Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

NPNF (V1-14)St. ChrysostomThe words and are favorites of St. Paul. They occur seven times in Hebrews, six times inSt. Luke, 102 times in St. Paul, and 46 times (of which one-half are in St. John) elsewhere.Proportionately Hebrews uses them about two-thirds as often as St. Paul, and nearly twice as oftenas all other writers together. The group , μ , and is characteristic. None of them arefound at all in Hebrews, and they occur but twice in St. Luke, and twice in the other writers(Matthew, 1, Mark, 1, in parallel passages), both in the record of the words of others; but St. Pauluses them 31 times. (He uses μ , however, only in Romans—four times.) A word used in afigurative sense especially characteristic of St. John (31 times), , never occurs in Hebrews. It isused 16 times by St. Luke, 12 times by St. Paul, and ten times by other writers. It is more or lessused by every New Testament writer except the author of Hebrews, and St. Jude in his very shortepistle. is also used by every other writer (St. Luke, 19 times; St. Paul, 27 times), except Hebrewsand St. Jude. St. Paul greatly delights in the word , and in the idea conveyed by it; he neverwrote an epistle without it, and uses it 101 times. In Hebrews it is found eight times, in St. Luke24, and in all others 22, not occurring in the first two Gospels.The foregoing list is somewhat long of words characteristic of phases of thought which areespecially favorite with St. Paul, and either wholly unused or much less frequently employed inHebrews. A corresponding list may be made of other words especially common in Hebrews, butless used by St. Luke and St. Paul. Before going to this, however, a few words are to be consideredwhich in their frequency of usage are characteristic of all three, or of two of these writers asdistinguished from others, although with some differences between them.Most prominent in this latter class is μ , which we are accustomed to think especially Pauline.It is indeed used much oftener by St. Paul than by any other writer, yet it also occurs in Hebrewswith a frequency distinguishing that Epistle from any other writing. The proportionate numbersare: Hebrews, 162; St. Luke, 44; St. Paul, 227; all others, 33. Nevertheless, the assimilation hereis more apparent than real; for St. Paul employs it chiefly of a method of salvation, while it refersin Hebrews mostly to a definite collection of statutes. In the same way is usually regarded asa characteristically Pauline word. It is relatively much more common in Hebrews; for theproportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 369; St. Luke, 42; St. Paul, 262; all others, 43. But here alsothere is a shade of distinction in the force of the word as used by the two writers; St. Paul’s isreliance upon Christ as the means of salvation in opposition to the law and the works of the law,while in the Hebrews it is only a general reliance on God’s grace and promises. Of course, it is notdenied that St. Paul sometimes uses a word, so common, in such varied shades of meaning, in amore general way as in 1 Cor. xiii. 2, 13; xvi. 13; 2 Cor. v. 7 , etc.; but the distinction in the shadeof meaning between his habitual employment of the word, and that common in the Epistle to theHebrews is easily recognized. In this connection must be mentioned, though belonging in theformer category. The proportionate instances of its use are: Hebrews, 23; St. Luke, 76; St. Paul,100; all others (of which St. John, 99), 143. It is therefore a comparatively rare word in Hebrews.The adjective , which ought perhaps hardly to be considered in this connection, is usedproportionately, in Hebrews, 58 times; St. Luke, 6; St. Paul, 61; all others, 23. somewhatassociates the three writers together, although most frequent in Hebrews, occurring proportionately,in Hebrews, 58 times; St. Luke, 33; St. Paul, 43; all others, 6. and are usedproportionately: Hebrews, 58; St. Luke, 8 (all in Acts); St. Paul, 37 (but only once); all others,4. The word , though used by St. Luke four times, St. Paul 12, and by others eight times, neveroccurs in Hebrews; but this is not remarkable, as it is not found in the much larger books of Matthew,517