect according to conscience. Conscience is called the knowledge of the heart, through which the mind of a man is understood.

Those gifts, he says, carnal as they were, could not make the one who served in the law perfect with the perfection of the mind, because they could not justify the mind, since they did not take away sins. For the law brought no one to perfection, but he goes on to show in what the cleansing of the law consisted for the most part, saying: Only in foods and drinks and various washings and carnal ordinances. Supply: it seemed to make the servant perfect. Until the time of correction, that is, of betterment and amendment, with these carnal ordinances imposed. These carnal ordinances concerning the distinction of foods and drinks and various washings or ablutions were imposed until the time of the Lord's coming, just as the other things that were done as a figure; but when the Lord came, they were corrected, that is, amended and changed for the better. For by the clean animals that the law commands to be eaten, clean works are signified; but by the unclean animals, unclean works are understood, from which one must abstain. By clean drinks, moreover, the teaching of ecclesiastical men; but by unclean drinks, we should likewise understand the teaching of heretics. Concerning the washings of the Jews, however, we read more fully in the Gospel of Mark, where the Pharisees criticized the Lord and his disciples for eating with unwashed hands; for he designates all their ablutions by the name of washing.

At times they washed only their hands, at times their feet, at times the whole body, whenever they touched something unclean or even if they went in to a dead person; but in vain do they wash hands and body, while they despise being cleansed in the Savior's font. For what the Prophet says, "Wash yourselves, be clean," and "Be cleansed, you who carry the vessels of the Lord," they understood only in a carnal sense, although it was spoken rather of the washing of Christ's baptism and the purity of works. All these things were imposed until the time of correction, that is, until the time of the Lord's advent; but afterward they were changed by Christ for the better, because while they were observed carnally, they fulfilled bodily purity; but when they began to be observed spiritually, they began to observe purity of soul as well. But Christ, standing as High Priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hand, that is, not of this creation. The High Priest of the Jews, who once a year entered with blood within the veil into the Holy of Holies, to pray for the people, signified Christ the Lord, as has already been declared in many places: who, with the blood of his passion, heaven having been opened, entered the secret places of the heavenly fatherland, where he now stands before the face of God for us. But the High Priest of the good things to come is called so in two ways.

For the future good things that he himself administered to us were the heavenly words, his birth, baptism, passion, resurrection, forgiveness of sins, and perfect justification; these are therefore called future good things, either because they were prefigured by mysteries, or also because they were foretold in the divine oracles. But with a deeper understanding we can take the future good things to be the joys of the heavenly homeland, which were ministered to us through Christ; hence he is also called Pontifex, because he has shown us the bridge, that is, the way of justice, by which to ascend to the heavenly homeland. Another translation has: Christ, coming as Pontifex of future things; for unless he had come, he would by no means have administered the future good things to us, nor would he stand before the face of God for us. It must be noted that the Apostle did not say simply that he stands before, but through the tabernacle; he also uses the comparative degree, saying: More and more perfectly; but the tabernacle through which he stands before God the Father is his humanity, since unless he had become man, he could by no means stand before God the Father.

The tabernacle, therefore, the body of the Lord, is greater than the tabernacle of Moses, and also than the tabernacle of Solomon; because those were made by the hands of carnal men, but this one was formed within the womb of a virgin without the seed of a man, by the work of the whole Trinity. Or in this respect it is greater and more excellent than those tabernacles, because the divinity of the Word, which cannot be wholly comprehended in a tabernacle made by hand, rests most fully in that man. It is more perfectly or more holily in this than in those tabernacles, because neither of those, while men ministered in them, could sanctify or make perfect. What he said, Not made by hand, he himself explained, saying: that is, not of this creation of which we are, because it was not formed from male seed. This is the stone which Daniel saw cut from the mountain without hands, that is, born of the people of the Jews without the seed of a man and the intercourse of a male. Nor by the blood of goats or calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. Not with the blood of legal animals, from which perfect justification could not be given, but with the blood of his passion he entered into the heavenly court: by which blood all are redeemed and perfectly justified, not with a temporal but with an eternal redemption. Of this redemption it is said through Zechariah: He visited us, and made redemption for his people. Now redemption pertains to captives, and we were captives, taken captive by the devil in our first parent.

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on the unclean, sanctifies them for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the Holy Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God! If the blood of irrational animals could cleanse the flesh, and, as it seemed at that time, a person was sanctified if he had been unclean and was sprinkled with that blood, much more could the blood of Christ cleanse the soul and justify it most fully. But lest anyone should think that full justification and cleansing came from the sprinkling of that legal blood, the Apostle added that the cleansing of the flesh according to the law was given through it—as if to say: The flesh is indeed sanctified and cleansed because of the precept of the law, but the soul is not expiated. He also added the reason for the difference, by which he showed that the blood of those animals was not unblemished, saying of Christ: Who through the Holy Spirit offered himself unblemished to God. The Holy Spirit, who filled that man in the virgin's womb, kept him so that he passed from this world without sin, and was an unblemished sacrifice, as a sweet odor to God the Father. He will cleanse our conscience, that is, our mind, from dead works.

Dead works are sins, which kill the soul. For just as the soul lives by virtues, which are called works of life, so it dies by vices and sins, and is at the same time dragged to the death of eternal perdition. And he spoke well of "dead works." For if anyone in the law touched a dead body, he was defiled, yet afterward he was cleansed by the sprinkling of blood. Similarly, one who imitates the work of a dead soul is defiled, yet through faith in the Lord's passion he is cleansed. For "he who touches pitch will be defiled by it"—that is, if anyone has been washed from dead works through repentance and the grace of baptism, and afterward touches the same things again, he will be contaminated. It follows: "To serve the living God." Here he most fittingly shows that those who have dead works cannot serve the true and living God, because those works are dead and false. For if one who touched a dead body or anything unclean was not permitted to enter the temple, how much less will one who has dead works be able to enter heaven? And therefore he is the mediator of the new Testament, "that by means of death"—or "intervening"—"in redemption of the transgressions that were under the former Testament, those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance." For where there is a testament, death must needs intervene—or come between—of the testator. For a testament is confirmed in the dead; otherwise—that is, in another way—it is not yet valid. A testament is firm while that man lives who made it.

Here the Apostle seems to touch on human laws, which are accustomed to make firm a testament that one person makes to another concerning his inheritance, until the testator himself departs by the intervening of death; but when that testator who made the testament is dead, it remains altogether firm. In this manner the testament of eternal life, which we have received from Christ, could not remain firm for us in any other way, unless he himself had strengthened it by his death. For our sin was so great that we could not be redeemed and saved in any other way, unless the only-begotten Son of God were to die for us; and because we were unworthy to obtain that which he himself had promised, he himself by his death became mediator for us, so that through his undeserved death he might take away that death which was owed to us.

