{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-6538","native_reference":{"book_number":650,"chapter_from":11,"chapter_to":11,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":17,"verse_to":17},"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>Athanasius of Alexandria</b>: Here is a man of true faith, for when the Lord asked him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, he was willing to do so. By faith he offered up the one through whom the Lord had given him the promise of a nation of descendants. And in offering his son he worshiped the Son of God. When the Lord held him back from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham saw the Messiah in the ram that was ultimately offered as the sacrifice to God.We see, then, that the patriarch was tested by means of Isaac—not that Isaac was sacrificed but rather the one who was pointed out in Isaiah, \"He shall be like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb.\" He was, in truth, tested by him who took away the sin of the world.<br/>That is why Abraham was held back from laying his hand on the boy. If he had sacrificed Isaac, the Jews might very well have rejected all the prophecies concerning the Savior. Undoubtedly they would have especially rejected such prophecies given by the psalmist as, \"You have not wanted sacrifice and offering; for you have prepared a body for me.\" They would have referred all such prophecies to the son of Abraham.<br/>Thus the sacrifice was not for the sake of Isaac but of Abraham, who was tested by being called upon to make this offering. And of course, God accepted his intentions, but God prevented him from slaying Isaac. The death of Isaac would not buy freedom for the world. No, that could be accomplished only by the death of our Savior, by whose stripes we are all healed. He alone picked up the falling, healed the sick, satisfied those who were hungry and filled the poor. Above all else, he alone raised us all from the dead, and having abolished death, he has brought us from sorrow and sighing to the rest and gladness of this feast. That, dear friends, is a joy that reaches heaven!<br/><i>— FESTAL LETTERS 6.8</i></p><p><b>Augustine of Hippo</b>: In whose similitude but His of whom the apostle says, \"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all?\" And on this account Isaac also himself carried to the place of sacrifice the wood on which he was to be offered up, just as the Lord Himself carried His own cross. Finally, since Isaac was not to be slain, after his father was forbidden to smite him, who was that ram by the offering of which that sacrifice was completed with typical blood? For when Abraham saw him, he was caught by the horns in a thicket. What, then, did he represent but Jesus, who, before He was offered up, was crowned with thorns by the Jews?<br/><i>— City of God 16.32</i></p><p><b>Clement of Alexandria</b>: Isaac is a type of the infant Lord as son, and, in fact, Isaac was the son of Abraham as Christ is of God, victim as was the Lord. But he was not cut down like the Lord; no, Isaac only carried the wood of the sacrifice, as the Lord did his cross. He laughed mystically by way of prophesying that the Lord fills us with joy, we who have been redeemed by his blood. He did not suffer but left to the Logos, as is fitting, the first fruits of suffering. What is more, because he was not immolated, he signifies also the divinity of the Lord. For after his burial, Jesus was raised up, thus leaving suffering behind, just as Isaac had escaped the sacrifice.<br/><i>— The Instructor Book 1</i></p><p><b>Clement of Rome</b>: And again [the Scripture] says, \"God brought forth Abram, and spoke unto him, Look up now to heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them; so shall your seed be. And Abram believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.\" On account of his faith and hospitality, a son was given him in his old age; and in the exercise of obedience, he offered him as a sacrifice to God on one of the mountains which He showed him.<br/><i>— Letter to the Corinthians (Clement)</i></p><p><b>Ephrem the Syrian</b>: \"By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac\" as a victim, even though he had received this child with the promise that through him his descendants would have been named. And Abraham never doubted, not even when he was about to kill him, that through him his descendants would have been named.He decided in his mind and accepted the idea that \"God is able to raise men even from the dead; hence, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back,\" that is, so that in him he might come to know the resurrection of the dead, and in him might know the children of the spirit whom he would have had.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: Great indeed was the faith of Abraham. For while in the case of Abel, and of Noah, and of Enoch, there was an opposition of reasonings only, and it was necessary to go beyond human reasonings; in this case it was necessary not only to go beyond human reasonings, but to manifest also something more. For what was of God seemed to be opposed to what was of God; and faith opposed faith, and command promise.</p><p>I mean this: He had said, \"Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and I will give thee this land.\" \"He gave him none inheritance in it, no not so much as to set his foot on.\" Seest thou how what was done was opposed to the promise? Again He said, \"In Isaac shall thy seed be called,\" and he believed: and again He says, Sacrifice to Me this one, who was to fill all the world from his seed. Thou seest the opposition between the commands and the promise? He enjoined things that were in contradiction to the promises, and yet not even so did the righteous man stagger, nor say he had been deceived.<br/><i>— Homily on Hebrews 25</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: He heard the opposite of the promises from Him who had made them; and yet he was not disturbed, but did them as if they had been in harmony therewith. For they were in harmony; being opposed indeed according to human calculations, but in harmony when viewed by Faith.<br/><i>— Homily on Hebrews 25</i></p><p><b>John Chrysostom</b>: And he shows another thing too, by saying, that \"God tempted Abraham.