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

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostom354Mark, and Revelation; moreover, it should be taken in connection with and , which alsodo not occur in the first two Gospels, but are found in Hebrews 7 times, St. Luke 13, St. Paul 19,and all others 9 times. This would give them a relatively greater frequency in Hebrews; but theyare also common words in St. Luke and St. Paul. The word , while a little more common relativelyin Hebrews, is yet frequent enough in St. Luke and other writers, though not a favorite with St.Paul. Proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 69; St. Luke, 57; St. Paul, 29; all others, 54.This leads to the third class of words—those which, embodying certain sets of ideas, arecharacteristic of Hebrews in distinction from other writers, especially St. Luke and St. Paul. Oneof these is the idea of witness , expressed by μ , μ , μ , μ , μ , and μ μ . Thisgroup of words is especially common in Hebrews, and much less frequent in St. Luke and St. Paul.It is also very common in St. John. The proportionate numbers are: Hebrews, 127; St. Luke, 45;St. Paul, 50; all others (of which St. John, 80), 96. The word is so naturally called for in theargument of Hebrews that there is nothing remarkable in its occurring there seven times, while inall the rest of the New Testament it is found but three times (St. Paul twice, St. Luke once). Theperfection and finality of Christian truth as set forth in this epistle comes out in the frequency ofthe use of these words as clearly as in its general scope; it is difficult to suppose that the Epistle tothe Galatians, e.g., which does not contain any of these words, could have been written by the sameauthor.But by far the most important word in this connection is , with its various derivatives,, , μ , and . The last two of these are of little importance, as μ occursonly twice, in St. Peter, and only once, in Acts; also occurs only once each in St.Luke and Hebrews, and nowhere else. Altogether, and its compounds and derivatives occur159 times, but are never once used by St. Paul. 2658 The actual numbers are, for : Hebrews, 14times; St. Luke, 9; St. Paul, 0; all others, 9; for , Hebrews, 17; St. Luke, 37; St. Paul, 0; theother Gospels, 68, but never elsewhere. This is a remarkable fact. In view of St. Paul’s argumentsin the epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians, and in view of the frequency and emphasis withwhich he insists in all his Epistles, upon the sacrificial character of Christ’s death, it seems to showthat his mind was so absorbed in dwelling upon the value and power of the sacrifice that he wasnot in the habit of thinking or speaking of Christ as also Himself the Sacrificer. Redemption cameto his thought through the medium of the Victim by whom it was obtained, but not through that ofthe Priest who offered the Victim. This is the more striking from the fact that he often speaks ofChrist as giving Himself, offering Himself, and the like; but always for the purpose of bringing outthe voluntariness and the love of the act, and never with any allusion to its priestly character. Theline of reasoning in the Epistle to the Hebrews was thus quite foreign to the habitual thought of St.Paul. Such similarity of language to his acknowledged writings as exists must be accounted for insome other way.On looking back over these various words, with their difference of usage, it is plain that theyare not perfectly of accord in their indications. This was to be expected. I have endeavored, in thispart of the examination, to select only words characteristic of thought, and to note every word ofthis kind in regard to which there is any considerable difference of usage; yet so many words areused by every writer accidentally, as it were, and not because they are characteristic, that much2658The word ἱ ερουργοῦντα ( ἁ π. λεγ .) in the highly figurative passage, Rom. xv. 16, is no exception, being derived notfrom ἱ ερεύς , but from ἱ ερός518