And because perhaps many of the less perfect could doubt the Lord's promises, especially from the fact that he died as one weak, the blessed Apostle sets out examples, showing from the common custom of human laws that testaments are made firm and receive their force not while the testators are living but when they are dying; for as long as the testator lives, he can change his decision. Wherefore the Apostle, wishing the testament that Christ left us to be firm, says the same thing, declaring: Christ is the mediator of the new Testament, so that by his death intervening for the redemption of those transgressions which could not be taken away and blotted out in the former Testament, but were blotted out through his passion, those who have been called with an eternal calling may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For he is not speaking here of the general calling, of which the Lord said, Many are called, but few are chosen, but of that calling of which the same distinguished preacher, speaking of the elect, said: Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined; and those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified. But the title of eternal inheritance we already possess in part in the present age, since the Gospel has been given to us by the Lord—namely, that Gospel which makes its observers live eternally with God—the grace of the Holy Spirit, the remission of sins, the knowledge of himself, and the peace which he left us when he went to his passion: Peace, he says, I leave to you.

We have this title of inheritance as a pledge in the present, but it will be supplied to us more perfectly when God will be all in all, when Christ will have handed over the kingdom to God and the Father, when we will have been led to the joys of the heavenly homeland, in which the elect will be like the angels of God in heaven, seeing God as he is. And this will be the perfect inheritance of the elect, which Christ confirmed in his death. Hence not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood—that is, confirmed and consecrated. For when every commandment of the law had been read by Moses to all the people, taking the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, he sprinkled also the book itself and all the people. All these things were done in figure: for that calf, which was generally the priest's, signified Christ, who, being the true Priest, offered the calf—that is, himself—to God the Father on the altar of the cross. This is the calf which the father slaughtered for the return of the prodigal son. The goat also, which was offered for sin, signifies the same Christ, who was offered for sinners; according to what the same Apostle says elsewhere: Him who knew no sin, God the Father made sin for us—that is, a victim for sin; for just as the old Testament was sprinkled with blood for its confirmation, so too the people were typified as to be confirmed by the blood of Christ's passion in the new Testament, and the believing people cleansed.

But the water with which the people was sprinkled is the water of baptism, with which the faithful are poured over. The scarlet wool is the love of Christ, by which he suffered for us, and of which it is said elsewhere: God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son for the world. Hyssop is a lowly herb, and one that grows on rock, by which the humility of Christ is signified, and his strength, by which our inner parts are cleansed; for by this kind of herb the ailments of the lungs are customarily cured. Through hyssop, repentance can also be understood, which, once performed, cleanses the inner vices of the mind. Saying: This is the blood of the testament which God has commanded unto you. As if he were saying: this is the confirmation of this testament which God has commanded unto you: this blood prefigured that blood which flowed from the side of Christ on the cross: with this blood Christ sprinkled both us and confirmed his testament, as he himself said: This is the blood of the new Testament, for the remission of sins. He likewise sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. The tabernacle is to be understood as those of whom God says through the prophet: I will dwell in them, and walk among them; and of whom the Apostle says elsewhere: The temple of God is holy, which you are. But the various vessels are the faithful of the Church having various offices: for some are vessels of preaching, like Paul, of whom the Lord said to Ananias: This man is a vessel of election to me.

But some have different degrees and various offices, which the same excellent man, recalling them, states: To one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another prophecy, to another kinds of tongues, to another the grace of healings, and others and still others have various gifts, which the Holy Spirit distributes to each of these as he wills. The tabernacle, therefore, and all its vessels are sprinkled with blood, because this whole Church, together with all who minister to it, is cleansed by the blood of Christ's passion. And almost all things are cleansed in blood, according to the law: and without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Why did he say: Almost all things are cleansed in blood, according to the law: and without the shedding of blood there is no remission? Because in those things there was not a perfect cleansing, nor a perfect remission; for bodies, as far as pertains to the law, were cleansed by sprinkling, or by the shedding of the blood of animals, and light sins were forgiven; but in this, because it did not take away greater crimes, nor make a man perfect, there was not a perfect cleansing: but perfect cleansing and remission consists in the blood of Christ, which was shed for us for the remission of sins; without the shedding of whose blood no one is redeemed. It is necessary, therefore, that the copies indeed of heavenly things be cleansed with these sacrifices and sprinklings: but the heavenly things themselves are cleansed with better victims than these.

He calls the legal sacrifices copies, that is, a figure and likeness; but those things which are now celebrated in truth in the Church he calls heavenly, that is, spiritual, because they are to be done spiritually; or heavenly, in that they lead those who celebrate them in truth to heavenly things. The copies, he says, of the heavenly mysteries and of the things which were done in the law, for a figure of those things which are now fulfilled in the Church, it was necessary to use in the law with such typical sacrifices and figurative sprinklings, which prefigured the true things. But the heavenly things themselves, that is, the spiritual things, which are now celebrated in truth in the Church, are cleansed by better victims than these legal ones: namely, by the blood of the passion of Christ. For because they were seeking true sacrifices, by which men might be perfectly cleansed, and they were not being found, it was necessary that those things remain for so long, until the true things should come. For Jesus did not enter into a sanctuary made by hands, the copies of the true things; but into heaven itself, that he may now appear before the face of God for us. Jesus did not enter, he says, into the things made by hands: understand, which are the copies of the true things. He calls the Holy of Holies "made by hands," which was first made by the hands of Bezalel in the wilderness, and afterwards similarly by the hands of the workmen in the temple of Solomon; into which Jesus did not enter, but into heaven itself, which is not made by the hands of men, but stretched out by the command and will of God the Word.

Therefore those things were copies and a figure of the true things, because they prefigured these true things, the Holy of Holies, which Christ entered once for all. But we say that Jesus entered in according to what he is as man; for according to what he is as God, he is everywhere and fills all things, nor did he enter into a sanctuary made by human hands, but into heaven itself, created by the command of God. Nor did he show this difference alone, but also that the high priest was made near, so that he might appear before the face of God for us: that is, that he might present himself to the Father's presence and render him propitious to us. Hence John says: We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with the blood of another. Otherwise it would have been necessary for him to suffer frequently from the beginning of the world. Christ did not enter into the Holy of Holies for this purpose, that he might offer himself often, as the high priest of the Jews used to enter into the holy place every year, nor with the blood of another, but with his own; because he himself, who is both priest and sacrifice, offered himself once for all on the altar of the cross. But rising again, he dies no more; death shall no longer have dominion over him; nor is it necessary that he die any more, since for the salvation of all believers his one passion is sufficient.

