@Heb 10:1-39. CONCLUSION OF THE FOREGOING ARGUMENT. THE YEARLY RECURRING LAW SACRIFICES CANNOT PERFECT THE WORSHIPPER, BUT CHRIST'S ONCE-FOR-ALL OFFERING CAN.
Instead of the daily ministry of the Levitical priests, Christ's service is perfected by the one sacrifice, whence He now sits on the right hand of God as a Priest-King, until all His foes shall be subdued unto Him. Thus the new covenant (@Heb 8:8-12) is inaugurated, whereby the law is written on the heart, so that an offering for sin is needed no more. Wherefore we ought to draw near the Holiest in firm faith and love; fearful of the awful results of apostasy; looking for the recompense to be given at Christ's coming.
1. Previously the oneness of Christ's offering was shown; now is
shown its perfection as contrasted with the law sacrifices.
having--inasmuch as it has but "the shadow, not the very image,"
that is, not the exact likeness, reality, and full revelation, such as
the Gospel has. The "image" here means the archetype (compare
@Heb 9:24), the original, solid image [BENGEL] realizing to us those
heavenly verities, of which the law furnished but a shadowy outline before.
Compare @2Co 3:13,14,18; the Gospel is the very setting
forth by the Word and Spirit of the heavenly realities themselves, out
of which it (the Gospel) is constructed. So ALFORD. As Christ is
"the express image (Greek, 'impress') of the Father's person"
(@Heb 1:3), so the Gospel is the heavenly verities themselves
manifested by revelation--the heavenly very archetype, of which
the law was drawn as a sketch, or outline copy (@Heb 8:5). The law
was a continual process of acted prophecy, proving the divine design
that its counterparts should come; and proving the truth of those
counterparts when they came. Thus the imperfect and continued expiatory
sacrifices before Christ foretend, and now prove, the reality of,
Christ's one perfect antitypical expiation.
good things to come--(@Heb 9:11); belonging to "the world (age) to
come." Good things in part made present by faith to the believer,
and to be fully realized hereafter in actual and perfect enjoyment.
Lessing says, "As Christ's Church on earth is a prediction of the
economy of the future life, so the Old Testament economy is a prediction
of the Christian Church." In relation to the temporal good things of the
law, the spiritual and eternal good things of the Gospel are "good
things to come." @Col 2:17 calls legal ordinances "the shadow," and
Christ "the body."
never--at any time (@Heb 10:11).
with those sacrifices--rather, "with the same sacrifices.
year by year--This clause in the Greek refers to the whole
sentence, not merely to the words "which they the priests offered"
(Greek, "offer"). Thus the sense is, not as English Version, but,
the law year by year, by the repetition of the same sacrifices, testifies
its inability to perfect the worshippers; namely, on the
YEARLY
day of atonement. The "daily" sacrifices are referred to,
@Heb 10:11.
continually--Greek, "continuously," implying that they offer a
toilsome and ineffectual "continuous" round of the "same"
atonement-sacrifices recurring "year by year."
comers thereunto--those so coming unto God, namely, the worshippers
(the whole people) coming to God in the person of their representative,
the high priest.
perfect--fully meet man's needs as to justification and sanctification
(see on Heb 9:9).
2. For--if the law could, by its sacrifices, have perfected the
worshippers.
they--the sacrifices.
once purged--IF
they were once for all cleansed (@Heb 7:27).
conscience--"consciousness of sin" (@Heb 9:9).
3. But--so far from those sacrifices ceasing to be offered (@Heb 10:2).
in, &c.--in the fact of their being offered, and in the course of
their being offered on the day of atonement. Contrast @Heb 10:17.
a remembrance--a recalling to mind by the high priest's confession,
on the day of atonement, of the sins both of each past year and of all
former years, proving that the expiatory sacrifices of former years were
not felt by men's consciences to have fully atoned for former sins; in
fact, the expiation and remission were only legal and typical
(@Heb 10:4,11). The Gospel remission, on the contrary, is so complete,
that sins are "remembered no more" (@Heb 10:17) by God. It is unbelief
to "forget" this once-for-all purgation, and to fear on account of
"former sins" (@2Pe 1:9). The believer, once for all bathed, needs
only to "wash" his hands and "feet" of soils, according as he daily
contracts them, in Christ's blood (@Joh 13:10).
4. For, &c.--reason why, necessarily, there is a continually recurring
"remembrance of sins" in the legal sacrifices (@Heb 10:3).
Typically, "the blood of bulls," &c., sacrificed, had power; but it
was only in virtue of the power of the one real antitypical sacrifice of
Christ; they had no power in themselves; they were not the
instrument of perfect vicarious atonement, but an exhibition of the need
of it, suggesting to the faithful Israelite the sure hope of coming
redemption, according to God's promise.
take away--"take off." The Greek, @Heb 10:11, is stronger,
explaining the weaker word here, "take away utterly." The blood of
beasts could not take away the sin of man. A
MAN must do that
(see on Heb 9:12-14).
