Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 3:1-6

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, [even] Jesus; who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also was Moses in all his house. For he hath been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by so much as he that built the house hath more honor than the house. For every house is builded by some one; but he that built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken; but Christ as a son, over his house; whose house are we, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end." — Hebrews 3:1-6 (ASV)

As was said earlier, the Old Law derived its authority from three sources: from angels, from Moses, and from Aaron, the high priest. The Apostle previously elevated Christ, the Author of the New Testament, above the angels through whom the Law was given. Here, he intends to elevate Him above Moses, who was the promulgator and, as it were, the lawgiver of the Old Testament. In this regard, he does two things: first, he shows Christ’s superiority over Moses; secondly, he concludes from this that Christ is most worthy of obedience (Hebrews 3:7). Concerning the first point, he does two things: first, he mentions Christ’s dignity; secondly, he shows what is common to Christ and Moses (Hebrews 3:3). Concerning the first of these, he does two things: first, he describes the condition of those to whom he speaks; secondly, he describes the one of whom he speaks (Hebrews 3:3b).

He describes those to whom he speaks in three ways.

1. From their charity; hence, he says, holy brothers, as if to say: Because you are brothers of Christ and of one another: “You are all brothers” (Matthew 23:8); “He is not ashamed to call them brothers” (Hebrews 2:11). But charity causes this brotherhood: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalms 132:1).
2. From their holiness when he says, holy; and this is because they receive the sacraments by which we are made holy: “But you are washed, but you are sanctified” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
3. From their calling when he says, who share in a heavenly call. Now this call can be understood to be heavenly in two ways: because of its end or because of its source. Because of the end, for they are not called to an earthly reward as in the Old Testament, but to a heavenly kingdom: “He has called you to his kingdom and glory” (1 Thessalonians 2:12); “Who called us from darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). Because of its source, for it is not due to our merits but to grace: “He called us by his grace” (Galatians 1:15); “Who has raised up the just one from the east, has called him to follow him” (Isaiah 41:2). He says, who share in, because not only the Jews have been called to the faith and the New Testament, but also the Gentiles: “who has made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12).

Therefore, because you have charity, are holy, and are called to heavenly things, you should gladly listen to one who speaks of Him through whom these things come to you.

Then he describes the one of whom he speaks when he says, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession: “Look on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith” (Hebrews 12:2). The Apostle elevates Christ above Moses and Aaron and, therefore, attributes to Him the dignity of both: of Moses, because He was sent by God: “He sent Moses, his servant” (Psalms 104:26); of Aaron, because he was a high priest: “Take unto you also Aaron, your brother with his sons from among the children of Israel, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office” (Exodus 28:1). But Christ was sent in a more excellent manner than Moses: “I beseech the Lord, send whom you will send” (Exodus 4:13). As if to say: You will send one more worthy. He will be a high priest and a prophet: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek” (Psalms 104:4). There is no need to consider that apostle, Moses, and the high priest Aaron; but consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, that is, Him whom we confess. For it is necessary for salvation to confess Him: “With the heart we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:10).

Alternatively, of confession can mean of the spiritual sacrifice. For every priest is ordained to offer sacrifice. But there are two kinds of sacrifice: one is physical or temporal, for which Aaron was appointed; the other is spiritual, which consists in the confession of faith: “A sacrifice of praise will honor me” (Psalms 49:25). For this sacrifice Christ was appointed: “I desire not holocausts of rams and fat of fatlings and blood of calves and lambs and buck goats” (Isaiah 1:11). Then he continues: “Offer sacrifice no more in vain.”

Then (Hebrews 3:2) he compares Christ to Moses; first, he mentions what they have in common; secondly, where Christ excels Moses (Hebrews 3:3).

What is common to Christ and Moses is faithfulness to God; hence he says, He was faithful to him who appointed him. Here it should be noted that everything said here of Moses is based on the statement found in Numbers 12:7, where the Lord shows the excellence of Moses after Aaron and Miriam spoke against him. We find these words, which the Apostle cites here: “If there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision or I will speak to him in a dream. But it is not so with my servant Moses, who is most faithful in all my house” (Numbers 12:7). Here we find Moses commended more highly than in any other place in the Bible. Therefore, the Apostle accepts this as the highest commendation of Moses.

But this can apply to Christ and to Moses. That it is true of Moses is clear from history. But it is true of Christ, because as a man He is faithful to Him who appointed Him, namely, to God the Father, who made him an apostle and high priest. This is not, of course, according to His divine nature, because in that way He was not made or created, but begotten; but it is according to His human nature: “Who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Romans 1:3). He was faithful to God the Father, first, by not attributing to Himself what He had, but to the Father: “My doctrine is not mine” (John 6:16). Secondly, He sought the Father’s glory and not His own: “He that seeks the glory of him that sent him, he is true, and there is no injustice in him” (John 7:18). Thirdly, He obeyed the Father perfectly: “He was made obedient unto death” (Philippians 2:8). Therefore, Christ is faithful to Him who made Him, as Moses was, and this is in God’s house—this house being the totality of the faithful: “Holiness befits your house, O Lord, unto length of days” (Psalms 93:5). Or, in all of God’s house means in the whole world and not only in Judea, as Moses was: “I have given you to be the light of the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Then (Hebrews 3:3) he elevates Christ above Moses in two respects: first, regarding power; secondly, regarding their status (Hebrews 3:3b). In commending Christ, he commends Him as having honor in all His house, as Moses had. Yet Christ excels him. First, he gives the reason; secondly, he explains it (Hebrews 3:4).