Otherwise: that is, if it were otherwise, so that having suffered once would not profit, he would have needed to be crucified repeatedly from the beginning of the world: that is, for each one of the elect, as many as there have been and as many as are to be, he would have needed to die, if he wished to redeem them; but he was unwilling to die except only once, because by his one death redemption was accomplished. But now once in the consummation of the ages. That is, at the end of the ages, in the last age. For the destruction of sin he appeared through his sacrifice. That is, through his body, which he made a sacrifice for sin. Once (he says) at the end of the ages he appeared for this purpose, that through his sacrifice he might destroy sin: rightly did he appear then, when there were many, so that he might show the riches of his grace; for if it had been done in the beginning, perhaps no one would have believed, and this once in the consummation of sinners through his own blood, not through another's. And just as it is appointed for men once to die, but after this the judgment: so also Christ, having been offered once to exhaust the sins of many; he will appear a second time without sin to those who await him for salvation. Just as it is appointed and decreed for men that they cannot die except once; but afterward they receive judgment: that is, according as each one has done in the body, whether good or evil: so also Christ was offered once by himself to take away the sins of many; nor can he die any longer, but neither do we need him to. But it must be noted that he was offered to take away the sins of many.

and not of all: because not all will believe. The Lord himself said something similar to the apostles: This is my blood of the new Testament, which will be poured out for you and for many for the remission of sins. But what follows: He will appear a second time without sin to those who await him for salvation, is as if he were saying: First indeed he appeared through his own sacrifice, that is, through his mortal body, which was a sacrifice for sin; but second he will appear without a sacrifice for sin: because there will no longer be a sacrifice for sin, as there was before: for he will no longer be able to die. For just as each one of us after death receives according to his works, so Christ, having conquered death and obtained the kingdom, will appear a second time to those who await him for salvation, so that he may justly vindicate his own, he who unjustly suffered from strangers. This appearance to those who await him for salvation is better than the common vision, of which it is said: Every eye will see him, and those who pierced him. This, then, is to appear a second time without sin: no longer to be seen in the likeness of sinful flesh; but neither bearing the sins of others in his body on the tree, as he did in his first coming; nor to intercede any longer for sins, but to exercise vengeance on sinners.

CHAPTER 10. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who draw near perfect. The order of the words is: The law, having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who draw near to it perfect. The good things to come are to be understood in two ways: namely, either the sacraments which were to come and which are fulfilled in truth in Christ and in the Church, or also the joys of the heavenly fatherland. But he calls the figure and likeness a shadow; and he sets down image in place of truth. Moreover, he was showing in many ways the sacraments of Christ and of the Church, until Christ himself, the Truth, should come, who by the grace of the Holy Spirit given to him would lay open to his Church the inner meaning of that same figure, and at the same time by dying in the creature would reveal all the sacraments. But he could never perfectly cleanse those who drew near to him with the same sacrifices, which the priests themselves always offered year by year; they offered those same irrational sacrifices every year: namely, rams, oxen, goats, turtledoves, and pigeons. It follows: Otherwise they would have ceased to be offered: because those who worshiped, once cleansed, would have no further consciousness of sin: but in these same sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins made year by year.

Otherwise, that is, if they had been freed from all sins, and those victims had ceased to be offered, because they would no longer have any consciousness—that is, memory and recollection—of the sins from which the worshippers had once been cleansed; but because this could not happen, and greater and more grievous sins could never be cleansed by those sacrifices, a commemoration of sins is made each year in the victims themselves. For example: if someone had offered victims in the present year for the sin of adultery, or sacrilege, or parricide, it was necessary for him to do this every year, since he could not perfectly expiate that offense; and so what was done was an accusation of sins, not their remission. An accusation of weakness, not a display of virtue. For in the fact that it was offered, there was a refutation of sins; in the fact that it was always offered, a refutation of the weakness of that same sacrifice. For what reason did he command it to be offered always? Because of weakness: because it could not perfectly cleanse, so that both the memory and the refutation of sins might occur. What then is to be said—do our priests not do the same daily, in that they do not offer the sacrifice continually?

They do indeed offer, but in remembrance of his death; and because we sin daily and daily need cleansing, since he can no longer die, he has given us this sacrament of his body and blood, so that just as his passion was the redemption and release of the world, so also this offering may be redemption and cleansing for all who offer it in true faith and with a good intention. For in this our sacrifice differs from that old sacrifice so often repeated, though it too is similarly repeated: because this is the truth, that the figure; this makes a person perfect, that does not at all; and this is not repeated because of any weakness of its own, as though it could not confer perfect salvation, but in commemoration of the passion of Christ, as he himself said: Do this, he says, in commemoration of me. And this is one victim, not many, as those were. How is it one, and not many, when it is offered by many in different places and at different times? Therefore it must most fittingly be observed that the divinity of the Word of God, which is one, and fills all things, and is wholly everywhere, itself brings it about that there are not many sacrifices but one, even though it is offered by many; and that there is one body of Christ together with that which he took in the virgin womb, not many bodies; nor indeed would we now offer one greater and another lesser, one today and another tomorrow, but always the very same, having equal greatness. Accordingly this sacrifice of Christ is one, not different, as those were.

For if it were otherwise, since he is offered in many places, there would be many Christs—which God forbid. Therefore he is one everywhere, being full both here and there, having one full body everywhere. And just as he who is offered everywhere is one body, not many bodies, so also is there one sacrifice. It follows: For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. What reason could there be that rational man should be cleansed by the blood of an irrational animal? Wherefore lighter sins were purged and the body was cleansed, as far as pertains to the law; yet it was impossible for criminal and graver sins to be cleansed by those sacrifices, whence the law brought no one to perfection. Therefore, entering into the world, he said: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; but a body you have prepared for me. 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 should do your will, O God. By these words the former sacrifices are shown to be useless for complete and perfect cleansing, and to have been rather a figure, nor are they acceptable to God, since from the beginning they did not please him; for it must not be thought that almighty God was ever delighted by the stench of flesh and the burning of animals, although it is read that he smelled a sweet odor, but by the faith and desire of the one offering; whence through Jeremiah he says: Your burnt offerings are not acceptable to me, and your victims have not pleased me.

And through Isaiah he says: "Do not offer sacrifice any longer; incense is an abomination to me; he who slaughters an ox is like one who breaks a dog's neck." But from this a not insignificant question can arise: Why did he command that they ought to be offered, if they did not please him, nor was it his will? This can be resolved by a twofold solution. Almighty God, considering the minds of the Jews prone to worshiping idols and to imitating the rite of the Gentiles, commanded them to offer many sacrifices, lest, sitting idle without sacrifices, they should fall into the worship of alien gods while they saw others offering; and he preferred that what he himself had created be offered to him rather than to the portents of idols and demons; and he imposed upon them servitude, not justification, because it was not his will that such things be offered. In this way also the distinguished preacher, following the Creator as a creature, acted in his own words, saying: "I wish all men to be as I myself am," that is, chaste and continent. And again he says: "I wish young men to marry, to beget children, because of fornication and adultery." Behold, he established two wills; yet both are not his. In the first, saying, "I wish all men to be in continence as I myself am," he expressed his own will. In the second, however, "I wish young men to marry," he spoke in this way by way of indulgence, because of the weakness of the flesh. Similarly, it was not the will of almighty God that such sacrifices be offered, but because of their weakness he commanded it.

