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

NPNF (V1-14)St. Chrysostom478said, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called” ( Gen. xxi. 12 ), 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 oppositionbetween the commands and the promise? He enjoined things that were in contradiction to thepromises, and yet not even so did the righteous man stagger, nor say he had been deceived.For you indeed, he means, could not say this, that He promised ease and gave tribulation. Forin our case, the things which He promised, these also He performs. How so? “In the world” (Hesays), “ye shall have tribulation.” ( John xvi. 33 .) “He that taketh not his cross and followeth Me,is not worthy of Me.” ( Matt. x. 38 .) “He that hateth not his life shall not find it.” ( John xii. 25.) And, “He that forsaketh not all that he hath, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me.” (Luke xiv. 27, 33 .) And again, “Ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake.” ( Matt.x. 18 .) And again, “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” ( Matt. x. 36 .) But thethings which pertain to rest are yonder.But with regard to Abraham, it was different. He was enjoined to do what was opposed to thepromises; and yet not even so was he troubled, nor did he stagger, nor think he had been deceived.But you endure nothing except what was promised, yet you are troubled.[2.] He heard the opposite of the promises from Him who had made them; and yet he was notdisturbed, 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.And how this was, the Apostle himself has taught us, by saying, “accounting 3265 that God was ableto raise Him up, even from the dead.” By the same faith (he means) by which he believed that Godgave what was not, 3266 and raised up the dead, by the same was he persuaded that He would alsoraise him up after he had been slain in sacrifice. For it was alike impossible (to human calculation,I mean) from a womb which was dead and grown old and already become useless for child-bearingto give a child, and to raise again one who had been slain. But his previous faith prepared the wayfor things to come.And see; the good things came first, and the hard things afterwards, in his old age. But for you,on the contrary, (he says) the sad things are first, and the good things last. This for those who dareto say, ‘He has promised us the good things after death; perhaps He has deceived us.’ He showsthat “God is able to raise up even from the dead,” and if God be able to raise from the dead, withoutall doubt He will pay all [that He has promised].But if Abraham so many years before, believed “that God is able to raise from the dead,” muchmore ought we to believe it. Thou seest (what I at first said) that death had not yet entered in andyet He drew them at once to the hope of the resurrection, and led them to such full assurance, thatwhen bidden, they even slay their own sons, and readily offer up those from whom they expectedto people the world.And he shows another thing too, by saying, that “God tempted Abraham.” ( Gen. xxii. 1 .)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 manifest3265λογισάμενος . The cognate word λογισμὸς is used throughout for our “ reasoning, ” “ calculation. ”3266οὐκ ὄντα ἐχαρίσατο , i.e. Isaac. See Rom. iv. 17 , “ Before God, in whom he believed, who quickeneth the dead, andcalleth those things which be not as though they were ” ( τὰ μὴ ὄντα ὡς ὄντα ); and for the next clause, see ib. ver. 19 , “ Heconsidered not his own body, now dead, nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb ” : to which, so to say, life was restored.692