The Latin Fathers develop the thought: Deus omnipotens ignis appellatur non ut materiam quam fecit consumat, sed quam exterius homo attrahit, rubiginem scilicet peccatorum; non enim illud consumit quod ipse fecit sed quod malitia hominum intulit (Primas.).
Ignis quatuor sunt officia, id est quoniam purgat et urit et illuminat et calefacit, sicque Spiritus sanctus purgat sordes vitiorum, et urit renes et cor ab humore libidinum, illuminat mentem notitia veritatis, et calefacit incendio caritatis (Herv.).
Additional Note on Hebrews 12:2. The Christology of the Epistle.
The view of the Person and Work of Christ which is given in the Epistle to the Hebrews is in many respects more comprehensive and far-reaching than that which is given in any other Book of the New Testament. The writer does not indeed, like St John, trace back the conception of the Personality of the Lord to immanent relations in the Being of a Living God. He does not, like St Paul, distinctly represent each believer as finding his life in Him and so disclose the divine foundation of the solidarity of the human race. But both thoughts are implicitly included in his characteristic teaching on the High- priestly office of Christ through which humanity reaches the end of creation.
In the following note I wish to offer for connected study the passages of the Epistle in which the author deals with The Divine Being of the Son (i), and with The work of the Incarnate Christ (ii); but before doing this it is necessary to observe that he recognises one unchanged Personality throughout in Him through Whom finite things were called into existence and under Whom they find their final peace.
This fundamental truth finds complete expression in the opening paragraph (comp. pp. 17, 18). From first to last, through time to that eternity beyond time which we have no powers to realise, One Person fulfils the will of God:
oJ qeo;" ejlavlhsen hJmi'n ejn uiJw'/
o}n e[qhken klhronovmon pavntwn
ejpoivhsen tou;" aijw'na" .
And when we contemplate Him in His Nature and His Work there is the same unbroken continuity through changes which to our eyes interrupt or limit His activity:
o}" w]n
ajpauvgasma th'" dovxh" kai; carakth;r th'" uJpostavsew" aujtou'
aujtou'
dij ou| kai;
fevrwn te ta; pavnta tw'/ rJhvmati th'" dunavmew"