Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 13:9-16

"Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, wherein they that occupied themselves were not profited. We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat that serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest [as an offering] for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us therefore go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have not here an abiding city, but we seek after [the city] which is to come. Through him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." — Hebrews 13:9-16 (ASV)

After exhorting them to follow the example and way of life of those who have departed, the Apostle now warns them to continue in their teaching. In this regard, he does two things: first, he gives the warning; second, he gives the reason (Hebrews 13:10). Concerning the first part, he also does two things: first, he warns them in general; second, he explains the warning (Hebrews 13:9b).

He says, therefore: Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. It is as if he is saying: We have said that you should imitate the faith of the apostles. Therefore, do not be led away from their teaching to any other doctrine. Here it should be noted that since truth consists in the mean, which is one, many false statements can be opposed to one truth, just as there are many extremes to one middle. Therefore, the doctrine of faith is one, because only one line can be drawn between two points. But all other doctrines are manifold, because there are many deviations from what is straight. Hence, he says, by diverse doctrines, that is, divided: Their heart is divided: now they shall perish (Hosea 10:2). These are the doctrines about which he said: doctrines of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy (1 Timothy 4:1). Furthermore, they are strange, that is, straying from the Catholic faith. But such doctrines must not be supported by us, because we are not strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens of the saints, and the domestics of God (Ephesians 2:19).

Then when he says, For it is well that the heart be strengthened by grace, he explains in detail what these various and strange doctrines are. Here it should be noted that in the early Church one error was rampant: that it was necessary for salvation to observe the ceremonies of the Law. These consisted especially in partaking of certain foods, such as the paschal lamb (Exodus 12), and in abstaining from certain foods, as is clear from Leviticus (chapter 12) and from other passages. Another error was that of the Nicolaitans, who taught that it was lawful to use bodily pleasures indiscriminately. These words can be applied to both errors, but more properly to the first.

He says, therefore, do not be led away from the truth by diverse and strange doctrines: Be not easily moved from your sense (2 Thessalonians 2:2); I wonder that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel (Galatians 1:6). For God requires our heart from us: My son, give me your heart (Proverbs 23:26). Therefore, it is well that the heart be strengthened with grace, for it should be firm and stable. Against this, Psalms 39:13 says: My heart has forsaken me. But it is not strengthened with bodily foods, but with sanctifying grace: Justified freely by his grace (Romans 3:24) and with the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Therefore, he says, not by foods, which have not benefited their adherents: The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

Therefore, the heart is not established by the moderate or superfluous use of food, but rather by God’s grace: His heart is ready to hope in the Lord, his heart is strengthened he shall not be moved until he look over his enemies (Psalms 111:8). Hope is an anchor stabilizing the heart: We have fled for refuge to hold fast the hope set before us, which we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and firm (Hebrews 6:18). And he says, which have not benefited their adherents, meaning those who hope in them. Those who use them for bodily needs profit from them with bodily health, but those who put their entire interest in them, "walk in them." These are the ones who do not profit from them toward the salvation of either soul or body: Shall the holy flesh take away from you your crimes, in which you have boasted? (Jeremiah 11:15).

Then when he says, We have an altar, from which they have no power to eat who serve the tabernacle, he gives the reason, and it is quite subtle. As it is stated in Leviticus (chapter 16), on the tenth day of the seventh month the high priest entered the holies with the blood of a heifer and a goat for his own sin of ignorance, and he burned their bodies outside the camp. Because it was the priest’s offering, the flesh was not eaten. For whatever they offered for the sin of the priests they did not eat, but burned outside the camp. From that figure, the Apostle draws a mystery.

The blood of Christ was prefigured by that blood, as was explained in chapter 9. The heifer and the goat prefigured Christ, because the heifer was the priest’s offering and the goat was immolated for sin. This prefigured that Christ would be immolated for sin—not for His own, but for the people’s. Therefore, the immolated heifer and goat are Christ, the Priest, offering Himself for our sins. The blood of Christ was brought into the holies, and the flesh was burned outside the camp.

Two things were signified by this. One, that Christ was immolated in the city by the tongues of the Jews; for this reason, Mark says that He was crucified at the third hour, although He was raised on the Cross at the sixth hour. The other is that by virtue of His Passion, Christ brings us into the heavenly holies to the Father. The fact that the bodies were burned outside the camp, in relation to our Head, signifies that Christ would suffer outside the gate. But in relation to us, who are the members, it signifies that Christ is immolated for those who are outside the camp of the Law’s ceremonies and of the external senses. For those within the camp did not partake of that flesh. This, therefore, is the figure which the Apostle proposes. First, he shows what is signified; second, he presents the figure (Hebrews 13:11); and third, he draws the conclusion (Hebrews 13:13).

