God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?
All Commentaries on Hebrews 2:4 Go To Hebrews 2
Thomas Aquinas
AD 1274
89. – After showing in a number of ways Christ’s superiority over the angels, the Apostle here concludes that Christ’s doctrine, namely, the New Testament, deserves more obedience than the Old Testament. In regard to this he does three things: first, he states the conclusion intended; secondly, he supports this conclusion with a reason (v. 2); thirdly, he confirms the consequence (v. 5).
90. – In regard to the first it should be noted that after giving the judicial and moral precepts of the Law in Ex. (chap. 25), He continues in verse 20: ‘Behold, I shall send my angel, who shall go before you and shall bring you into the land;’ and then adds, ‘Take notice of him and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be condemned’ (Ex. 23:21). Therefore, if the commandment of an angel, through whom the Law was delivered, is obeyed, they will enter heaven. Hence, it says in Mt. (19:17): ‘If you will enter into life, keep the commandments.’ Therefore it is necessary to keep those commandments of the Law; but much more to obey the commandments of Him Who is higher than the angels, through whom the Law was delivered. And this what he says, therefore, we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard: ‘We have heard a rumor from the Lord’ (Ob. 1:1); ‘O Lord, I have heard your hearing and was afraid’ (Heb. 3:1). Therefore, we ought to observe more closely for three reasons: first, because of the authority of the one speaking, for He is the Creator and the Son of God and not a creature of God’s minister: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men’ (Ac. 5:29); secondly, because of the usefulness of the commands, for they are the words of eternal life: ‘Lord, to whom shall go, you have the words of eternal life’ (Jn. 6:69); others are words of temporal goods: ‘If you would hear me, you would eat the good things of the earth’ (Is. 1:19); thirdly, because of the sweetness of their observance, for they are sweet: ‘His commandments are not heavy’ (1 Jn. 5:3); ‘My yoke is sweet and my burden light’ (Mt. 11:30); ‘This is a yoke which neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear’ (Ac. 15:10).
91. – Secondly, he shows the same thing from the threatening danger when he says, lest we drift away from it, i.e., be eternally damned. Here it should be noted that someone drifts away by bodily punishments: ‘Like waters that return no more, we fall down into the earth’ (2 Sam. 14:14). He drifts away worse through guilt; but he drifts away worst by eternal damnation, because not a shard remains: ‘And it shall be broken small as the potter’s vessel, broken all to pieces with a mighty breaking, and there shall not a shard be found of the pieces thereof’ (Is. 30:14).
92. – Then he adduces the reason, which contains a conditional sentence with a comparison between the New and Old Testaments. In the antecedent is mentioned the condition of the Old Testament, and in the consequent the condition of the New Testament. In regard to the Old he mentions three things: first, the authority of the Law; secondly, the solidity of truth (v. 2b); thirdly, the necessity of obeying (v. 2c).
93. – First, he mentions the authority, because the Law was not delivered by human authority but by angels: ‘Being ordained by angels through the hand of a mediator’ (Gal. 2:19); This is he that was in the Church in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on mount Sion and with our fathers’ (Ac. 7:38). Nor is this strange, because, as Dionysius proves, the revelation of divine illuminations reach us through the medium of angels.
94. – He shows the firmness of the truth when he says, was valid, because everything foretold in the Old Law has been fulfilled: (Pr. 12:19) ‘The lip of truth shall be steadfast for ever;’ ‘Not one dot or one iota of the law shall pass away until all be fulfilled’ (Mt. 5:18); ‘The words that proceed from my mouth, I will not make void’ (Ps. 88:35). Therefore, it was made valid, because it was not made void.
95. – Then he shows the necessity of obeying, because the disobedient are punished: and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution. Here he mentions one thing which corresponds to a double guilt, namely, to the sin of omission and of transgression. The first corresponds to affirmative precepts; the other to negative precepts. The first is identified by the name, disobedience. But is disobedience a general sin? It seems so: for a sin is specific, because it has a special end. Hence, when someone does not obey a precept with the intention of scorning it, it is a special sin; but when there is another reason, say, concupiscence, then it is a condition following the sin, but it is not a special sin. The other is called a transgression: ‘I have counted all the sinners of the earth prevaricators’ (Ps. 118:119). Then he mentions something on the part of the punishment: received a just retribution. For retribution depends on the amount of guilt, so that one who sins more gravely receives a greater punishment; but the wages depend on the quality, so that one who sins from the fires of lust will be punished with fire. There, he will receive a good wage for good acts and an evil wage for wicked actions. Consequently, retribution is received for good and for evil, inasmuch as it implies distributive justice. It is called just because of the equality of punishment, so that according to the amount of sin there is a certain amount of punishment.