Hence he said above that he not only did not will, but did not even desire. It can also be resolved thus: that because the true sacrifice of Christ was to come in the Church, he commanded that the type and figurative sacrifices should precede; and indeed it was necessary that, just as it was foretold in words, so also it should be foreshown in mysteries, so that they might pass from figurative things to the truth. But because those sacrifices did not please them, he came again, of whom the Apostle says: "Therefore," he says, "because it was impossible for sins to be taken away by the blood of goats, and because such sacrifices did not please God, entering into the world"—there is no doubt that he says this of Christ. But this entering in is nothing other than his sending, his appearing, namely of his humanity. For when he who was present everywhere, but yet invisible, afterward became a visible man and appeared to the world, in a certain manner he entered in where he was. And what does he say to God the Father? "Sacrifice," he says, "and offering you did not will: but a body you have fitted (or perfected) for me: I will offer that acceptable sacrifice to you. 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." A burnt offering was called a sacrifice that was wholly burned on the altar, as if wholly incensed; for "holon" means whole, and "caustum" means incensed, just as "holovitreum" means wholly of glass. But if burnt offerings for sin did not please him, it can be asked how they were cleansed?

To this it must be answered that under faith and repentance they were cleansed with a cleansing that was worthy, just as David was cleansed from the sin of adultery and murder; but the perfect cleansing was deferred until the coming of Christ. In the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do your will, O God. Concerning the head of this book the teachers dispute in various ways. For what do they understand here as the beginning of Genesis, where it is written: In the beginning: that is, in the Son God made heaven and earth? Some take it as the first psalm, which some refer to Christ, some to any one of the elect, in which it is said: In the law of the Lord is his will. But since in these nothing is prefigured concerning the death of Christ, about which the Apostle speaks throughout this whole passage, it seems better understood as said of the beginning of the book of Leviticus. For since that whole book is concerned with sacrifices and victims, he commanded that the first sacrifice be offered from a calf, saying: If any of you offers a victim to God from the herds, let him offer a male without blemish: that is, a calf from the oxen, or from the herd. This 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 by his passion should redeem the human race; 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 I do. Arise, let us go hence: that is, let us go to the passion.

Above, saying, "Because you did not desire sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings for sin, nor were they pleasing to you, which are offered according to the law; then I said: Behold, I come, that I may do, O God, your will." He takes away the first. Understand: the Testament, when he rejects its offerings. That he may establish the following. Namely, the Testament: that is, may cause it to stand and remain. In which will; of God the Father, which the Son fulfilled. We have been sanctified. In baptism. Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. What he says, "once," is as if he were saying: We have been sanctified in baptism through the passion which Christ accomplished once. And every priest indeed of the law stands ready. At the altar. Ministering daily, and offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Understand: criminal and capital sins. But this one. Doubtless Christ. Offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sits at the right hand of God, henceforth waiting until his enemies are 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 the one who judges and rules, so that ministry may be rendered to him; by which the exaltation and glory of Christ is shown, who appeared humble: but now exalted above every creature, he dwells in the fullness of majesty, waiting and considering the remaining time when he will judge.

And he explains the reason why this delay occurs, saying: Until his enemies be placed as a footstool for his feet. His enemies are the Jews, the heretics, and false Christians, and all unbelievers, who must be subjected to his power. Here both a necessary subjection can be understood, which pertains to the reprobate who persist in wickedness, and a voluntary one, which pertains to the elect, who, abandoning the way of wickedness, submit themselves to Christ of their own accord. Those priests of the Jews, by offering many victims 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 offering he perfected forever those who are sanctified. But the Holy Spirit testifies to us; for after he had said: But this is the testament which I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will give my laws in their hearts, and I will write them upon their minds; and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more. He testifies, he says, to us, even the Holy Spirit, that is, he confirms our words by his testimony, not only through the Psalmist, but also through the prophet, because those victims are no longer to be offered.

In the following words there is a deficiency of meaning that is quite necessary, wherefore it is said thus: For after almighty God had said through the prophet Jeremiah: But this is the testament which I will testify to them after those days, says the Lord: I will give my laws in their hearts, and I will write them over in their minds: he immediately added: And I will remember their sin no more, showing that from then on the figurative sacrifices would no longer be necessary: which the Apostle also makes manifest, when he adds: But where there is remission of these sins, there is no longer an offering necessary for sin. For after this testament was fulfilled, which God promised through the prophet, those sacrifices immediately came to an end: because when the truth came, the shadow departed. It must be noted therefore that where there is no remembrance of sins, which is forgiven in baptism through faith in the Lord's passion, there is no longer an offering of the law necessary for sin. Having therefore, brothers, confidence in the entrance of the saints in the blood of Christ, which he inaugurated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, his flesh, and a great Priest over the house of God.

Up to this point he has shown the difference between the high priest and the sacrifices, and also between the tabernacle, the testament, and the promise, and their many distinctions. Now, by inviting us, he exhorts us 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 have more confidence, having been cleansed through the blood of Christ, than those who offered sacrifices in a carnal manner, because our sacrifice is true and rational. For to the extent that we have been made more fully co-heirs, to that extent we have greater confidence in entering the heavens through the blood of Christ. No one will be able to attain 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 beginning of using it. But he calls faith the new way, which was given through Christ, or the example of humility, through which he himself walked, humbling himself even to death. We can also understand the new way as the entrance to the heavenly fatherland opened to us through Christ; which is for this reason called a new way, because it was accessible to no one before. But by saying "new," he tries to show that all greater things have newness, 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 remaining and always open, since both right faith will remain eternally and the gate of heaven will always be open.

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 himself first opened that way by ascending to the heavenly homeland, and he himself first gave us the beginning of its use. But the Lord's flesh is not fittingly designated by the name "veil," because just as the veil concealed the ark and the things that were beyond it, so beyond that flesh the divinity of the Word lay hidden. And just as through the veil one came to the inner parts, so through the humanity one comes to the knowledge of the divinity. But Christ is understood as the great high priest over the house of God, who was appointed by God the Father over the Church, according to what he himself says: "But I have been appointed king by him." It follows: "Let us draw near with a true heart, and in the fullness of faith, our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with clean water." These things depend on the preceding, where the Apostle says: "Having therefore, brothers, confidence for entrance into the holy places through 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 the fullness of faith," that we may believe that there will be a general resurrection; as if he were saying: Now, since we have confidence to enter the heavenly homeland, we ought not to hesitate whether there is a resurrection of some but not of others; but with true faith we ought to believe that all men will rise again, some to glory, but some to punishment. For if anyone hesitates about this, he does not have true and full faith.

It can also be understood in another way: full faith is that which is conceived in the heart, confessed with the mouth, and adorned with good works. By this faith all who wish the entrance to the heavenly homeland to be opened to them must draw near to the Lord. It is necessary, therefore, that hearts be sprinkled, that is, cleansed in their hearts from an evil conscience, from sins, from evil will, or that they have clean hearts; and at the same time he shows that not faith alone but also a life with virtues is sought, since faith without works is dead. The Jews cleansed their bodies, not their conscience. And having been washed, he says, in body, or having a body washed with clean water, that is, with the water of baptism. For this reason he says that 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 who has promised is faithful. We hold the confession of our hope without wavering if we do not despair of the heavenly homeland, of all the things 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 wills us to be faithful in our own promises, which we know at the time of baptism, to renounce the devil and also to serve Christ. And let us consider one another for the stirring up of love and good works.

