CHAPTER 3
That Christ is to be believed in just as they believed in Moses, and the more so as God is more worthy than man.
Hebrews 3:1-3 Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ, who was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all his house. For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house itself.
If therefore you are partakers and companions of the heavenly calling , seek those things which are above, and let no one speak to you of the things here below; there is the reward, there is the recompense. 1
" The Apostle and High Priest ." Coming into the administration [οἰκονομίαν], he speaks all the humble things freely. He calls him an Apostle because he is sent by the Father as a man. And of the confession of faith, " was faithful ." He says that he has a favorable faith preserved towards the Father, and that he thinks the same about saving the people.
He says that he was made an Apostle and High Priest by the one who appointed him , that is, by his Father. There is nothing remarkable here if he speaks thus, once he takes hold of the administration.
" to the one who appointed him ." What did he appoint? An Apostle and High Priest . Here he speaks not about essence, nor about divinity, but about human dignities [ἀξιωμάτων].
" just as Moses was faithful in all his house ." He is about to set forth Christ according to the flesh, preferring Moses; but since these were also faithful towards whom the word was addressed, they still had great honors concerning Moses, so that they might not immediately close their ears, he does not immediately set forth Christ over Moses, but first equalizes, and then he proceeds to set forth. He called his people to his house . And he said to the people of Moses, because they are set against them. For God also says to him, "Your people have sinned." (Ex. 33:7)
— [PHOTIUS] " just as Moses ;" so that it is in vain that those who are in rebellion against me say to you that he teaches from Moses, and that he is hostile towards him. But this is introduced secretly and not according to the previous discourse, in order to persuade more. For that which is prepared for defense is more suspicious.
" For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses ." Saying the equality of Christ with Moses, he now gently speaks of the superiority, " this one has been counted worthy of more ." Who? The Christ understood according to the flesh, is deemed to have greater glory than Moses, insofar as he has greater honor than the house , 2
" For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house itself ." Now he speaks of the ultimate superiority, and how great it is from God to man, and he says: Moses was faithful in all his house, that is, the people. But he himself was also of the house, and of the people. Therefore, the Christ according to the flesh is deemed worthy of so much greater glory than Moses, as much as, he says, he who built the house has more honor than the house itself . For he refers to the house here as the people along with Moses, since Moses was also one of the people; but Christ is the creator of the house. [ end of the Photius excerpt ] —
Hebrews 3:4-6 For every house is built by someone. Moreover, he who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken. But Christ as a Son managed his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Since he had called the people and also Moses, he remained in the figure of speech and said, These are the creations and servants. For there is no house unless something has been constructed. But all things have been constructed, including the house by Christ. Therefore, as it is fitting that he who created has preeminence over the work he created, so Christ has preeminence over Moses.
“ And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house ." Then Paul speaks of another distinction between Christ and Moses, that Moses was faithful as a servant, while the Christ was a genuine Son and of the same essence. For since he called Christ faithful above, and also Moses faithful , he explains the distinction of the faithful.
" for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken ." To be a witness of the things spoken by God to the Jews, so that they may not be caught in the time of judgment. For it is customary for God to take heaven and earth and the depths as a testimony. "For hear, he says, O heaven, and give ear, O earth." (Deut. 32:1) And again, "Hear, O depths." (Ps. 130:1)
— “ But Christ as a Son .” For even if he is called faithful, Paul says, it is as a genuine Son that he is faithful, fulfilling the will of the Father, rather the common will of the holy Trinity.
" whose house we are ." Here we are the house of Christ, the faithful, according to what is written: “I will dwell in them.” (Lev. 27:12; 2 Cor. 6:16) — 3
“ if we hold fast the confidence .” We shall be his house if we do not shrink back because of the faith that belongs to him, but boast with boldness, and hope to receive good things from Him as God, not being shaken or doubting in anything.
Hebrews 3:7-11 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested me. They saw my works for forty years. Therefore, I was provoked with that generation, and said, “Always they go astray in their hearts.” They have not known my ways, as I swore in my wrath, “If they shall enter my rest.”
Saying that it is necessary to hope for good things from Christ, he now says that we must not harden our hearts towards this faith and hope, so that we do not suffer the same things as those who, in the desert, became unbelievers. And today, which is always evident, as if he were saying: Whenever and as long as today is, if you hear the voice of the one calling Christ, do not harden your hearts and become stubborn so as not to hear him.
" do not harden your hearts ." For the hard and unyielding and stubborn are against the one who speaks to them.
" your hearts ." For the Israelites, he says, becoming hard-hearted, provoked the God who was speaking to them.
" On the day of testing ." And what is this rebellion that occurred on that day? When, distrusting God, they tested Him. "Will He be able," he says, "to give bread, or prepare a table for His people?" (Ps. 77:19)
— [PHOTIUS] " where your fathers tested me ." Where, that is, in the desert . Or, where they tested Him in temptation, so that it may be the "where," not the indicative place. [ end of the Photius excerpt ] —
" I was provoked with that generation ." That is, I was burdened by it, because they always distrusted and tested Me.
