Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
All Commentaries on Hebrews 4:16 Go To Hebrews 4
John Chrysostom
AD 407
What throne of grace is he speaking of? That royal throne concerning which it is said, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit on My right hand. Psalm 110:1
What is let us come boldly? Because we have a sinless High Priest contending with the world. For, says He, Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world John 16:33; for, this is to suffer all things, and yet to be pure from sins. Although we (he means) are under sin, yet He is sinless.
How is it that we should approach boldly? Because now it is a throne of Grace, not a throne of Judgment. Therefore boldly, that we may obtain mercy, even such as we are seeking. For the affair is [one of] munificence, a royal largess.
And may find grace to help in time of need [for help in due season]. He well said, for help in time of need. If you approach now (he means) you will receive both grace and mercy, for you approach in due season; but if you approach then, no longer [will you receive it]. For then the approach is unseasonable, for it is not then a throne of Grace. Till that time He sits granting pardon, but when the end [has come], then He rises up to judgment. For it is said, Arise, O God, judge the earth. Psalm 82:8 (Let us come boldly, or he says again having no evil conscience, that is, not being in doubt, for such an one cannot come with boldness.) On this account it is said, I have heard you in an accepted time and in a day of salvation have I succored you. 2 Corinthians 6:2 Since even now for those to find repentance who sin after baptism is of grace.
But lest when you hear of an High Priest, you should think that He stands, he immediately leads to the throne. But a Priest does not sit, but stands. Do you see that [for Him] to be made High Priest, is not of nature, but of grace and condescension, and humiliation?
This is it seasonable for us also now to say, Let us draw near asking boldly: let us only bring Faith and He gives all things. Now is the time of the gift; let no man despair of himself. Then [will be] the time of despairing, when the bride-chamber is shut, when the King has come in to see the guests, when they who shall be accounted worthy thereof, shall have received as their portion the Patriarch's bosom: but now it is not as yet so. For still are the spectators assembled, still is the contest, still is the prize in suspense.
7. Let us then be earnest. For even Paul says, I so run not as uncertainly. 1 Corinthians 9:26 There is need of running, and of running vehemently. He that runs [a race] sees none of those that meet him; whether he be passing through meadows, or through dry places: he that runs looks not at the spectators, but at the prize. Whether they be rich or whether they be poor, whether one mock at him, or praise him, whether one insult, or cast stones at him, or plunder his house, whether he see children, or wife, or anything whatever. He is occupied in one thing alone, in running, in gaining the prize. He that runs, never stands still, since even if he slacken a little, he has lost the whole. He that runs, not only slackens nothing before the end, but then even especially strains his speed.
This have I spoken for those who say; In our younger days we used discipline, in our younger days we fasted, now we are grown old. Now most of all it behooves you to make your carefulness more intense. Do not count up to me the old things especially done well: be now youthful and vigorous. For he that runs this bodily race, when gray hairs have overtaken him, probably is not able to run as he did before: for the whole contest depends on the body; but thou— wherefore do you lessen your speed? For in this race there is need of a soul, a soul thoroughly awakened: and the soul is rather strengthened in old age; then it is in its full vigor, then is it in its pride.
For as the body, so long as it is oppressed by fevers and by one sickness after another, even if it be strong, is exhausted, but when it is freed from this attack, it recovers its proper force, so also the soul in youth is feverish, and is chiefly possessed by the love of glory, and luxurious living, and sensual lusts, and many other imaginations; but old age, when it comes on, drives away all these passions, some through satiety, some through philosophy. For old age relaxes the powers of the body, and does not permit the soul to make use of them even if it wish, but repressing them as enemies of various kinds, it sets her in a place free from troubles and produces a great calm, and brings in a greater fear.
For if none else does, it is said, yet they who are grown old know, that they are drawing to their end, and that they certainly stand near to death. When therefore the desires of this life are withdrawing, and the expectation of the judgment-seat is coming on, softening the stubbornness of the soul, does it not become more attentive, if one be willing?
8. What then (you allege) when we see old men more intractable than young ones? Thou tellest me of an excess of wickedness. For in the case of madmen too, we see them going over precipices, when no man pushes them. When therefore, an old man has the diseases of the young, this is an excess of wickedness; besides not even in youth would such an one have an excuse: since he is not able to say, Remember not the sins of my youth, and my ignorances. Psalm 25:7 For he who in old age remains the same, shows that even in youth, he was what he was not from ignorance, nor from inexperience, nor from the time of life, but from slothfulness. For that man may say, Remember not the sins of my youth, and mine ignorances, who does such things as become an old man, who changes in old age. But if even in age he continue the same unseemly courses, how can such an one be worthy of the name of an old man, who has no reverence even for the time of life? For he who says, Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my ignorances, utters this, as one doing right in his old age. Do not then, by the deeds of age, deprive yourself also of pardon for the sins of youth.
For how can what is done be otherwise than unreasonable, and beyond pardon? An old man sits in taverns. An old man hurries to horse-races— an old man goes up into theaters, running with the crowd like children. Truly it is a shame and a mockery, to be adorned outside with gray hairs, but within to have the mind of a child.
