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

NPNF (V1-14)St. ChrysostomHe is not speaking of any old Covenant: for, that they might not assert this, he determined the timealso. Thus he did not say simply, “according to the covenant which I made with their fathers,” lestthou shouldest say [it was] the one made with Abraham, or that with Noah: but he declares what[covenant it was], “not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers” in the Exodus.Wherefore he added also, “in the day that I took them by the hand, to lead them out of the land ofEgypt; because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.” Thouseest that the evils begin first from ourselves (“they” themselves first, saith he, “continued not in[the “covenant”]”) and the negligence is from ourselves, but the good things from Him; I mean the[acts] of bounty. He here introduces, as it were, an apology showing the cause why He forsakesthem.[5.] ( Ver. 10 ) “For this,” he says, “is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israelafter those days, saith the Lord; I will put 3005 My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts,and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.” Thus He says this concerning theNew [covenant] because His words are “not according to the covenant which I covenanted.”But what other difference is there beside this? 3006 Now if any person should say that “thedifference is not in this respect, but in respect to its being put into their hearts; He makes no mentionof any difference of ordinances, but points out the mode of its being given: for no longer” (he says)“shall the covenant be in writings, but in hearts;” let the Jew in that case show that this was evercarried into effect; but he could not, for it was made a second time in writings after the return fromBabylon. But I show that the Apostles received nothing in writing, but received [it] in their heartsthrough the Holy Ghost. Wherefore also Christ said, “When He cometh, He will bring all thingsto your remembrance, and He shall teach you.” ( John xiv. 26 .)[6.] ( Ver. 11, 12 ) “And they shall not teach” (he says) “every man his neighbor, 3007 and everyman his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me from the least to the greatest. ForI will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember nomore.” Behold also another sign. “From the least even to the greatest of them” (he says) “they shallknow Me, and they shall not say, Know the Lord.” When hath this been fulfilled save now? Forour [religion] 3008 is manifest: but theirs [i.e. the Jews’] was not manifest, but had been shut up ina corner.[A covenant] is then said to be “new,” when it is different and shows some advantage over theold. “Nay surely,” says one, 3009 “it is new also when part of it has been taken away, and part not.3005“ give. ”3006That is, besides the covenant being in itself a new one, different from the Mosaic, there is also, he says, the differencein the mode of giving it, the one being written, the other put into the heart. The Jew is supposed to allege that this second isthe only difference, and that the promise in the Prophecy is that the Mosaic law shall be given into the heart, and that thiswas fulfilled by the reformation of the people: as for instance after the Captivity.3007πολίτην . The common editions have πλησίον , as has the common text of the New Testament, but there also Scholz,Lachmann, Tischendorf [Tregelles, W. and H.] read πολίτην , which is the word used in Jeremiah, according to the Vaticanms. It is used by the LXX. to translate the Hebrew for “ neighbor. ”3008τὸ ἡμέτερον3009̓ Ιδοὺ, φησὶ, καὶ αὕτη καινὴ τυγχάνει . This is the argument of an objector, who alleges that the promise of a NewCovenant was fulfilled by the modification and renewed efficacy of the Mosaic system, such as occurred after the Captivity.He alleges two senses in which the word “ New ” might be applied without implying the substitution of another system inplace of the old, (i) as a repaired house is said to be new, and (ii) according to his interpretation, as the Heavens are new, whenafter long drought they again give rain. St. Chrys. replies. i. That after the Captivity the Covenant was still, as of old, unfruitful.628