" as I swore in my wrath ." To such an extent, he says, they did not know my ways , until they brought me to this point, so that I swore they shall not enter my rest , that is, the land of promise, in which having entered they were to rest from wars.
" If they shall enter into my rest ." But those, having been unfaithful and having tempted God, did not enter into Palestine. For this is the rest . But what will be for us, he says, since there is no other rest on earth, of which we are to be deprived by being disobedient to God? Yes, he says, there will be now the true rest, of which that old one was a type, and you will be deprived of this, if indeed you disbelieve in Christ. For there are three rests. One is the Sabbath, in which God rested from his works. The second, the promised land of Palestine. The third, the truly real one, of which the two mentioned were a type, the kingdom of heaven, where all sorrow and pain and sighing have fled away. Therefore, he says, you will be deprived of this by being disobedient to Christ.
Hebrews 3:12-15 See, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said, "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
Fearful of the saying. See , he says, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief , from the rest, the kingdom of heaven.
— [PHOTIUS] “ an evil heart .” There are many wicked hearts of unbelief. For there is a wicked heart of unbelief, which does not believe, but is greedy for gain, is arrogant, is drunken, and many other things. Moreover, and incomparably, a heart is a wicked heart of unbelief, which departs from the faith in God.
Therefore, see," he says, "that there never be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief .” And of unbelief, I say, he means the departure from the living God .
And he says well. An evil heart of unbelief . For there is also a good heart of unbelief, as in, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.” (1 Jn. 4:1) [ end of the Photius excerpt ] —
In the departing , that is, through unbelief,
from the living God . For otherwise unbelief does not find a way unless one departs from God. For as long as one holds on to God and trusts in Him, as the Almighty, he considers nothing impossible. 3
" But encourage one another .” Build each other up, and spur one another on.
“ As long as it is called ‘today’ .” Until the end, he says; for until the end, today is called. For he said, “Today, if you hear his voice ,” he says, until that which is spoken of as today.
“ so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin .” So that it does not happen, he says, as it occurred with our ancestors, and that their hearts may become hard and unyielding, deceived by unbelief, which now calls sin.
“ For we have become partakers of Christ .” One, he says, we have become partakers with Christ, since He has deemed it worthy to be our head and to make us His members.
“ if we hold the beginning of our confidence ." The beginning of confidence is faith towards Christ. For by it we have endured and have become partakers of Christ .
“ to the end .” The 'to the end' clearly indicates that they had begun.
“ As in the rebellion .” Hyperbaton [ὑπερβατὸν] is: for we must understand it as "Let us fear."
The surpassing thing; in what is said: Today, if you hear the voice, and the things following, let us fear, lest, a promise being left behind, and the things following. 5
Hebrews 3:16-19 For some, having heard, provoked, but not all who came out of Egypt through Moses. To whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, but to those who did not obey? And we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
For some, having heard the promises of God, just as we hear them, provoked God to anger through unbelief . For He desires to save them just as He saves those who have heard, and they are of no benefit from merely hearing the promise. Thus, he says, you also will not be fulfilled if you have only heard the preaching, unless you also believe. And that there is a need for faith, from those who heard long ago, but because they did not believe, they perished, is confirmed by the word. For just as it was not sufficient for those to be deemed worthy of the voice of God, but having not believed they perished, so it will not be sufficient for you either to become hearers of faith, unless you also believe sincerely. Moreover, these thought that it was enough to have self-sufficiency from merely having heard the preaching. For this also indicates, in saying, "For we are also evangelized," just as they were.
" For some, having heard, provoked, but not all who came out of Egypt ." If indeed Caleb and Joshua were not unbelievers, they also entered the land of promise.
" To whom was he angry ?" This is according to the question for clarity and to avoid contradiction; for things posed as questions are based on what is agreed upon. Against whom, he says, did he bear resentment? He also adds the punishment. For, he says, their limbs fell in the desert, those large and thigh-like parts; and by parts, he showed the whole bodies. 6
" To whom did he swear ?" This is to be read as a question. Against whom, He says, did He have a hostile spirit?
"And we see that they were not able to enter ." Behold, he says, before our eyes lies the punishment of unbelief. For they, having been unbelief , did not enter the promised land.
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Translation notes for Hebrews chapter 3
1. The PG only reads, “there is the reward, there is the recompense.”
2. The PG only reads, “is deemed to have greater glory than Moses, insofar as he has greater honor than the house,”
3. The PG has indicators that give the impression that a section is an excerpt, but there are no names to indicate the source. The Pharmakides version has no indicators, nor any other version that I found. I could not find this excerpt as a quote from any source, but I did find some similar phrases in Dialogue 1 from Theodoret of Cyrus in his works Dialogues.
4. The Pharmakides version adds, “For otherwise unbelief does not find a way unless one departs from God. For as long as one holds on to God and trusts in Him, as the Almighty, he considers nothing impossible.”
5. The PG reads, “Hyperbaton [ὑπερβατὸν] is: for we must understand it as "Let us fear."
6. The PG has a shorter reading, “According to the question. To whom, he says, did he bear resentment?”