And indeed if a young man insult [him], he immediately puts forward his gray hairs. Reverence them first yourself; if however thou dost not reverence your own even when old, how can you demand of the young to reverence them? Thou dost not reverence the gray hairs, but puttest them to shame. God has honored you with whiteness of hairs: He has given you high dignity. Why do you betray the honor? How shall the young man reverence you, when you are more wanton than he? For the hoary head is then venerable, when it acts worthily of the gray head; but when it plays youth, it will be more ridiculous than the young. How then will you old men be able to give these exhortations to the young man when you are intoxicated by your disorderliness?
9. I say not these things as accusing the old, but the young. For in my judgment they who act thus even if they have come to their hundredth year, are young; just as the young if they be but little children, yet if they are sober-minded, are better than the old. And this doctrine is not my own, but Scripture also recognizes the same distinction. For, it says, honorable age is not that which stands in length of time, and an unspotted life is old age. Wisdom 4:8-9
For we honor the gray hair, not because we esteem the white color above the black, but because it is a proof of a virtuous life; and when we see them we conjecture therefrom the inward hoariness. But if men continue to do what is inconsistent with the hoary head, they will on that account become the more ridiculous. Since we also honor the Emperor, and the purple and the diadem, because they are symbols of his office. But if we should see him, with the purple, spitted on, trodden under foot by the guards, seized by the throat, cast into prison, torn to pieces, shall we then reverence the purple or the diadem, and not rather weep over the pomp itself? Claim not then to be honored for your hoary head, when you yourself wrongest it. For it ought indeed itself to receive satisfaction from you, because you bring disgrace on a form so noble and so honorable.
We say not these things against all [old persons], nor is our discourse against old age simply (I am not so mad as that), but against a youthful spirit bringing dishonor on old age. Nor is it concerning those who are grown old that we sorrowfully say these things, but concerning those who disgrace the hoary head.
For the old man is a king, if you will, and more royal than he who wears the purple, if he master his passions, and keep them under subjection, in the rank of guards. But if he be dragged about and thrust down from his throne, and become a slave of the love of money, and vainglory, and personal adornment, and luxuriousness, and drunkenness, anger, and sensual pleasures, and has his hair dressed out with oil, and shows an age insulted by his way of life, of what punishment would not such an one be worthy?
10. But may you not be such, O young men! For not even for you is there the excuse for sinning. Why so? Because it is possible to be old in youth: just as there are youths in old age, so also the reverse. For as in the one case the white hair saves no one, so in the other the black is no impediment. For if it is disgraceful for the old man to do these things of which I have spoken, much more than for the young man, yet still the young man is not freed from accusation. For a young man can have an excuse only, in case he is called to the management of affairs, when he is still inexperienced, when he needs time and practice; but no longer when it is necessary to display temperance and courage, nor yet when it is needful to keep his property.
For it sometimes happens that the young man is blamed more than the old. For the one needs much service, old age making him feeble: but the other being able, if he will, to provide for himself, what sort of excuse should he meet with, when he plunders more than the old, when he remembers injuries, when he is contemptuous, when he does not stand forward to protect others more than the old man, when he utters many things unseasonably, when he is insolent, when he reviles, when he is drunken?
And if in the [matter of] chastity he think that he cannot be impleaded, consider that here also he has many helps, if he will. For although desire trouble him more violently than it does the old, yet nevertheless there are many things which he can do more than an old man, and so charm that wild beast. What are these things? Labors, readings, watchings through the night, fastings.
11. What then are these things to us (one says) who are not monastics? Do you say this to me? Say it to Paul, when he says, Watching with all perseverance and supplication Ephesians 6:18, when he says, Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Romans 13:14 For surely he wrote not these things to solitaries only, but to all that are in cities. For ought the man who lives in the world to have any advantage over the solitary, save only the living with a wife? In this point he has allowance, but in others none, but it is his duty to do all things equally with the solitary.
Moreover the Beatitudes [pronounced] by Christ, were not addressed to solitaries only: since in that case the whole world would have perished, and we should be accusing God of cruelty. And if these beatitudes were spoken to solitaries only, and the secular person cannot fulfill them, yet He permitted marriage, then He has destroyed all men. For if it be not possible, with marriage, to perform the duties of solitaries, all things have perished and are destroyed, and the [functions] of virtue are shut up in a strait.
And, how can marriage be honorable, which so hinders us? What then? It is possible, yea very possible, even if we have wives, to pursue after virtue, if we will. How? If having wives, we be as though we had none, if we rejoice not over our possessions, if we use the world as not abusing it. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
And if any persons have been hindered by marriage state, let them know that marriage is not the hindrance, but their purpose which made an ill use of marriage. Since it is not wine which makes drunkenness, but the evil purpose, and the using it beyond due measure. Use marriage with moderation, and you shall be first in the kingdom, and shall enjoy all good things, which may we all attain by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ with whom to the Father together with the Holy Ghost be glory, might, honor, now and for ever and world without end. Amen.
