For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater to swear by, he swore by himself, saying,
“Surely I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply you.”
And so, by persevering, he obtained the promise. For people swear by what is greater than themselves, and the oath for confirmation is the end of all dispute for them. In the same way God, because he wanted to show even more to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of his resolve, guaranteed it with an oath, in order that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge may have powerful encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us, which we have like an anchor of the soul, both firm and steadfast, and entering into the inside of the curtain, where Jesus, the forerunner for us, entered, because he became a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