That is, let us consider carefully among ourselves, and whomever we see to have greater charity and to be intent on better works, let us be stirred by his example, so that we imitate him with the utmost zeal; let us look to him so that we may be loved; for good works proceed from love. Wherefore the good of great love is a great good, and nothing is good that is not done through charity, since love is the fullness of the law. Not forsaking our own gathering. That is, the congregation of the faithful. As is the custom with certain people; but consoling. Bear with one another. In this place he not only admonished but also reproved and terrified those who tear apart the unity of charity: for there were many who disturbed the congregation of the faithful, as if they could not dwell among them because of their own sanctity, and they abandoned their gathering, dwelling alone, so that they might seem to be free for God more freely. Such persons, puffed up with pride, despised the rest and tore apart charity: the Apostle both admonishes and terrifies them, urging them not to forsake the fellowship of the faithful, but rather to desire to console the simpler ones and to be strengthened by his example: for the fellowship of the faithful is of such great value that where two or three are gathered in the name of the Savior, he himself is in their midst. It follows: And so much the more. Pursue charity, and console one another. By how much you see the day approaching, 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 anxious for nothing, for the Lord is near. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth. That is, after the knowledge of the true faith and the grace of baptism. There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. If we sin willfully and deliberately, after we have received the knowledge of the true faith, and after we have been cleansed in baptism, no sacrifice for sin is kept in reserve for us any longer, to be offered on our behalf, as was granted in the Old Testament to offer sacrifices repeatedly for sin. For Christ, who is our sacrifice, is not to be immolated again for our sins: for this was done once, and there is no need for a second time, but rather there is need, after receiving grace, to remain in the right faith and in the purity of good works. You were cleansed in baptism; you are free from all crimes and sins; you have been made a son of God: if you return to your former state, the most severe judgment will await you thereafter, unless you are restored through worthy penitence. But by these words he does not exclude penitence, nor the propitiation that is made through penitence; nor does he drive away and cast down the lapsed through despair; but he excludes the second washing of baptism.

For he is not so hostile to our salvation as to say that there is no longer repentance, nor forgiveness of sins; but he says, there is no longer a victim; that is, there is no longer a cross, so that Christ should be crucified again, and we should be baptized again. For just as Christ died once and now dies no more, so we too, having been baptized once in the likeness of his death and burial, as the Apostle says elsewhere, Buried with him through baptism into death, can no longer be rebaptized. How much more, where there were many, will his grace be greater in them? But a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a zeal of fire, which will consume the adversaries. Zeal is sometimes used for imitation, sometimes for envy; but here it is taken for consumption and vengeance. Therefore the Apostle terrifies all, so that they may fear to slip back into vices after the washing of baptism, because they cannot be rebaptized. He also terrifies them, so that if they have sinned, they should immediately strive to perform worthy repentance, since whoever neglects the medicine of repentance, the vengeance and consumption 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 eternal fire. Anyone who makes void the law of Moses dies without any mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses—that is, when convicted.

He dies: how much worse punishments do you think he deserves who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded the blood of the covenant as polluted, in which he was sanctified, and has done insult to the Spirit of grace? The law is said to be Moses' because it was given by the Lord through Moses, just as we too are accustomed to say in the Lord's Prayer to the Lord: Give us our daily bread today—not that it was ours beforehand, but when it is given by him, it becomes ours. But the Apostle strikes terror into Christians, drawing a comparison from the law of Moses: if anyone had transgressed it and made it void and empty, being convicted by two or three witnesses, he was judged by the judges and immediately put to death without any pity or pardon. He says therefore: If that man who transgressed the law which was given through a servant was put to death without any pity, how much greater punishments will he endure who has trampled underfoot the Son of God! Surely, by how much greater Christ is than Moses, and the grace of the Gospel given by the Son than the law given and administered through a servant, by so much greater and worse punishments will he deserve who has trampled underfoot Christ. But how can we trample him underfoot, who sits at the right hand of God the Father, raised above all the heavens? When we count his commandments as nothing, deigning not to fulfill them, then indeed we trample him underfoot.

For just as we regard those things which we trample underfoot as nothing and worthy of no honor, so too those who sin freely, without fear and without repentance, trample upon Christ, or despise and scorn him; they do not in the least fear that he will be their future judge. Or indeed, whoever receives his body unworthily tramples upon Christ. Or—to state a third way—he tramples upon Christ who by living badly drives him out from the tabernacle of his heart, him who said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. He also regards the blood of the covenant as polluted—or, as it is had in the Greek, as common or unclean—who counts the blood of Christ's passion as nothing, by which the New Testament was confirmed, and by which he himself is also sanctified from the time of the passion. In yet another way, to regard the blood of the covenant as polluted is to receive the mystery of Christ's blood unworthily, and to make no distinction between it and other things: although in it he was sanctified at the time of baptism, and can even daily be sanctified, if he has received it worthily. Concerning such people the Apostle says: He who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning, or distinguishing, the body and blood of the Lord from other foods and drinks. He also does insult to the Spirit of grace, that is, to the Holy Spirit, who by living badly casts him out from the tabernacle of his heart.

Or he who does not believe that through him there is forgiveness of sins in the Church; or certainly he who blasphemes him, denying his works and attributing them to the devil. Hence the Lord says: Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the age to come. He is called the Spirit of grace for this reason: either because through him sins are forgiven us freely, or certainly because, as he distributes, the graces of the gifts of the spirits of the faithful are divided, 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 so on, until he concludes, saying: But one and the same Spirit works all these things, dividing to each one as he wills. For we know him who said: Vengeance is mine, I will repay. God almighty speaks through the prophet: To him who does injury and contumely to me, I will repay vengeance, and I will render to them according to what they deserve. And again: Because the Lord will judge his people. This was said concerning enemies. I will repay those who do evil, not those who suffer evil. Namely, concerning those who live negligently and are unwilling to purify themselves through repentance, but while 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, and refer it both to the elect people and to the reprobate. For the Lord will judge his people, that is, he will separate his people, and he will discern the good from the evil, the faithful from the unfaithful.

But if it is referred to the reprobate, "to judge" must be taken as "to condemn." But he is 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, despises the judgment of almighty God. He also falls into the hands—that is, into the power and judgment—of almighty God, whoever after sin refuses to do penance. Whoever, therefore, is a sinner, if he has not repented 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 remember the former days, in which, once enlightened, you endured a great contest of sufferings. O best of physicians, when they have cut a wound and by the incision have increased the pain, they apply comfort and remedy to that place where the pain is, and they refresh the troubled soul. But after they have revived him, they no longer make a second incision; indeed, they soothe with milder medicines those things that have been done, and those that are able to mitigate the swelling, and they warm away the pains. So also the Apostle in this place acts after their manner.

For after he had shaken their souls and pierced them with the mention of Gehenna, affirming that by all means 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—immediately, lest they rush into despair through excessive fear, he consoles them through praise, gentle words, and prayers, bringing back to their memory their former good works: "Remember," he says, "the former days, in which, enlightened through faith and strengthened through divine grace, you endured a great contest of sufferings"; as if he were saying: When you were brought to the faith, when you were at the beginning of faith, you showed such great courage that you endured a great contest of sufferings for the name of Christ from your own kinsmen. For certain Jews who believed were despoiled by those who did not believe; certain others, however, were not. But those who were not despoiled used to supply others from their own resources; wherefore, when the unbelievers had learned of this, they inflicted many evils on both. Hence the Apostle does not say simply that they endured a contest, but he added "great"; nor does he say "temptations," but "sufferings." And in one respect, indeed, "you were made a spectacle by reproaches and tribulations." In another respect, however, you were made sharers with those who lived in such a way.