5. Christ's voluntary self offering, in contrast to those inefficient
sacrifices, is shown to fulfill perfectly "the will of God" as to our
redemption, by completely atoning "for (our) sins."
Wherefore--seeing that a nobler than animal sacrifices was needed to
"take away sins."
when he cometh--Greek, "coming." The time referred to is the period
before His entrance into the world, when the inefficiency of animal
sacrifices for expiation had been proved [THOLUCK].
Or, the time is that
between Jesus' first dawning of reason as a child, and the beginning of
His public ministry, during which, being ripened in human resolution, He
was intently devoting Himself to the doing of His Father's will
[ALFORD]. But the time of "coming" is present; not "when He had
come," but "when coming into the world"; so, in order to accord with
ALFORD'S view, "the world" must mean His
PUBLIC ministry: when coming,
or about to come, into public. The Greek verbs are in the past:
"sacrifice . . . Thou didst not wish, but a body Thou didst prepare
for Me"; and, "Lo, I am come." Therefore, in order to harmonize
these times, the present coming, or about to come, with the past, "A
body Thou didst prepare for Me," we must either explain as ALFORD,
or else, if we take the period to be before His actual arrival in
the world (the earth) or incarnation, we must explain the
past tenses to refer to God's
purpose, which speaks of what He designed
from eternity as though it were already fulfilled. "A body Thou didst
prepare in Thy eternal counsel." This seems to me more likely than
explaining "coming into the world," "coming into public," or
entering on His public ministry. David, in the fortieth Psalm (here
quoted), reviews his past troubles and God's having delivered him from
them, and his consequent desire to render willing obedience to God as
more acceptable than sacrifices; but the Spirit puts into his mouth
language finding its partial application to David, and its full
realization only in the divine Son of David. "The more any son of man
approaches the incarnate Son of God in position, or office, or
individual spiritual experience, the more directly may his holy
breathings in the power of Christ's Spirit be taken as utterances of
Christ Himself. Of all men, the prophet-king of Israel resembled and
foreshadowed Him the most" [ALFORD].
a body hast thou prepared me--Greek, "Thou didst fit for Me
a body." "In Thy counsels Thou didst determine to make for Me a body, to
be given up to death as a sacrificial victim" [WAHL].
In the Hebrew,
@Ps 40:6, it is "mine ears hast thou opened," or "dug." Perhaps this
alludes to the custom of boring the ear of a slave who volunteers to remain
under his master when he might be free. Christ's assuming a
human body, in obedience to the Father's will, in order to die the
death of a slave (@Heb 2:14), was virtually the same act of
voluntary submission to service as that of a slave suffering his ear to
be bored by his master. His willing obedience to the Father's will is
what is dwelt on as giving especial virtue to His sacrifice
(@Heb 10:7,9,10). The preparing, or fitting of a body for
Him, is not with a view to His mere incarnation, but to His expiatory
sacrifice (@Heb 10:10), as the contrast to "sacrifice and
offering" requires; compare also @Ro 7:4 Eph 2:16 Col 1:22. More
probably "opened mine ears" means opened mine inward ear, so as to
be attentively obedient to what God wills me to do, namely, to assume
the body He has prepared for me for my sacrifice, so @Job 33:16,
Margin; @Job 36:10 (doubtless the boring of a slave's "ear" was
the symbol of such willing obedience); @Isa 50:5, The Lord God
hath opened mine ear," that is, made me obediently attentive as a
slave to his master. Others somewhat similarly explain, "Mine ears hast
thou digged," or "fashioned," not with allusion to @Ex 21:6, but
to the true office of the ear--a willing, submissive attention to the
voice of God (@Isa 50:4,5). The forming of the ear implies the
preparation of the body, that is, the incarnation; this secondary idea,
really in the Hebrew, though less prominent, is the one which Paul
uses for his argument. In either explanation the idea of Christ taking
on Him the form, and becoming obedient as a servant, is implied. As
He assumed a body in which to make His self-sacrifice, so ought we
present our bodies a living sacrifice (@Ro 12:1).
6. burnt offerings--Greek, "whole burnt offerings."
thou hast had no pleasure--as if these could in themselves atone for
sin: God had pleasure in (Greek, "approved," or "was well pleased
with") them, in so far as they were an act of obedience to His positive
command under the Old Testament, but not as having an intrinsic efficacy
such as Christ's sacrifice had. Contrast @Mt 3:17.
7. I come--rather, "I am come"
(see on Heb 10:5). "Here
we have the creed, as it were, of Jesus: 'I am come to fulfil the
law,' @Mt 5:17; to preach, @Mr 1:38; to call sinners to
repentance, @Lu 5:32; to send a sword and to set men at variance,
@Mt 10:34,35; I came down from heaven to do the will of Him that
sent me, @Joh 6:38,39 (so here, @Ps 40:7,8); I am sent to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel, @Mt 15:24; I am come into this
world for judgment, @Joh 9:39; I am come that they might have life,
and might have it more abundantly, @Joh 10:10; to save what had been
lost, @Mt 18:11; to seek and to save that which was lost,
@Lu 19:10; compare @1Ti 1:15; to save men's lives, @Lu 9:56;
to send fire on the earth, @Lu 12:49; to minister, @Mt 20:28; as
"the Light," @Joh 12:46; to bear witness unto the truth,
@Joh 18:37. See, reader, that thy Saviour obtain what He aimed at in
thy case. Moreover, do thou for thy part say, why thou art come here?
