NOTES for Heb 12:12-17

Continuing the discussion of Christian life, the author of the letter draws his readers' special attention to the need for no "bitter root," as he puts it, to take hold among them. By "bitter root," taking traditional Jewish usage into account, what was usually meant was a "root of sin," that is, sin that had taken root in the human heart or in some human community. And the issue here is not only the desire, as people say, to keep the ranks pure. Nor is it even only that bad company, as even pagans knew, corrupts good morals.

The issue is that every sin that has become the norm and is perceived as the norm disrupts the normal existence of the Church as the body of Christ, whether the members of the Church notice it or not. In fact, even in pre-Christian times it was already known that sin defiles, and not only those who sin, but also those with whom the sinner is in communion. Of course, there was much that was archaic and magical in this view, especially if we are speaking about the mass religious consciousness of the pre-exilic era.

But there was also something else, something no longer so archaic, connected with the perception of the people of God as a single spiritual whole, as a kind of spiritual body. In that case it was obvious that the sin of a specific person belonging to the spiritual body turns out to be more than only his personal problem. His sin becomes a problem for the people-community to which he belongs. And all that has been said is even more true of the Church as the body of Christ, for here we are speaking of people called to the life of the Kingdom, with which no sin is compatible.

And if sin takes root in such a community and becomes the norm, then all who share in it actually cease to be part of the body of Christ. The Church then actually disappears, preserving only the appearance of its true self. Such a substitution is all the more dangerous because often, especially at first, it is barely noticeable, so that many may think everything in their church is in order. It is this danger of unnoticed spiritual corruption of the church body that the author of the letter reminds his readers about.