In part, he says, you were made a spectacle through reproaches—that is, insults and mockeries—and tribulations: that is, you were mocked publicly and in the sight of many. But in another part you were made partners in compassion with those who were so treated: namely, the apostles, and those who were stripped of their own resources, afflicted with beatings, and thrust into prison. He shows in two ways that they labored well: either because they were publicly afflicted with insults and various tribulations—a kind of suffering that mankind endures more grievously when, in the sight of many, one suffers something dishonorable either in words or in deeds—or also because they sympathized with those placed in prisons and supplied them with food and clothing as far as they could; hence they were made their partners, since the reward and recompense that the preacher of truth receives when placed in prison for the name of Christ and afflicted with other torments, that same reward will be received by the one who provides him support, so that he not fail in tribulations, as the Truth itself promises, saying: He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And it must be noted that he did not say simply, "afflicted with tribulations," but also made it a point of argument, saying: You were made a spectacle. For when reproach is cast in secret, it is seen to be more easily tolerated.

But that they showed those things which we have enumerated, he now shows more openly, when he continues: For you also had compassion on those in chains, and you accepted the plundering of your goods with joy. He praises them wonderfully in faith: since if they did not have faith that they would receive better things in place of this property taken away, they would not have accepted the plundering of it with joy. For as long as it was permitted to them, they had compassion on others who were despoiled and placed in prison. But having been despoiled, they accepted with joy the plundering and the loss inflicted on themselves, believing that they would receive better things: whence he adds: Knowing that you have a better and abiding substance. As if he were saying: Seeing that spiritual riches would be yours in place of these temporal things, you endured with joy the plundering of temporal goods. But all this was the apostolic work and worthy of strong souls, that they should rejoice in scourges. As is said in the Acts of the Apostles: And going from the presence of the council, they went rejoicing, because they were counted worthy to suffer contumely for the name of Jesus. And to show that this temporal substance would not always remain, therefore he said that they have a better substance, and an abiding one: as if he were saying, firm, and substantial, and perpetual, which cannot perish, as these earthly things perish. Therefore do not lose your confidence, which has a great reward. That is, Do not fail in tribulations, because great is the reward.

But it is evident that they had great confidence toward God; and lest they lose it, he exhorts them most urgently. For things kept intact are preserved more easily than things lost are recovered; and therefore what is held also has fear, and it is necessary that it have courage. Nothing, he says, is necessary for you except that you stand firmly in your faith and remain in your courage, which has a great reward with God. For patience is necessary for you, so that by doing the will of God you may carry off the promise. How great is the magnitude of his exhortation and consolation! It is as if someone were to say this to an athlete and contender who had surpassed all and had no one left who could contend with him. For example, while he was saying: Since I have now overcome all, and there is no one who contends with me, give me the crown, anyone could say to him: Wait a little while, until the arbiter comes, or even the king, who may bring you the prize for your victory. But if that athlete were to bear it impatiently, not enduring thirst for water and heat, saying: Either give me what I deserve, or I will withdraw, it would be said to him: Wait patiently for this brief delay; the emperor is near, who will pay you the reward. He is indeed grieved, but much more so if publicly and in the sight of many; for the human race, just as it is greatly delighted by public praise, so is it easily captured by insults openly brought against it.

In this way the Apostle exhorts them not to grow faint, but to await the Lord's coming patiently. "Patience," he says, "is necessary for you"—that is, you have true work to do, namely, that you persevere in the struggle until you receive the crown worthy of your labor. For it is not the one who has begun who will be crowned, but the one who perseveres in the contest to the end—this one will be saved. "In your patience," says the Lord, "you will possess your souls." "You have need of endurance," he said—that is, you will receive the glory of eternal blessedness. For yet a little while, and the one who is to come will come, and he will not delay. There is no doubt that this means Christ; he consoles them as though the time until he comes were short. For it is no small consolation in labor to hope quickly for the judge, and for the rewarder of constancy and of the contest. "But my just one lives by faith. But if he draws back, he will not please my soul." The Apostle brought in this prophetic testimony for the exhortation of faith, for the gaining of the soul. Just as the soul is the life of the body, so faith is the life of the soul—faith which is conceived in the heart, confessed with the mouth, and adorned with works, since faith without works is dead. And if anyone draws back from this faith, he will not please the will of God.

For it must not be supposed that God the Father, or the Holy Spirit, or even the Son in the nature of the Godhead has a soul; but divine Scripture, speaking in human fashion and consulting for our benefit, expresses his will by the word "soul." But it must be considered that, just as the one who hesitates will be displeasing, so the one who believes will be pleasing to God, living in his right faith: "You have labored," he says, "in the contest; await that hope; do not seek here the things you hope for, because the righteous lives by faith." But we are not sons of withdrawal unto perdition, but of faith unto the acquiring of the soul. "We are not," he says—I and you—"sons of those pagans and Gentiles who withdraw themselves from the life of faith and from eternal light unto the perdition of their souls; but we are sons of the patriarchs, who were approved in faith and made perfect in faith, so that they might acquire their own souls unto salvation, and besides, by their example, the souls of others.

CHAPTER XI. Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The order of the words is: Faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, that is, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is to believe things that are not seen; and while we believe in truth that those things which we have not seen either were, or are, or will be, faith itself makes them subsist in our heart, as though before bodily eyes; but in things that are seen, neither credulity nor incredulity can be spoken of, but rather it must be called knowledge. But faith is the mind to be so disposed concerning things that are not seen as concerning things that are already seen, and while this is done, faith makes them subsist in us by believing: for example, that from many we may use at least a few instances: the general resurrection has not yet taken place; and since it is not yet in substance, hope makes it subsist in our soul, as though we had it before our eyes. This is what I said, that faith is the substance of those things which are hoped for, not yet of things which are seen; and if the same faith is the evidence of things which do not yet appear, what is it that they now wish to see it? Some used to say that to prove means to show: from which comes evidence, as it were a showing and a fore-showing of future things and of those which are not seen. But properly evidence is the reasoning which produces belief in a doubtful matter.

It is therefore clearly evident that faith is the proof of those things which cannot appear; for things that appear no longer have faith, as we said above, but knowledge. When Thomas therefore saw, when he touched, why is it said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed"? But he saw one thing, he believed another. For the Godhead cannot be seen by a mortal man. By seeing, therefore, he believed, who by considering the man, cried out that he was truly God, whom he could not see. In this—understand, in faith. Testimony. Of righteousness. The ancients obtained. By "ancients" here we ought to understand the fathers of the Old Testament: namely the patriarchs, the prophets, and other righteous men, who in the faith by which they believed God and his promises, advanced a testimony of praise and righteousness. Hence Abraham, because he believed God, it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. But this faith is so to be received that it is believed in the heart, confessed with the mouth, and adorned with works. For he truly believes who carries out in action what he believes; on the contrary, concerning those who hold faith in name only, Paul says: "They confess that they know God, but in deeds they deny him." By faith we understand that the ages were fitted together by the word of God, so that from invisible things visible things might be made.