Dost thou, then, also, do the will of God? From what time? and in what
way?" [BENGEL]. When the two goats on the day of atonement were
presented before the Lord, that goat on which the lot of the Lord should
fall was to be offered as a sin offering; and that lot was lifted up on
high in the hand of the high priest, and then laid upon the head of the
goat which was to die; so the hand of God determined all that
was done to Christ. Besides the covenant of God with man through
Christ's blood, there was another covenant made by the Father with the
Son from eternity. The condition was, "If He shall make His soul an
offering for sin, He shall see His seed," &c. (@Isa 53:10). The Son
accepted the condition, "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God"
[BISHOP
PEARSON]. Oblation, intercession, and benediction, are His three
priestly offices.
in the volume, &c.--literally, "the roll": the parchment manuscript
being wrapped around a cylinder headed with knobs. Here, the Scripture
"volume" meant is the fortieth Psalm. "By this very passage 'written of
Me,' I undertake to do Thy will [namely, that I should die for the sins
of the world, in order that all who believe may be saved, not by animal
sacrifices, @Heb 10:6, but by My death]." This is the written contract
of Messiah (compare @Ne 9:38), whereby He engaged to be our surety.
So complete is the inspiration of all that is written, so great the
authority of the Psalms, that what David says is really what Christ then
and there said.
8. he--Christ.
Sacrifice, &c.--The oldest manuscripts read, "Sacrifices and
offerings" (plural). This verse combines the two clauses previously
quoted distinctly, @Heb 10:5,6, in contrast to the sacrifice of
Christ with which God was well pleased.
9. Then said he--"At that time (namely, when speaking by David's
mouth in the fortieth Psalm) He hath said." The rejection of the legal
sacrifices involves, as its concomitant, the voluntary offer of Jesus to
make the self-sacrifice with which God is well pleased (for, indeed, it
was God's own "will" that He came to do in offering it: so that
this sacrifice could not but be well pleasing to God).
I come--"I am come."
taketh away--"sets aside the first," namely, "the legal system of
sacrifices" which God wills not.
the second--"the will of God" (@Heb 10:7,9) that Christ should
redeem us by His self-sacrifice.
10. By--Greek, "In." So "in," and "through," occur in the same
sentence, @1Pe 1:22, "Ye have purified your souls in obeying the
truth through the Spirit." Also, @1Pe 1:5, in the Greek. The
"in (fulfilment of) which will"
(compare the use of in,
@Eph 1:6, "wherein [in which grace] He hath made us accepted, in
the Beloved"), expresses the originating cause;
"THROUGH the
offering . . . of Christ," the instrumental or mediatory cause.
The whole work of redemption flows from "the will" of God the Father,
as the First Cause, who decreed redemption from before the foundation
of the world. The "will" here (boulema) is His
absolute sovereign will. His "good will" (eudokia) is a particular
aspect of it.
are sanctified--once for all, and as our permanent state (so the
Greek). It is the finished work of Christ in having sanctified us
(that is, having translated us from a state of unholy alienation into a
state of consecration to God, having "no more conscience of sin,"
@Heb 10:2) once for all and permanently, not the process of gradual
sanctification, which is here referred to.
the body--"prepared" for Him by the Father (@Heb 10:5). As the
atonement, or reconciliation, is by the blood of Christ (@Le 17:11),
so our sanctification (consecration to God, holiness and eternal bliss)
is by the body of Christ (@Col 1:22).
ALFORD quotes the
Book of Common Prayer Communion Service, "that our sinful bodies may
be made clean by His body, and our souls washed through His most
precious blood."
once for all--(@Heb 7:27 9:12,26,28 10:12,14).
11. And--a new point of contrast; the frequent repetition of the
sacrifices.
priest--The oldest manuscripts read, "high priest." Though he did
not in person stand "daily" offering sacrifices, he did so by the
subordinate priests of whom, as well as of all Israel, he was the
representative head. So "daily" is applied to the high priests
(@Heb 7:27).
standeth--the attitude of one ministering; in contrast to
"sat down on the right hand of God," @Heb 10:12, said of Christ;
the posture of one being ministered to as a king.
which--Greek, "the which," that is, of such a kind as.
take away--utterly; literally, "strip off all round." Legal sacrifices
might, in part, produce the sense of forgiveness, yet scarcely even
that (see on Heb 10:4); but entirely to strip off one's
guilt they never could.
12. this man--emphatic (@Heb 3:3).
for ever--joined in English Version with "offered one sacrifice";
offered one sacrifice, the efficacy of which endures for ever;
literally. "continuously," (compare @Heb 10:14). "The offering of
Christ, once for all made, will continue the one and only oblation for
ever; no other will supersede it" [BENGEL].
