Theodoret of Cyrus

Nicene & Post-Nicene · AD 325–500 · 1,374 passages across 50 books

Commentary

601–620 of 1,374

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

Their trials, then, were of this kind and number, but they did not yet receive their crowns. The God of all is waiting for the trials of the others so that, with the stadium no more, he may award acclaim to all the victors together.

Hebrews 12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

The models of godliness are set before us on all sides, he is saying, in such vast numbers as to resemble a cloud in density and testify to the power of faith. Accordingly, let us keep our eyes on them, be light on our feet and rid ourselves of the burden of unnecessary worries, in this way being able also to avoid sin that is easy to contract. Before everything else we need perseverance to succeed in the course ahead of us. He said sin “clings” because it is easily contracted and committed: the eye is fascinated, the ear charmed, touch titillated, tongue easily loosened and thought quickly directed to the worst.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

He could have avoided suffering, he is saying, had he so chosen; but he put up with the suffering for the benefit of all. The Savior’s joy is the salvation of human beings; for it he endured the suffering, and after the suffering he is seated with the Father who begot him.

Hebrews 12:7-10

If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Fathers are in the habit of disciplining their true children, and if they see them caned by the teachers, they do not worry; they see the fruit coming from the discipline. But they despise illegitimate children and do not accord them equal attention. So if you also avoid discipline, you are of the number of the illegitimate.

Hebrews 12:14

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

By “holiness” he referred to self-control. It is possible even for those in wedlock to achieve it.

Hebrews 12:16-17

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Esau wept but did not repent; instead he envied his brother’s prosperity.… The divine apostle also suggested this in what he said: “for he found no chance to repent,” that is, he did not take the way to repentance, nor did he lament his evil intentions; instead, he grieved not for his sin but for Jacob’s success.… It was not without purpose that the divine apostle cited the story of Esau: it was to emphasize that, although the firstborn, he was stripped of the blessing for gluttony and depravity. Jews too, by honoring the firstborn and being enslaved to the obsolete requirements of the law through gluttony, lost their claim to salvation, whereas the Gentiles, the new people, of whom Jacob was a type, gained the privileges of the firstborn. So he urges the believers from Jews not to imitate the lawlessness of the firstborn but to participate in the blessing of the newer people.

Hebrews 12:18-21

For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

While he brought out the fearsome things, he did not reveal the fruit springing from them. He did not say he “appeared,” because what they saw was not the God of all in person but some impression of the divine coming.

Hebrews 12:22-24

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

There you find dread, he is saying, here on the contrary festival and assembly. The former happens on earth, the latter in heaven; there thousands of people, here tens of thousands of angels. There unbelievers and lawbreakers, here church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven and spirits of the just who have been made perfect; there an old covenant, here a new one; there a slave as mediator, here a Son; there blood of brute beasts, here blood of a rational lamb. The phrase “speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel” means communicating through deeds and betraying its own activity: while the blood of Abel is celebrated, this blood is responsible for the salvation of human beings.

Hebrews 13:5

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

He forbade not possessions but the love of money, from which greed springs.

Hebrews 13:7

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

He referred to the saints long dead—Stephen the protomartyr, James the brother of John, James called Just; many others as well were done away with by the Jews’ fury. By having an eye to them, he is saying, and acquainting yourselves with their praiseworthy lifestyle, emulate their faith.

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

This, too, he does not simply put down, but he fits it to the argument that has been interrupted, teaching that he was crucified by the Jews. And he also demonstrates his eternal existence, for he calls the human nature “yesterday and today” and names the divinity “forever.” And he says that the two are the same, since the only begotten and the firstborn are one and the same Son.

Hebrews 13:9

Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

By “strange teachings” he referred to what was at variance with the evangelical teachings. So he bids them persevere in the teaching of grace and abandon the observances of the law: No one reaped any benefit from them.

Hebrews 13:11-14 · 3 passages

For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.

So let us despise things of this life and look forward to those that are stable and permanent.

Look at the type, compare it with the reality and perceive the similarity. The law required a red heifer to be sacrificed, and the high priest to take some of its blood and sprinkle the mercy seat seven times with his finger. Burning the heifer itself outside the camp, they took the ashes and with them purified those people called impure. This acted as a type of the saving passion. The word red here means the body from Adam in the Hebrew language. He was fixed to the cross outside the gate. His blood purifies our souls; in place of the dust we have the life giving body.

“Outside the camp” means, Let our way of life be beyond the law, and let us bear the reproaches for the one who saved us.

Hebrews 13:15-16 · 2 passages

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

He brought out the sacrifice of praise that is pleasing to God. To it he linked also that of doing good, which he was right to refer to as sharing.… Elsewhere the divine apostle says, “Our abundance supplies for their need so that their abundance may be for your need for a balance to be achieved.” Sharing, then, is also repayment: one person gives money, another returns a blessing, and the person in need is in the stronger position.

Hymn singing offered to God is of no benefit to us apart from faith in the Son. Since it was to the Hebrews he wrote, who were in the habit of honoring the Father alone, he felt he had to add “through him.”

Hebrews 13:18

Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

Paul had been misrepresented to them as preaching the opposite of the law; so he impresses on them that he acted for no other reason than obedience to the divine word—hence his calling his conscience to witness.

Hebrews 13:25

Grace be with you all. Amen.

He appended the usual conclusion, invoking on them a share in grace. As for us, let us sing the praises of the giver of old laws and new. And let us pray to receive grace from him so that by observing the divine laws we may attain the promised goods, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom with the Father and the all-holy Spirit be glory, now and forever, for ages of ages. Amen.

Hosea 1:1-3

The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Likewise the Lord of all had bade Hosea also, therefore, marry a loose woman so as by the event to charge the people with impiety and give evidence of his characteristic longsuffering. If the God of all put up with the loose and adulterous synagogue, however, and the fount of holiness was not defiled by that loathsome and abominable thing, neither did the prophet incur any defilement from that licentious woman. Without being in thrall to lust, and instead carrying out a command from on high, he put up with that awful relationship. Now one must realize how judgment is made between good and bad by the purpose involved: on that basis marriage is distinguished from adultery, and though intercourse involves no difference, the difference emerges in the purpose and the law, and on the same basis what is lawful is distinguished from what is lawless.

All writers

Who was this?

A theologian of the School of Antioch and bishop of Cyrrhus, he participated in the Christological controversies of the fifth century. He wrote biblical commentaries and polemics against Cyril of Alexandria. His writings were later condemned during the Three Chapters Controversy at the Second Council of Constantinople.

Wikipedia

Works cited

INTERPRETATION OF THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS 145
INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY 16
INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 11 14
INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY 14
INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 1 13
INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 13 10
INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 7 10
INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 10 9
COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1 8
DIALOGUE 2 8
INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 2 8
INTERPRETATION OF HEBREWS 4 8