Because the souls of the Hebrews were still weak, and they had indeed made a beginning from faith, but were being made fainthearted by the sufferings of tribulations, and were bearing the evils inflicted on them with less patience, the Apostle exhorted them first from their own selves, saying: Remember the former days; then from divine Scripture, which says: Because the just shall live by faith; then truly from reasonings, showing that faith is the substance of things not apparent: but now he begins to speak from the forefathers, wonderfully setting them before them as an example; because just as all those were saved through faith, so too are we all saved through faith: for when the soul finds a companion in the same sufferings, it rests and breathes, as is wont to happen in faith and in tribulations of whatever kind. For the human race is very fragile, and exceedingly hesitant in thought: wherefore consolation from the faith and patience of those who came before is necessary. The Apostle therefore exhorts them from the fathers indeed; but first from the common beginning, saying: It is manifest, he says, that God made the things that are not out of those that exist, but visible things out of invisible things, existing things out of non-existing things. By reasoning, therefore, we cannot discover how he made all things out of nothing, or visible things out of invisible things; because we did not exist when they were made. From what source, then, is this held as certain?

Certainly it is clear that this is a matter of faith to believe; for by faith we believe that the ages were fitted together, that is, made perfect, or completed: because the things that are seen were made not from visible things but from invisible things. But by invisible things we can understand the unformed matter, of which it is said at the beginning of Genesis: In the beginning, it says, God created heaven and earth. But by the name of heaven we must not understand this bodily heaven, which is called the firmament, but the angelic nature and the spiritual heavens. By earth, however, is understood the unformed matter, from which afterwards all things were made: namely, all bodily things, which at that time were in a certain manner invisible, when darkness was upon the face of the abyss. But from invisible matter visible things were made, when all things were divided and separated by species and forms. It can also be understood in another way, what it says: that visible things were made from invisible things: the world was invisibly in the wisdom of God before it was formed; yet through the completion of the work it was made visible to human desires. But what it says, that the ages were made perfect by the word of God, through the ages we ought to understand all things that were made in times or ages by the word of God the Father, according to what John said: All things were made through him. But the ages, as Ovidius Naso says, are said from following, in that they follow and roll back upon themselves, as Varro testifies. But ages can be said to be so called from the point when variety of time began to exist.

By faith Abel offered to God a far greater sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God bearing testimony to his gifts; and through that sacrifice, though dead, he still speaks. He places first the one who suffered evils, and this at the hands of a brother, setting forth their own example: for they had suffered the same things from their fellow tribesmen and brothers. For Abel offered to God a far greater, that is, a larger, sacrifice than Cain: not that that sacrifice was greater in carnal things, but whatever better thing Abel had, he brought it to God with a benevolent mind through faith, and from this his own things were multiplied for him; and we understand that by this he pleased God, for he did this by faith: because he who believed that the things he was offering with good will pleased God, and that he himself would be rewarded by God, and with God also bearing testimony to his gifts; whether because fire descended from heaven, as is read in Theodotion: because the Lord set fire upon Abel and upon his gifts; or through that sentence by which he was praised by the Lord in the Gospel, he was approved to be righteous; for thus the Lord says in the Gospel: Amen I say to you, the blood of the righteous will be required of you, which was shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous, even to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah. Through that sacrifice he still speaks, though dead, and it is said: The blood of Abel cries out to me from the earth.

If he still speaks, that is, he was indeed destroyed in body, but his glory could not be destroyed with him; for while his glory is proclaimed throughout the whole world, while his praise is on the lips of men, while all admire him, though dead he still speaks daily. For he who admonishes others by his example to be righteous, how does he not speak? By faith Enoch pleased God, and was translated, lest he should see death; and he was not found, because God translated him. Enoch pleased God through faith, because he was adorned with good works, believing that through it he would altogether please God; and therefore he was translated into the earthly paradise, from which Adam was once cast out: namely, that he might not experience bodily death, until the time appointed by God should run its course. In what manner of life, or in what state he now exists in paradise, it is not ours to inquire. This, however, is to be believed, that without any trouble, and without any pain or labor, he rests in that paradise. And just as he lives without any assault of the flesh, without any concupiscence of the flesh, so, had the first man not sinned, when the full number of the elect was completed, he would have been transferred from the earthly paradise to the heavenly paradise. But the cause of his being translated was that he had pleased God; yet the cause of his pleasing God was his faith. For unless he believed that God would render him the reward of his labor, how would he please him? For before his translation he had the testimony that he had pleased God.

As the Scripture says: Because Enoch walked with God, obeying his will. For without faith it is impossible to please God. For Enoch believed that if anyone believes that God exists and draws near to him, he will have a reward; therefore, since faith is the foundation of all good things, for that reason without faith one cannot please God. For the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. Thus whoever draws near to God by believing must believe that he is God, that is, that he always has being, according to what he himself says to Moses: I am who I am; and: He who is sent me to you. He must also believe that he is an eternal and true rewarder of those who seek him through good works, according to what the Psalmist says: Seek the Lord, and be strengthened. By faith Noah, having received a response concerning things not yet seen. That is, concerning the rains. Fearing, he prepared an ark for the salvation of his house, through which. Faith. He condemned the world. By comparison, that is, of a better faith and deed. And he was established as heir of the righteousness that is through faith. By faith he believed God, that he would bring waters upon the earth, when he said to him: The end of all flesh has come before me, and I will bring waters upon them: make for yourself an ark of smoothed wood, and the rest that follows: and therefore he was saved with his whole house, that is, his household.

But the perfection of his work or reasoning profited nothing in this matter by experience: "They were marrying," he says, as the Lord says in the Gospel, and the air was clear; no signs of the flood appeared either. Nevertheless he feared, and through faith, fearing concerning things he did not yet see, he built an ark for the salvation of his household; through this faith he condemned the world by comparison with his own faith, which the world was unwilling to have; for he showed them worthy of this punishment, who were unwilling to be corrected even over the span of a hundred years by the building of that ark; through the same faith, not through the law, he was established as heir of righteousness, since he alone held the faith of his fathers, and the rest departed from it. But he is called heir of the kingdom of heaven, or heir of the world, because from his seed came the restoration of the world, and from this he appeared righteous, because he believed God. By faith he who is called Abraham obeyed to go out into the place which he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going. As if he were saying: And Abraham himself pleased God through faith: for as soon as God said to him, "Go out from your land, and go to the land which I will show you; and I will give it to you, and to your seed," he believed God, and went out into the place which he had commanded him, not knowing where he was going: for the place and the dwelling of that land were unknown to him; and insofar as he walked, he walked through faith; or not knowing where he was going, since he had no one whom he might imitate.

By faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise. "Gasula" is a diminutive noun from "casa," that is, from "house." Here, however, it is used for tents and tabernacles, in which Abraham dwelt with Isaac and Jacob, after the manner of travelers and pilgrims, teaching them the faith of God, as being co-heirs of his promise. For the promise that was made to Abraham was made to Isaac and Jacob, and all are thus co-heirs in the promises of Abraham; for to Abraham it was said: "In you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed," and "In Isaac shall your seed be called." But to Isaac: "Fulfilling," he says, "the oath, God, which he promised to Abraham your father: I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your descendants all these regions." To Jacob also he said: "I am God Almighty: I will cause nations to grow and multiply from you, and I will give you the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac." Behold how all are co-heirs in the promises of Abraham. But it must be noted that the faith of Abraham is doubled for the greatness of his faith; whence also he is called the head of faith.

For just as by faith he went out from his own land, not knowing where he was going, so by faith he remained and stayed in his own land as in a foreign land. He saw his son dwelling there as a stranger; he saw his grandson; he saw himself wandering as a stranger in a foreign land, and he was not disturbed. Although it had been said to him, "Because I will give it to you and to your seed," nevertheless neither he nor Isaac nor Jacob were placed in this promise, but their succession was. And because when he obeyed God by going out from his land, he was not called Abraham but Abram, therefore the Apostle said with careful consideration: "By faith he who is now called Abraham"—then he was called Abram—"dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign land." First indeed he was called Ram, then Abram, and finally Abraham. For he was awaiting the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. The heavenly city is said to have a foundation because of its stability and firmness; in it, once someone has found a place, he can never be disinherited or uprooted. Therefore, he says, they by faith dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign land. They were not attending to the promises made in the land, but were seeking the rest to come. For they showed themselves to be worthy of greater things; therefore he did not permit them to receive these things, because he wished to give greater ones. By faith also Sarah herself, though barren, received power for the conception of seed, even beyond the time of her age, because she believed that he who had promised was faithful.

A question arises here: why does he say that by faith Sarah received the power to conceive, when she was rebuked by the angel for laughing, on the ground of unbelief? For that laughter, even if it was of joy, was not of full faith; but the laughter of Abraham was both of joy and of full faith. This is resolved thus: because even if she doubted at first, afterwards she was nevertheless strengthened in faith by the words of the angel, and the cause of doubt having been removed, faith was brought in, which gave her power in the conception of seed, because she was already deadened by age, being barren. For there was a double obstacle: one of time, for she had already grown old; the other of nature, for she was barren. But to receive and retain the seed she received power. For women are accustomed to be barren chiefly from two causes: either because they do not have in the womb the power of heat, by which they might digest the man's seed, if she has come into old age, when the menses fail; or when the womb is closed even in youth, so that the seed does not come to the places of conception. Against these God gave her power, that is, against barrenness and old age. For the seed sufficiently reached the place of conception, and after it reached it, he gave firmness of offspring to the woman, and it came about that by the firmness of faith the weak things of the womb were strengthened, and all things are possible to one who believes.

Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore, innumerable. For this reason, he says, because both had true faith—namely Abraham and Sarah—from one body of Abraham and Sarah innumerable peoples were born. By these words he wished to show that not only did Sarah bear children, but even more than any of the fertile women. But he says that they have one body, because of what is said in Genesis: "For the two shall be one flesh." He added further: "And this," he says, "when the body was dead"—dead not in life, but in seed. For an old man can indeed emit seed, but nevertheless lacks the firmness of seed so as to be able to beget children, unless perhaps from a young woman, as others report. "As the stars of heaven, or the sand of the sea," is said hyperbolically. By the stars of heaven, however, are to be understood the good children of Abraham by faith from both peoples. But by the sand of the sea are received the reprobate children of Abraham according to the flesh from the Jewish people, who always seeking earthly things are weighed down by the burden of sins. Although the stars of heaven, or the sand of the sea, or even those who are designated by these, are innumerable, yet to God, to whom all things are open, they are countable. According to faith—that is, with faith. All these died, not having received the promises, but seeing them from afar and greeting them, and confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say these things—understand: that they are strangers upon the earth—signify that they are seeking a homeland. And if indeed they had been mindful of that land from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now, in that they are unwilling to return to it from which they went out, but linger in a foreign land as strangers, they desire a better one, that is, a heavenly one. Here it is worth inquiring into two matters. For whereas above he had said, Enoch was translated, and he was not seen, lest he should see death, here he says: that according to faith all these died. And whereas he had again said that they did not receive the promises, but saw them afar off, above he said of Abel: that he obtained testimony that he was righteous. And of Enoch, that he was translated. Of Noah also, that he was saved from the condemnation of the world. Of Abraham likewise, and also Isaac and Jacob, there is no doubt that they received very many promises both concerning Christ and concerning the land of promise. These two matters have a solution of this kind: that when he first said, All these died in faith, it is to be understood thus: All these died, except Enoch alone, whom we know to have been translated. But as for what he added, that they did not receive the promises, it is manifest that in certain respects they did receive, and in certain respects not at all, nor the fullness. For Enoch did receive, that he should not see death; Noah did receive, that he should be saved; and those others also received very many things.

But these things were certain first-fruits for them, certain foretastes of things to come, not the fullness of the promises. For God not only bestows on us the things that are to come, but also provides the things that are necessary for this life, as he said to his disciples: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these temporal things, insofar as they are expedient for you, will be added to you. For in this respect—that in the present world they earned praise for righteousness in part, and did not perish with the wicked, and were rich in temporal goods, although they were strangers, as is read of Abraham, that he was rich in silver and gold—they received certain foretastes of the promises. But in this respect—that they looked from afar at the full promise, yet at a distance, the promises that Christ when he came preached, saying: For if anyone has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother for my sake, he will receive a hundredfold and will possess eternal life—those before the Lord's advent did not obtain this promise, although they had left all their possessions, as the apostles also did; or again, they did not obtain the promises concerning the Lord's advent, since although he had been promised to them, they did not see him present in the world. They also greeted these same promises, that is, they longed for them, as the Lord says in the Gospel: Many kings and prophets desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

He spoke this by a metaphor drawn from sailors, calling them greeters, who, seeing from afar the cities they long for, before they enter them greet them beforehand and make them familiar to themselves. But these looked upon the promises in faith, greeted them with desire, and confessed with their speech that they were strangers, just as the Psalmist says: For I am a stranger with you, as all my fathers were. A stranger is so called from "from abroad," that is, from journeying from afar; for to traverse, we say, is to walk through. For they dwelt in tents, who bought tombs with their money. It is well known how they were strangers, to such an extent that they did not even have a place where they might bury their dead. Wherefore it is first more justly that one be a stranger and guest of this world, and have nothing in common with the kings of this age, but be removed from them, as a stranger. Therefore he is not ashamed. That is, he does not blush. That God be called their God. For he has prepared a city for them. Therefore, he says, because they believed in God, and presumed nothing for themselves from earthly things, so as to place their hope in him, for this reason almighty God does not blush to be called their God. For he himself said: I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, namely through faith and the merit of their life.