The mass, which professes
to be the frequent repetition of one and the same sacrifice of Christ's
body, is hence disproved. For not only is Christ's body one, but also
His offering is one, and that inseparable from His suffering
(@Heb 9:26). The mass would be much the same as the Jewish sacrifices
which Paul sets aside as abrogated, for they were anticipations of the
one sacrifice, just as Rome makes masses continuations of it, in
opposition to Paul's argument. A repetition would imply that the former
once-for-all offering of the one sacrifice was imperfect, and so would
be dishonoring to it (@Heb 10:2,18). @Heb 10:14, on the contrary,
says, "He hath PERFECTED FOR EVER
them that are sanctified." If Christ
offered Himself at the last supper, then He offered Himself again on the
cross, and there would be two offerings; but Paul says there was
only one, once for all. Compare Note,
see on Heb 9:26.
English Version is favored by the usage in this Epistle, of putting
the Greek "for ever" after that which it qualifies. Also, "one
sacrifice for ever," stands in contrast to "the same sacrifices
oftentimes" (@Heb 10:11). Also, @1Co 15:25,28, agrees with
@Heb 10:12,13, taken as English Version, not joining, as
ALFORD
does, "for ever" with "sat down," for Jesus is to give up the
mediatorial throne "when all things shall be subdued unto Him," and not
to sit on it for ever.
13. expecting--"waiting." Awaiting the execution of His Father's
will, that all His foes should be subjected to Him. The Son waits till
the Father shall "send Him forth to triumph over all His foes." He
is now sitting at rest (@Heb 10:12), invisibly reigning, and
having His foes virtually, by right of His death, subject to Him. His
present sitting on the unseen throne is a necessary preliminary to
His coming forth to subject His foes openly. He shall then come forth to
a visibly manifested kingdom and conquest over His foes. Thus He fulfils
@Ps 110:1. This agrees with @1Co 15:23-28. He is, by His Spirit
and His providence, now subjecting His foes to Him in part
(@Ps 110:1-7). The subjection of His foes fully shall be at His
second advent, and from that time to the general judgment
(@Re 19:1-20:15); then comes the subjection of Himself as Head of the
Church to the Father (the mediatorial economy ceasing when its end shall
have been accomplished), that God may be all in all. Eastern conquerors
used to tread on the necks of the vanquished, as Joshua did to the five
kings. So Christ's total and absolute conquest at His coming is
symbolized.
be made his footstool--literally, "be placed (rendered) footstool of
His feet."
his enemies--Satan and Death, whose strength consists in "sin"; this
being taken away (@Heb 10:12), the power of the foes is taken away,
and their destruction necessarily follows.
14. For--The sacrifice being "for ever" in its efficacy
(@Heb 10:12) needs no renewal.
them that are sanctified--rather as Greek, "them that
are being sanctified." The sanctification (consecration to God) of
the elect (@1Pe 1:2) believers is perfect in Christ once for all
(see on Heb 10:10).
(Contrast the law, @Heb 7:19 9:9 10:1).
The development of that sanctification is progressive.
15. The Greek, has "moreover," or "now."
is a witness--of the truth which I am setting forth. The Father's
witness is given @Heb 5:10. The Son's, @Heb 10:5. Now is added
that of the Holy Spirit, called accordingly "the Spirit of grace,"
@Heb 10:29. The testimony of all Three leads to the same conclusion
(@Heb 10:18).
for after that he had said before--The conclusion to the sentence is
in @Heb 10:17, "After He had said before, This is the covenant
that I will make with them (with the house of Israel, @Heb 8:10;
here extended to the spiritual Israel) . . . saith the Lord; I will put
(literally, 'giving,' referring to the giving of the law; not now as
then, giving into the hands, but giving) My laws into their
hearts ('mind,' @Heb 8:10) and in their minds ('hearts,'
@Heb 8:10); I will inscribe (so the Greek) them
(here He omits the addition quoted in @Heb 8:10,11,
I will be to them a God . . .
and they shall not teach every man his neighbor . . .), and
(that is, after He had said the foregoing,
HE THEN ADDS)
their sins . . . will I remember no more." The great
object of the quotation here is to prove that, there being
in the Gospel covenant,
"REMISSION of sins" (@Heb 10:17), there
is no more need of a sacrifice for sins. The object of the same
quotation in @Heb 8:8-13 is to show that, there being a
"NEW covenant," the old is antiquated.
18. where remission of these is--as there is under the Gospel covenant (@Heb 10:17). "Here ends the finale (@Heb 10:1-18) of the great tripartite arrangement (@Heb 7:1-25 7:26-9:12 9:13-10:18) of the middle portion of the Epistle. Its great theme was Christ a High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. What it is to be a high priest after the order of Melchisedec is set forth, @Heb 7:1-25, as contrasted with the Aaronic order. That Christ, however, as High Priest, is Aaron's antitype in the true holy place, by virtue of His self-sacrifice here on earth, and Mediator of a better covenant, whose essential character the old only typified, we learn, @Heb 7:26-9:12. And that Christ's self-sacrifice, offered through the Eternal Spirit, is of everlasting power, as contrasted with the unavailing cycle of legal offerings, is established in the third part, @Heb 9:13-10:18; the first half of this last portion [@Heb 9:13-28], showing that both our present possession of salvation, and our future completion of it, are as certain to us as that He is with God, ruling as a Priest and reigning as a King, once more to appear, no more as a bearer of our sins, but in glory as a Judge. The second half, @Heb 10:1-18, reiterating the main position of the whole, the High Priesthood of Christ, grounded on His offering of Himself--its kingly character its eternal accomplishment of its end, confirmed by Psalms 40 and 110 and Jeremiah 31" [DELITZSCH in ALFORD].