96. – Then (v. 3) he places the consequent of his conditional, in which he describes the condition of the New Testament. Here he does three things: first, he shows the need to obey; secondly, the origin of the New Testament (v. 3b); thirdly, the firmness of its truth (v. 4).
97. – He says, therefore: If the word spoken by angels punishes transgressors, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? In this he denotes the danger which threatens those who do not obey. But above he called the Old Testament salvation. The reason for this is that a word is ordained to knowledge only; for this is what the Old Testament did, since by it there came knowledge of sin: ‘By the law is the knowledge of sin’ (Rom. 3:20). Also the knowledge of God: ‘He has not done in like manner to every nation’ (Ps. 75:2). But it did not confer grace, for grace is conferred in the New Testament: ‘Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ’ (Jn. 1:17), which leads to eternal salvation: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’ (Jn. 6:69); ‘Your word is exceedingly refined’ (Ps. 118:140). Then he commends salvation, because it is so great. And certainly it is very great, if you consider the danger from which it frees us, because it frees us not only from the dangers of bodily death but of spiritual: ‘He will save his people form their sins’ (Mt. 1:21). It is also great, because it is universal, i.e., not confined to one nation or to one danger, but it is for all men and from all enemies: ‘He is the savior of all men, but especially of the faithful’ (1 Tim. 4:10); ‘That being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we may serve him without fear’ (Lk. 1:74). It is also great, because it is eternal: ‘Israel is saved in the Lord with an eternal salvation’ (Is. 45:17). Therefore, it should not be neglected, but we should be careful to obtain it: ‘We have seen the land which is exceedingly rich and fruitful’ (Jg. 18:9); then he continues: ‘Neglect not; lose no time; let us go and possess it: there will be no difficulty’ (Jg. 18:9) And of course we should not neglect it, because if we are negligent, we shall be punished not only by losing what is good but also by incurring evil, namely, eternal damnation, which we shall not be able to escape.’ Hence, he said, How shall we escape? ‘Who has shown you to flee the wrath to come’ (Mt. 3:7)? ‘The way to escape shall fail them’ (Jb. 11:20); ‘Wither shall I go from your spirit; or whither shall I flee from your face’ (Ps. 138:7)?
98. – Then (v. 3b) he shows the origin of the doctrine of the New Testament. Here he mentions a double origin: first of all, that it came not by angels but by Christ: ‘He has spoken to us in his Son’ (Heb. 1:2); ‘The only begotten who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him’ (Jn. 1:18). Hence, he says, it was declared at first by the Lord, because it has two beginnings: one is absolute and from all eternity; and this is through the Word: ‘He chose us in him before the foundation of the world’ (Eph. 1:4). The other is the beginning of the declaration, and this occurs in time through the Incarnate Word. The second origin was through the apostles, who head from Christ; hence, he says, was attested to us by them that heard him, i.e., by its preachers: ‘That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen, we declare unto you’ (1 Jn. 1:1); ‘Who from the beginning were eyewitnesses’ (Lk. 1:2).
99. – Then he mentions its solidity, which is greater than that of the Old Testament, as God testifies, Who cannot lie; hence he says, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders. But it should be noted that testimony is made by speech, which is a sense-perceptible sign. But God gave testimony with two sense-perceptible signs, namely, by miracles and by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In regard to the first he says, while God bore witness by signs as to lesser miracles, such as healing a fever or curing a lame person (Ac. 3) and wonders, as to greater miracles, such as the raising of the dead: ‘Tabitha, arise’ (Ac. 9:40). But the greatest wonder was that God became man: ‘Behold, I and my children whom the Lord has given me for a sign’ (Is. 8:18), namely, that I who am a man and my children should believe this. For it was a marvel that the human heart should believe this. He said, by various miracles, so that signs and wonders refer to acts which exceed the power of nature, namely, a sign would be something beyond and above nature, though not contrary to it; while a wonder is something contrary to nature, as the raising of the dead. In regard to the second, i.e., the gifts, he says, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will. This seems to be contrary to Wis. (7:27): ‘The spirit is one’ how is he distributed. The answer is that He is not distributed as to His essence, but as to His gifts: ‘There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit’ (1 Cor. 12:4). For all gifts are attributed to the Holy Spirit, because they proceed from love, which is appropriated to the Holy Spirit, as Gregory says: ‘Truly the Holy Spirit is love.’