The Apostle’s reason is that more glory is due to Him who built the house than to the one who dwells in it. But Christ built the house: “You have made the morning light and the sun” (Psalms 73:16); “Wisdom has built herself a house” (Proverbs 9:1), that is, the Church. For Christ, by whom grace and truth came, built the Church as its lawgiver; but Moses was merely a proclaimer of the Law. Therefore, it is only as a proclaimer that glory is due to Moses. Hence, his face became bright: “So that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance” (2 Corinthians 3:7). The sequence of thought is this: You say that Christ is faithful as Moses was. Why then overlook Him? Certainly, this man was counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, inasmuch as the one who has built the house has greater honor than the house. As if to say: Even though Moses deserves mention, Christ is more honorable, because He is the builder of the house and the chief lawgiver: “Behold, God is high in his strength, and none is like him among the lawgivers” (Job 36:22). Therefore, if Moses is worthy of glory, Christ is more worthy: “For if the ministration of condemnation be in glory, much more the ministration of justice abounds in glory” (2 Corinthians 3:9).

Then he proves the minor premise of his argument when he says: For every house is built by some man. The minor premise is that Christ built that house. He proves this, first, by stating that every house needs a builder; secondly, by showing that the house of which he speaks was built by Christ, because the builder of all things is God.

First, therefore, he proves that this house, like any other, needs a builder, because its various parts are put together by someone. This is obvious in a structure where the wood and stones are united by a builder. But the assembly of the faithful, which is the Church and the house of God, is composed of various elements, namely, Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free. Therefore, the Church, like any other house, is put together by someone. He gives only the conclusion of this syllogism, supposing the truth of the premises as evident: “Be you also as living stones built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5); “Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20).

Then (Hebrews 3:4b) he proves that Christ is the builder of that house, for He is God, the builder of all things. If this is understood of the whole world, it is plain: “He spoke and they were made; he commanded and they were created” (Psalms 32:9). But there is another spiritual creation, which is made by the Spirit: “Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth” (Psalms 104:30). This is brought about by God through Christ: “Of his own will has he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creature” (James 1:18); “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus in good works” (Ephesians 2:10). Therefore, God created that house, the Church, from nothing—that is, from the state of sin to the state of grace. Therefore, Christ, by whom He made all things, “by whom also he made the world” (Hebrews 1:2), is more excellent (since He has the power to make) than Moses, who was only the proclaimer.

Then (Hebrews 3:5) he elevates Christ above Moses regarding their status. In this regard, he does two things: first, he states his reason; secondly, he explains it (Hebrews 3:6b).

His reasoning is this: It is obvious that the master is of more value in his own house than a servant in the master’s house. But Moses was faithful as a servant in the house of his master, while Christ is faithful as the master in His own house; therefore, Christ is superior. Here it should be noted how carefully the Apostle observes the words written of Moses, in which he is called a servant and is called faithful, not in his own house, but in the house of our Lord. And in regard to these two things he elevates Christ above Moses: first, he shows what is true of Moses; secondly, what is true of Christ (Hebrews 3:6).

He says, therefore, that Moses was faithful as a servant, that is, as a faithful steward: “Well done, good and faithful servant: because you have been faithful over a few things, I will place you over many things” (Matthew 25:21). Christ is a servant in a sense, namely, according to the flesh: “Taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). But Moses was God’s servant in proposing God’s words to the children of Israel. From this it is clear that because he was a faithful servant, the things he said were ordained for another, namely, for Christ: to testify to the things which were to be spoken later. “If you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46). Therefore, because he was a servant, he was not in his own house but in another’s; and because the things he said were a testimony to those things which were to be said of Christ, Moses was in these respects lower than Christ.

Then (Hebrews 3:6), But Christ was faithful over God’s house as a son, he shows what belongs to Christ: that Christ is not as a servant but as a Son in His Father’s house and, consequently, in His own, because He is the natural heir: “Whom he has appointed heir of all things, by Whom also he made the world” (Hebrews 1:2). For the Church is Christ’s house: “A wise woman builds her house” (Proverbs 14:1); “The Lord has said to me: You are my son, this day have I begotten you” (Psalms 2:7); “My beloved son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Therefore, He is not a servant but a Son, and in His own house, whereas Moses is a servant in another’s house: “The son abides forever” (John 8:55).

Then when he says, We are his house, he shows what that house is. That house is the faithful, who are the house of Christ because they believe in Christ: “In the house of God which is the Church” (1 Timothy 3:15) and also because Christ dwells in them: “That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:17). Therefore, this house is we, the faithful. But in order that we be the house of God, four things are required, which are necessary in a house and are not in a tent.

1. Our hope and faith must be firm and permanent. A tent, even though it is firm, can be quickly moved and signifies those who believe for a while but fall away in time of temptation. But they are the house who retain the word of God. Therefore, he says, if we hold fast our confidence. For it has been stated above that confidence is hope with firm expectation and without fear: “And such confidence we have through Christ towards God” (2 Corinthians 3:4).
2. It must be properly ordered. Therefore, he says, and pride in our hope, that is, ordered to the glory of God, so that scorning all else, we may take pride in the hope of glory: “Let him who glories, glory in knowing and having known me” (Jeremiah 9:14).
3. It must be persevering. Hence, he says, unto the end: “He that perseveres to the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 10:22).
4. It must be firm and not dislodged by any adversity. Hence, he says, hold fast: “Who 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).