19. Here begins the third and last division of the Epistle;
our duty now while waiting for the Lord's second advent. Resumption
and expansion of the exhortation (@Heb 4:14-16; compare
@Heb 10:22,23 here) wherewith he closed the first part of the
Epistle, preparatory to his great doctrinal argument, beginning at
@Heb 7:1.
boldness--"free confidence," grounded on the consciousness that our
sins have been forgiven.
to enter--literally, "as regards the entering."
by--Greek, "in"; it is in the blood of Jesus that our boldness
to enter is grounded. Compare @Eph 3:12, "In whom we have boldness
and access with confidence." It is His having once for all entered as
our Forerunner (@Heb 6:20) and High Priest (@Heb 10:21), making
atonement for us with His blood, which is continually there
(@Heb 12:24) before God, that gives us confident access. No priestly
caste now mediates between the sinner and his Judge. We may come
boldly with loving confidence, not with slavish fear, directly
through Christ, the only mediating Priest. The minister is not
officially nearer God than the layman; nor can the latter serve God at a
distance or by deputy, as the natural man would like. Each must come for
himself, and all are accepted when they come by the new and living way
opened by Christ. Thus all Christians are, in respect to access directly
to God, virtually high priests (@Re 1:6). They draw nigh in and
through Christ, the only proper High Priest (@Heb 7:25).
20. which, &c.--The antecedent in the Greek is "the entering";
not as English Version, "way." Translate, "which (entering) He has
consecrated (not as though it were already existing, but
has been the first to open, INAUGURATED
as a new thing;
see on Heb 9:18,
where the Greek is the same) for us
(as) a new
(Greek, 'recent'; recently opened, @Ro 16:25,26) and living
way" (not like the lifeless way through the law offering of the blood of
dead victims, but real, vital, and of perpetual efficacy,
because the living and life-giving Saviour is that way. It
is a living hope that we have, producing not dead, but
living, works). Christ, the first-fruits of our nature, has
ascended, and the rest is sanctified thereby. "Christ's ascension is
our promotion; and whither the glory of the Head hath preceded, thither
the hope of the body, too, is called" [LEO].
the veil--As the veil had to be passed through in order to
enter the holiest place, so the weak, human suffering flesh
(@Heb 5:7) of Christ's humanity (which veiled His God head) had to
be passed through by Him in entering the heavenly holiest place for us;
in putting off His rent flesh, the temple veil, its type, was
simultaneously rent from top to bottom (@Mt 27:51). Not His
body, but His weak suffering flesh, was the veil; His body was
the temple (@Joh 2:19).
21. high priest--As a different Greek term (archiereus) is
used always elsewhere in this Epistle for "high priest," translate as
Greek here, "A Great Priest"; one who is at once King and
"Priest on His throne" (@Zec 6:13); a royal Priest, and a priestly
King.
house of God--the spiritual house, the Church, made up of
believers, whose home is heaven, where Jesus now is
(@Heb 12:22,23). Thus, by "the house of God," over which Jesus is,
heaven is included in meaning, as well as the Church, whose home
it is.
22. (@Heb 4:16 7:19.)
with a true heart--without hypocrisy; "in truth, and with a perfect
heart"; a heart thoroughly imbued with "the truth" (@Heb 10:26).
full assurance--(@Heb 6:11); with no doubt as to our acceptance
when coming to God by the blood of Christ. As "faith" occurs here, so
"hope," and "love," @Heb 10:23,24.
sprinkled from--that is, sprinkled so as to be cleansed from.
evil conscience--a consciousness of guilt unatoned for, and uncleansed
away (@Heb 10:2 Heb 9:9). Both the hearts and the bodies are
cleansed. The legal purifications were with blood of animal victims and
with water, and could only cleanse the flesh (@Heb 9:13,21).
Christ's blood purifies the heart and conscience. The Aaronic
priest, in entering the holy place, washed with water (@Heb 9:19)
in the brazen laver. Believers, as priests to God, are once for all
washed in BODY (as distinguished from "hearts") at baptism. As we have
an immaterial, and a material nature, the cleansing of both is expressed
by "hearts" and "body," the inner and the outer man; so the whole man,
material and immaterial. The baptism of the body, however, is not the
mere putting away of material filth, nor an act operating by intrinsic
efficacy, but the sacramental seal, applied to the outer man, of a
spiritual washing (@1Pe 3:21). "Body"
(not merely "flesh," the carnal part, as @2Co 7:1)
includes the whole material man,
which needs cleansing, as being redeemed, as well as the soul. The body,
once polluted with sin, is washed, so as to be fitted like Christ's holy
body, and by His body, to be spiritually a pure and living offering. On
the "pure water," the symbol of consecration and sanctification, compare
@Joh 19:34 1Co 6:11 1Jo 5:6 Eze 36:25. The perfects "having . . .
hearts sprinkled . . . body (the Greek is singular) washed,"
imply a continuing state produced by a once-for-all accomplished act,
namely, our justification by faith through Christ's blood, and
consecration to God, sealed sacramentally by the baptism of our body.
