{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-6690","native_reference":{"book_number":650,"chapter_from":6,"chapter_to":6,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":11,"verse_to":11},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: \"We,\" then, according to the noble apostle, \"wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.\" And we desire that every one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope, down to \"made an high priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek.\" Similarly with Paul \"the All-virtuous Wisdom\" says, \"He, that heareth me shall dwell trusting in hope.\" For the restoration of hope is called by the same term \"hope.\" To the expression \"will dwell\" it has most beautifully added \"trusting,\" showing that such an one has obtained rest, having received the hope for which he hoped. Wherefore also it is added, \"and shall be quiet, without fear of any evil.\"<br/><i>— The Stromata Book 2</i></p><p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: \"We,\" according to the good apostle, \"wait for the hope of righteousness, for in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.\" \"We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope,\" and so on to, \"having become a high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.\" Wisdom, full of every virtue, uses similar words to Paul's: \"Anyone who listens to me will live safely, trusting in hope.\" The establishment of hope and hope itself are spoken of interchangeably. That is why he has done admirably to add the word trusting to \"will live safely.\" He is showing that the sort of person who has hold of the hope he hoped for is at peace. This is why he adds, \"And he will be tranquil, without fear, free from all evil.\" The apostle speaks openly in the first letter to the Corinthians when he says expressly, \"Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ,\" to bring this about. If you imitate me and I imitate Christ, then you are imitating Christ as he is representing God. So he establishes a target for faith in \"the likeness to God so far as possible in justice and holiness combined with practical wisdom,\" and the goal in the actualization of the promise on the basis of faith.<br/><i>— The Stromata Book 2</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: Why then did we say these things? \"But we desire that everyone of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end; that ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.\"</p><p>\"We desire,\" he says, and we do not therefore merely labor for, or even so far as words go, wish this. But what? \"We desire\" that ye should hold fast to virtue, not as condemning your former conduct (he means), but fearing for the future. And he did not say, 'not as condemning your former conduct, but your present; for ye have fainted, ye are become too indolent'; but see how gently he indicated it, and did not wound them.</p><p>For what does he say? \"But we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence unto the end.\" For this is the admirable part of Paul's wisdom, that he does not expressly show that they \"had\" given in, that they \"had\" become negligent. For when he says, \"We desire that every one of you\" - it is as if one should say, I wish thee to be always in earnest; and such as thou wert before, such to be now also, and for the time to come. For this made his reproof more gentle and easy to be received.</p><p>And he did not say, \"I will,\" which would have been expressive of the authority of a teacher, but what is expressive of the affection of a father, and what is more than \"willing,\" \"we desire.\" All but saying, Pardon us, even if we say what is distasteful.</p><p>\"We desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of your hope unto the end.\" Hope (he means) carries us through: it recovers us again. Be not wearied out, do not despair, lest your hope be in vain. For he that worketh good hopeth also good, and never despairs of himself.</p><p>\"That ye may not become dull.\" Still \"become\"; and yet he said above, \"seeing ye are become dull of hearing.\" (c. v. 11.) Observe however how he limited the dullness to the hearing. And here he hints the very same thing; instead of 'that ye may not continue in it,' he says [this]. But again he leads on to that future time for which they were not yet responsible; saying in effect \"that ye may not become too slothful\": since for that which is not yet come we could not be responsible. For he who in regard to the present time is exhorted to be in earnest, as being remiss, will perhaps become even more slothful, but he who is exhorted with reference to the future, not so.</p><p>\"We desire\" (he says) \"that every one of you.\" Great is his affection for them: he cares equally for great and small; moreover he knows all, and overlooks no one, but shows the same tender care for each, and equal value for all: from which cause also he the rather persuaded them to receive what was distasteful in his words.</p><p>\"That ye be not slothful,\" he says. For as inactivity hurts the body, so also inactivity as to what is good renders the soul more supine and feeble.<br/><i>— Homily on Hebrews 10</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: \"But followers\" (he says) \"of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises.\" And who they are, he tells afterwards. He said before, \"Imitate your own former well-doings.\" Then, lest they should say, What? He leads them back to the Patriarch: bringing before them examples of well-doing indeed from their own history, but of the thought of being forsaken, from the Patriarch; that they might not suppose that they were disregarded and forsaken as worthy of no account, but might know that it is [the portion] of the very noblest men to make the journey of life through trials; and that God has thus dealt with great and admirable men.</p><p>Now we ought (he says) to bear all things with patience: for this also is believing: whereas if He say that He gives and thou immediately receivest, how hast thou also believed? Since in that case this is no longer of thy faith, but of Me, the Giver. But if I say that I give, and give after an hundred years, and thou hast not despaired; then hast thou accounted Me worthy to be believed, then thou hast the right opinion concerning Me. Thou seest that oftentimes unbelief arises not from want of hope only, but also from faintheartedness, and want of patience, not from condemning him who made the promise.<br/><i>— Homily on Hebrews 10</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: This love that you continue to show, he says, \"we desire [Επιθυμοῦμεν].\" He did not say, \"We want [βουλόμεθα],\" but rather, it was more affectionate, \"We desire,\" he says.<br/>\"to show the same diligence.\" Then someone might say, \"If you are convinced about the better things concerning us, and you know our works and our ministry to the saints, why then were you afraid to call us sluggish, and remembering the thorns? Why? Because \"we desire each one of you,\" he says, \"to show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end\", that is, to be steadfast in your faith in Christ and the hope that comes from it. And he did not say, We wish; which would have been a teaching authority; but, we desire; which is of paternal affection. For this is not something we wish in words only, but our soul burns for you. For such a thing is meant by the phrase, we desire.<br/><i>— The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"b46203a1a73bdabfbdfe5ad397eb1a25428d95ddcbef663b9a8479affc4cd027","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":6690,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"e7fd4993be9ff38b1754f856d4d0cc03c256c1b4749c23f7da0c4cf74352f1b7","translator":null,"work":null}