\" What then? Did not God know that the man was noble and approved? Why then did He tempt him? Not that He might Himself learn, but that He might show to others, and make his fortitude manifest to all. And here also he shows the cause of trials, that they may not suppose they suffer these things as being forsaken of God. For in their case indeed, it was necessary that they should be tried, because there were many who persecuted or plotted against them: but in Abraham's case, what need was there to devise trials for him which did not exist? Now this trial, it is evident, was by His command. The others indeed happened by His allowance, but this even by His command. If then temptations make men approved in such wise that, even where there is no occasion, God exercises His own athletes; much more ought we to bear all things nobly.</p><p>And here he said emphatically, \"By faith, when he was tried, he offered up Isaac,\" for there was no other cause for his bringing the offering but that.<br/><i>— Homily on Hebrews 25</i></p><p><b>Oecumenius</b>: \"By faith, Abraham offered up Isaac.\" By what faith? That God is able to raise him even from the dead.<br/>\"being tested.\" God tested Abraham, not because he himself wanted to learn about Abraham (for how could He who searches our hearts be alone in this?); (Ps. 7:10) but rather, he would make it evident to us.<br/>\"his only begotten.\" For in case anyone say that he still had a child, and was expecting the promise to be fulfilled through him, he willingly offered Isaac, for he says, he was not the only begotten; he was only begotten in terms of the promise, since he also had Ishmael.<br/><i>— The Pseudo-Oecumenian Catena on Hebrews</i></p><p><b>Origen of Alexandria</b>: Lend your ears here, you who have drawn near to God, you who believe yourselves to be faithful, and consider more diligently how the faith of the faithful is proved by these things that have been read to us. \"And it came to pass,\" it says, \"after these words, God tempted Abraham and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he said: here I am.\" Observe each and every thing that is written. For in each single thing, if someone knows how to dig deep, he will find a treasure, and perhaps even where it is not expected the precious jewels of the mysteries lie hidden. This man was formerly called Abram, and nowhere do we read that God called him by this name or said to him: Abram, Abram. For he could not be called by God by a name that was to be abolished, but he calls him by this name that He Himself had bestowed, and He does not only call him by this name, but even doubles it. And when the other had answered, \"here I am,\" He says to him: \"take your most beloved son, whom you love, Isaac, and offer him to me. Go,\" He says, \"into the high land, and there offer him as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will show you.\" Why God bestowed this name upon him and called him Abraham, He Himself has interpreted: \"because,\" He says, \"I have set you as a father of many nations.\" God gave him this promise when he had a son, Ishmael, but He promised him that in the son who would be born of Sarah this promise would be fulfilled. He had therefore kindled Abraham's own spirit into love of that son, not only for the sake of posterity, but also by the hope of the promises. But this son, in whom these great and marvelous promises were placed for him—this son, I say, in whom his name was called Abraham—he is commanded to offer as a \"burnt offering\" to the Lord upon one of the mountains. What do you say to this, O Abraham? What and what sort of thoughts are stirred in your heart? A voice has been uttered by God that would shake and prove your faith. What do you say to this? What do you think? What do you reconsider? Do you suppose you turn over in your heart the thought that, if in Isaac the promise was given to me, but I offer this one as a burnt offering, it remains that that promise is not to be hoped for? Or rather do you think these things and say that it is impossible for Him who promised to lie; whatever it may be, the promise will stand firm? But since I \"am the least,\" I am not able to search out the thoughts of so great a patriarch, nor can I know what thoughts the voice of God, which had gone forth to tempt him, stirred in him, what feeling it brought when he was ordered to slay his only son. But since \"the spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets,\" Paul the Apostle, who through the spirit had learned, I believe, what mind, what counsel Abraham had carried out, indicated it, saying: \"by faith Abraham did not hesitate, when he offered his only son, in whom he had received the promises, considering that God is able to raise him even from the dead.\" The Apostle therefore has disclosed to us the thoughts of the faithful man, that faith in the resurrection had already then begun to be held in Isaac. Abraham therefore hoped that Isaac would rise again and believed that would come to pass which had not yet been done. How then are they \"sons of Abraham\" who do not believe as accomplished in Christ what he believed as future in Isaac? Nay rather, that I may speak more openly, Abraham knew that he was prefiguring the image of the future truth; he knew that Christ would be born of his seed, who was both to be offered as the truer victim of the whole world and to rise again from the dead.<br/><i>— HOMILIES ON Genesis 8.1</i></p><p><b>Theodoret of Cyrus</b>: God promised to bring to light a vast number of Isaac's offspring like sand on the seashore, and he it was who bade Isaac become a victim. Beset by the two conflicting thoughts, then, and with nature tearing at him more harshly than any torturer, the patriarch easily overcame it all and offered the sacrifice. He brings out as well the thoughts he employed in banishing the others, \"God was able to raise men even from the dead.\" He took issue with the thought arising in regard to the great number of offspring, believing that his son, even if slaughtered, could come back to life, God willing. \"Figuratively speaking, he did receive him back,\" that is, by way of a symbol and type of the resurrection. Put to death by his father's zeal, he came back to life at the word of the one who prevented the slaughter. In him the type of the saving passion was also prefigured. Hence the Lord also said to the Jews, \"Your father Abraham rejoiced at the prospect of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.\"<br/><i>— INTERPRETATION OF Hebrews 11</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"57ecdc3938dbe41c2a950271ad31e43494e2bf2429564f6d6e1ebdbc6edadff1","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":6538,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"46bfa24df91e17841facdf4ab2c0a00193a26384469d48a7abb7424f76156b9e","translator":null,"work":null}