23. (@Heb 3:6,14 4:14.)
profession--Greek, "confession."
our faith--rather as Greek, "our hope"; which is indeed
faith exercised as to the future inheritance. Hope rests on faith, and at
the same time quickens faith, and is the ground of our bold
confession (@1Pe 3:15). Hope is similarly (@Heb 10:22)
connected with purification (@1Jo 3:3).
without wavering--without declension (@Heb 3:14), "steadfast unto
the end."
he--God is faithful to His promises
(@Heb 6:17,18 11:11 12:26,28 1Co 1:9 10:13 1Th 5:24 2Th 3:3; see also
Christ's promise, @Joh 12:26); but man is too often unfaithful to
his duties.
24. Here, as elsewhere, hope and love follow faith; the
Pauline triad of Christian graces.
consider--with the mind attentively fixed on "one another"
(see on Heb 3:1), contemplating with continual consideration
the characters and wants of our brethren, so as to render mutual help
and counsel. Compare "consider," @Ps 41:1, and @Heb 12:15,
"(All) looking diligently lest any fail of the grace of God."
to provoke--Greek, "with a view to provoking unto love,"
instead of provoking to hatred, as is too often the case.
25. assembling of ourselves together--The Greek, "episunagoge,"
is only found here and @2Th 2:1 (the gathering together of the elect
to Christ at His coming, @Mt 24:31). The assembling or gathering of
ourselves for Christian communion in private and public, is an earnest
of our being gathered together to Him at His appearing. Union is
strength; continual assemblings together beget and foster love, and
give good opportunities for "provoking to good works," by "exhorting one
another" (@Heb 3:13). IGNATIUS
says, "When ye frequently, and in
numbers meet together, the powers of Satan are overthrown, and his
mischief is neutralized by your likemindedness in the faith." To neglect
such assemblings together might end in apostasy at last. He avoids the
Greek term "sunagoge," as suggesting the Jewish synagogue meetings (compare @Re 2:9).
as the manner of some is--"manner," that is, habit, custom. This
gentle expression proves he is not here as yet speaking of apostasy.
the day approaching--This, the shortest designation of the day of the
Lord's coming, occurs elsewhere only in @1Co 3:13; a confirmation of
the Pauline authorship of this Epistle. The Church being in all ages
kept uncertain how soon Christ is coming, the day is, and has been,
in each age, practically always near; whence, believers have been
called on always to be watching for it as nigh at hand. The Hebrews
were now living close upon One of those great types and foretastes of
it, the destruction of Jerusalem (@Mt 24:1,2), "the bloody and
fiery dawn of the great day; that day is the day of days, the ending
day of all days, the settling day of all days, the day of the promotion
of time into eternity, the day which, for the Church, breaks through
and breaks off the night of the present world" [DELITZSCH in
ALFORD].
26. Compare on this and following verses, @Heb 6:4, &c. There
the warning was that if there be not diligence in progressing, a falling
off will take place, and apostasy may ensue: here it is, that if there
be lukewarmness in Christian communion, apostasy may ensue. if
we sin--Greek present participle: if we be found sinning,
that is, not isolated acts, but a state of sin
[ALFORD]. A violation
not only of the law, but of the whole economy of the New Testament
(@Heb 10:28,29).
wilfully--presumptuously, Greek "willingly." After receiving
"full knowledge (so the Greek, compare @1Ti 2:4) of the truth,"
by having been "enlightened," and by having "tasted" a certain measure
even of grace of "the Holy Ghost" (the Spirit of truth, @Joh 14:17;
and "the Spirit of grace," @Heb 10:29): to fall away
(as "sin" here means, @Heb 3:12,17; compare @Heb 6:6)
and apostatize
(@Heb 3:12) to Judaism or infidelity, is not a sin of
ignorance, or error ("out of the way," the result) of infirmity, but a
deliberate sinning against the Spirit (@Heb 10:29 Heb 5:2):
such sinning, where a consciousness of Gospel obligations not only
was, but is present: a sinning presumptuously and preseveringly against
Christ's redemption for us, and the Spirit of grace in us. "He
only who stands high can fall low. A lively reference in the soul to
what is good is necessary in order to be thoroughly wicked; hence, man
can be more reprobate than the beasts, and the apostate angels than
apostate man" [THOLUCK].
remaineth no more sacrifice--For there is but
ONE Sacrifice that can
atone for sin; they, after having fully known that sacrifice,
deliberately reject it.