He says, therefore: Let us strengthen our hearts not with food, but with grace, for we cannot do otherwise, because we have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. That altar is the Cross of Christ, on which He was immolated, or it is Christ Himself, in Whom and by Whom we offer our prayers. This is the golden altar spoken of in Revelation (chapter 8). Of that altar, therefore, they have no right to eat—that is, to receive the fruit of Christ’s passion and to be incorporated into Him as head—who serve the tabernacle of the Law’s ceremonies: If you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing (Galatians 5:2). Or they serve the tabernacle of the body, who pursue carnal pleasures: Make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences (Romans 13:14). For such persons received no profit: He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgement to himself (1 Corinthians 11:29). The body is called a tabernacle because we dwell in it as in a war against enemies, and it remains only a short while: The laying away of my tabernacle is at hand (2 Peter 1:14). Therefore, it should not be served.

Then (Hebrews 13:11) he continues the figure: first, the figure of the Old Testament; second, the figure of the New Testament (Hebrews 13:12).

In regard to the first, he says: For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest are burned outside the camp. This can be interpreted in two ways. One way is this: the bodies of those animals, namely, of the heifer and goat, are burned outside the camp, their blood being brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for the sin of the priest and of the multitude. In another way, it can be interpreted so that by those beasts Christ or His saints are understood. For Christ and His members were prefigured by all the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Therefore, the body of Christ, Whose blood was brought into the heavenly holies for the sin of the whole world, suffered by fire on the altar of the Cross. It was burned outside the camp—that is, outside the common society of men—with the fire of charity, with fasts, prayers, and other works of mercy. For these, the blood of Christ was efficaciously brought into the holies. The first interpretation is the literal one.

Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered outside the gate. He adapts what was prefigured in the New Testament to the figure of the Old Testament, so that there is agreement between them. Hence he says, Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered outside the gate. This is clear.

Then when he says, Therefore let us go forth to him, he draws two conclusions. In regard to the first, he says: Therefore, we have said that we have an altar outside the camp. Hence, we must do two things: namely, go to it and sacrifice upon it.

He tells us how to go when he says that Jesus Christ suffered and bore the reproach of His passion outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, that is, outside the general community of carnal things, or outside the observances of the Law, or outside the senses of the body, bearing abuse for him. This means for Christ, bearing the signs of Christ’s passion by which Christ became a disgrace among men and the offscouring of the people: My heart has expected reproach and misery (Psalms 68:21). Or, bearing abuse for him means let us reject the ceremonies of the Law, now that the truth has come, on account of which we are a reproach among the Jews. This is on account of the signs of penance, which are reproved by carnal men: Esteeming the reproach greater riches than the treasures of the Egyptians (Hebrews 11:26). For just as Christ was accused of undermining the Law, so the apostles were reproached for preaching that the ceremonies of the Law should not be observed: And I brethren, if I yet preach the circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution (Galatians 5:11).

He adds the reason when he says: For here we have no lasting city, but we seek one that is to come. A person willingly remains in his own place. But our end is not in the things of the Law or in temporal things: Our end is Christ unto the salvation of all who believe (Romans 10:4). Therefore, we do not have a lasting city here, but where Christ is. Therefore, let us go to Him: If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting on the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1); Look upon Sion, the city of our solemnity (Isaiah 33:20); He looked for a city that has foundations; whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10). They also seek a better city, that is, the heavenly one. For we strive to be transferred to it as to our place and altar. Therefore, let us go to it.

Then when he says, By him then let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, he presents the second conclusion: that we should sacrifice upon the altar and offer certain kinds of sacrifice. For there are two kinds of sacrifice that we should offer upon Christ’s altar: devotion to God and mercy towards our neighbor.

In regard to the first, he says that the sacrifices of the Law are not to be offered: Sacrifice and oblation you did not desire (Psalms 59:7). Therefore, by Him, that is, by Christ, let us offer the sacrifice of praise: A sacrifice of praise will honor me (Psalms 49:25). That sacrifice of praise is called the fruit of our lips, that is, confession with the mouth. For God is praised better by the mouth than by the killing of animals. Hence he says, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name, for this is necessary: With the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10); We will render the calves of our lips (Hosea 14:3); I created the fruit of the lips (Isaiah 57:19). This sacrifice should be offered always, that is, continually, just as there was a continual sacrifice during the Law, as it says in Numbers (chapter 28): I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall be always in my mouth (Psalms 33:2).

He mentions another sacrifice when he says, Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have. It is as if to say: You formerly performed works of mercy; but now do so at least with the heart, if you cannot in deed. Therefore, he says, do not neglect to do good, be liberal in regard to the things you give: In doing good, let us not fail (Galatians 6:9); Do good to the humble, and give not to the ungodly . Do not forget to share what you have, that is, the things you have saved: All they that believed were together, and had all things in common (Acts 2:44); Communicating to the necessities of the saints (Romans 12:13). Or share by means of charity, through which all things are common.

But why we should share that double benefit is shown when he says: for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. That is, we can merit God by such sacrifices: I am your protector and your reward exceeding great (Genesis 15:1); Then you shall accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings (Psalms 50:21); They shall worship him with sacrifices and offerings; and they shall make vows to the Lord and perform them (Isaiah 19:21).