27. a certain--an extraordinary and indescribable. The indefiniteness,
as of something peculiar of its kind, makes the description the more
terrible (compare Greek, @Jas 1:18).
looking for--"expectation": a later sense of the Greek.
ALFORD
strangely translates, as the Greek usually means elsewhere,
"reception." The transition is easy from "giving a reception to"
something or someone, to "looking for." Contrast the "expecting" (the
very same Greek as here), @Heb 10:13, which refutes
ALFORD.
fiery indignation--literally, "zeal of fire." Fire is personified:
glow or ardor of fire, that is, of Him who is "a consuming fire."
devour--continually.
28. Compare @Heb 2:2,3 12:25.
despised--"set at naught" [ALFORD]:
utterly and heinously violated,
not merely some minor detail, but the whole law and covenant; for
example, by idolatry (@De 17:2-7). So here apostasy answers to
such an utter violation of the old covenant.
died--Greek, "dies": the normal punishment of such transgression,
then still in force.
without mercy--literally, "mercies": removal out of the pale of
mitigation, or a respite of his doom.
under--on the evidence of.
29. sorer--Greek, "worse," namely, "punishment" (literally,
"vengeance") than any mere temporal punishment of the body.
suppose ye--an appeal to the Hebrews' reason and conscience.
thought worthy--by God at the judgment.
trodden under foot the Son of God--by "wilful" apostasy. So he
treads under foot God Himself who "glorified His Son as an high
priest" (@Heb 5:5 6:6).
an unholy thing--literally, "common," as opposed to "sanctified." No
better than the blood of a common man, thus involving the consequence
that Christ, in claiming to be God, was guilty of blasphemy. and so
deserved to die!
wherewith he was sanctified--for Christ died even for him.
"Sanctified," in the fullest sense, belongs only to the saved elect. But
in some sense it belongs also to those who have gone a far way in
Christian experience, and yet fall away at last. The higher such a one's
past Christian experiences, the deeper his fall.
done despite unto--by repelling in fact: as "blasphemy" is despite
in words (@Mr 3:29). "Of the Jews who became Christians and
relapsed to Judaism, we find from the history of Uriel Acosta, that they
required a blasphemy against Christ. 'They applied to Him epithets used
against Molech the adulterous branch,' &c." [THOLUCK].
the Spirit of grace--the Spirit that confers grace. "He who does not
accept the benefit, insults Him who confers it. He hath made thee a son:
wilt thou become a slave? He has come to take up His abode with thee;
but thou art introducing evil into thyself" [CHRYSOSTOM]. "It is the
curse of evil eternally to propagate evil: so, for him who profanes the
Christ without him, and blasphemes the Christ within him, there
is subjectively no renewal of a change of mind (@Heb 6:6), and
objectively no new sacrifice for sins" (@Heb 10:26)
[THOLUCK].
30. him--God, who enters no empty threats.
Vengeance belongeth unto me--Greek, "To Me belongeth vengeance":
exactly according with Paul's quotation, @Ro 12:19, of the same
text.
Lord shall judge his people--in grace, or else anger, according as
each deserves: here, "judge," so as to punish the reprobate apostate;
there, "judge," so as to interpose in behalf of, and save His people
(@De 32:36).
31. fearful . . . to fall into the hands--It is good like David
to fall into the hands of God, rather than man, when one does so
with filial faith in his father's love, though God chastises
him. "It is fearful" to fall into His hands as a reprobate and
presumptuous sinner doomed to His just vengeance as Judge
(@Heb 10:27).
living God--therefore able to punish for ever (@Mt 10:28).
32. As previously he has warned them by the awful end of apostates,
so here he stirs them up by the remembrance of their own former faith,
patience, and self-sacrificing love. So @Re 2:3,4.
call to remembrance--habitually: so the present tense means.
illuminated--"enlightened": come to "the knowledge of the truth"
(@Heb 10:26) in connection with baptism
(see on Heb 6:4). In spiritual baptism, Christ, who is "the
Light," is put on. "On the one hand, we are not to sever the sign and
the grace signified where the sacrifice truly answers its designs; on
the other, the glass is not to be mistaken for the liquor, nor the
sheath for the sword" [BENGEL].
fight of--that is, consisting of afflictions.
33. The persecutions here referred to seem to have been endured by
the Hebrew Christians at their first conversion, not only in Palestine,
but also in Rome and elsewhere, the Jews in every city inciting the
populace and the Roman authorities against Christians.
gazing-stock--as in a theater (so the Greek): often used as
the place of punishment in the presence of the assembled multitudes.
@Ac 19:29 1Co 4:9, "Made a theatrical spectacle to the world."
ye became--of your own accord: attesting your Christian sympathy
with your suffering brethren.
companions of--sharers in affliction with.
34. ye had compassion on me in my bonds--The oldest manuscripts and
versions omit "me," and read, "Ye both sympathized with those in bonds
(answering to the last clause of @Heb 10:33; compare
@Heb 13:3,23 6:10), and accepted
(so the Greek is translated in @Heb 11:35)
with joy (@Jas 1:2; joy in tribulations, as
exercising faith and other graces, @Ro 5:3; and the pledge of the
coming glory, @Mt 5:12) the plundering of your (own) goods
(answering to the first clause of @Heb 10:33)."
in yourselves--The oldest manuscripts omit "in": translate, "knowing
that ye have for (or 'to') yourselves."
better--a heavenly (@Heb 11:16).
enduring--not liable to spoiling.
substance--possession: peculiarly our own, if we will not cast away
our birthright.
35-37. Consequent exhortation to confidence and endurance, as Christ
is soon coming.
Cast not away--implying that they now have "confidence," and that it
will not withdraw of itself, unless they "cast it away" wilfully
(compare @Heb 3:14).
which--Greek, "the which": inasmuch as being such as.
hath--present tense: it is as certain as if you had it in your hand
(@Heb 10:37). It hath in reversion.
recompense of reward--of grace not of debt: a reward of a kind which
no mercenary self-seeker would seek: holiness will be its own reward;
self-devoting unselfishness for Christ's sake will be its own rich
recompense
(see on Heb 2:2;
Heb 11:26).
36. patience--Greek, "waiting endurance," or "enduring
perseverance": the kindred Greek verb in the Septuagint,
@Hab 2:3, is translated, "wait for it"
(compare @Jas 5:7).
after ye have done the will of God--"that whereas ye have done the
will of God" hitherto (@Heb 10:32-35), ye may now show also
patient, persevering endurance, and so "receive the promise," that
is, the promised reward: eternal life and bliss commensurate with our
work of faith and love (@Heb 6:10-12). We must not only do, but
also suffer (@1Pe 4:19). God first uses the active talents
of His servants; then polishes the other side of the stone, making the
passive graces shine, patience, meekness, &c. It may be also
translated, "That ye may do the will of God, and receive," &c.
[ALFORD]: "patience" itself is a further and a persevering doing of
"God's will"; otherwise it would be profitless and no real grace
(@Mt 7:21). We should look, not merely for individual bliss now and
at death, but for the great and general consummation of bliss of all
saints, both in body and soul.
37, 38. Encouragement to patient endurance by consideration of the
shortness of the time till Christ shall come, and God's rejection of him
that draws back, taken from @Hab 2:3,4.
a little while--(@Joh 16:16).
he that shall come--literally, "the Comer." In Habakkuk, it is
the vision that is said to be about to come. Christ, being the
grand and ultimate subject of all prophetical vision, is here made by
Paul, under inspiration, the subject of the Spirit's prophecy by
Habakkuk, in its final and exhaustive fulfilment.
38. just--The oldest manuscripts and Vulgate read, "my just
man." God is the speaker: "He who is just in My sight."
BENGEL
translates, "The just shall live by my faith": answering to the
Hebrew, @Hab 2:4; literally, "the just shall live by the faith
of Him," namely, Christ, the final subject of "the vision," who
"will not lie," that is, disappoint. Here not merely the first
beginning, as in @Ga 3:11, but the continuance, of the spiritual
life of the justified man is referred to, as opposed to declension and
apostasy. As the justified man receives his first spiritual life by
faith, so it is by faith that he shall continue to live (@Lu 4:4). The faith meant here
is that fully developed living
trust in the unseen (@Heb 11:1) Saviour, which can keep men
steadfast amidst persecutions and temptations (@Heb 10:34-36).
but--Greek, "and."
if any man draw back--So the Greek admits: though it might
also be translated, as ALFORD
approves, "if he (the just man) draw
back." Even so, it would not disprove the final perseverance of saints.
For "the just man" in this latter clause would mean one seemingly, and
in part really, though not savingly, "just" or justified: as in
@Eze 18:24,26. In the Hebrew, this latter half of the verse
stands first, and is, "Behold, his soul which is lifted up, is not
upright in him." Habakkuk states the cause of drawing back:
a soul lifted up, and in self-inflated unbelief setting itself up
against God. Paul, by the Spirit, states the effect, it
draws back. Also, what in Habakkuk is, "His soul is not upright in
him," is in Paul, "My soul shall have no pleasure in him." Habakkuk
states the cause, Paul the effect: He who is not right in his own
soul, does not stand right with God; God has no pleasure in him.
BENGEL
translates Habakkuk, "His soul is not upright in respect to him,"
namely, Christ, the subject of "the vision," that is,
Christ has no pleasure in him (compare @Heb 12:25). Every flower
in spring is not a fruit in autumn.
39. A Pauline elegant turning-off from denunciatory warnings to
charitable hopes of his readers (@Ro 8:12).
saving of the soul--literally, "acquisition (or obtaining) of
the soul." The kindred Greek verb is applied to Christ's
acquiring the Church as the purchase of His blood (@Ac 20:28).
If we acquire or obtain our soul's salvation, it is through Him
who has obtained it for us by His bloodshedding. "The unbelieving man
loses his soul: for not being God's, neither is he his own [compare
@Mt 16:26 with @Lu 9:25]: faith saves the soul by linking it to
God" [DELITZSCH in
ALFORD].