Page 499 - Demo

HEBREWS 
6With these arrangements for worship, the priests, in performing their service,* go into the outer tabernacle repeatedly,e 7but the high priest alone goes into the inner one once a year, not without blood* that he o ers for himself and for the sins of the people.f 8In this way the holy Spirit shows that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been revealed while the outer tabernacle still had its place. 9This is a symbol of the present time,* in which gifts and sacri ces are o ered that cannot perfect the worshiper in conscience 10but only in matters of food and drink and various ritual washings: regulations concerning the esh, imposed until the time of the new order.g
Sacri ce of Jesus. 11* But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be,* passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation,h 12he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.i 13For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes* can sanctify those who are de led so that their esh is cleansed,j 14how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit* o ered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.k
15* For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the rst covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.l 16* Now where there is a will, the death of the testator must be established. 17For a will takes e ect only at death; it has no force while the testator is alive. 18Thus not even the rst covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19* When every commandment had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took
Jesus on the Cross by Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
9:7
In Temple worship, the priests were the only ones to have access to the holy place, and among them, only the one appointed high priest for the year could enter the ‘holy of holies,” the inner part of the sanctuary. But when Jesus entered the sanctuary of heaven, o ering not the blood of an animal,
but his own blood,
he opened the way for all.
* [9:6] In performing their service: the priestly services that had
to be performed regularly in the Holy Place or outer tabernacle included burning incense on the incense altar twice each day (Ex * 30:7), replacing the loaves on the table of the bread of o ering once each week (Lv 24:8), and constantly caring for the lamps on the lampstand (Ex 27:21).
* [9:7] Not without blood: blood was essential to Old Testament sacri ce because it was believed that life was located in the blood. Hence blood was especially sacred, and its outpouring functioned as a meaningful symbol of cleansing from sin and reconciliation with God. Unlike Hebrews, the Old Testament never says that the blood is “o ered.” The author is perhaps retrojecting into his description of Mosaic ritual a concept that belongs to the New Testament antitype, as Paul does when he speaks of the Israelites’ passage through the sea as a “baptism” (1 Cor 10:2).
* [9:9] The present time: this expression is equivalent to the “present * age,” used in contradistinction to the “age to come.”
* [9:11–14] Christ, the high priest of the spiritual blessings fore- shadowed in the Old Testament sanctuary, has actually entered the true sanctuary of heaven that is not of human making (Heb 9:11). His place there is permanent, and his o ering is his own blood that won eternal redemption (Heb 9:12). If the sacri ce of animals could bestow legal puri cation (Heb 9:13), how much more e ective is * the blood of the sinless, divine Christ who spontaneously o ered himself to purge the human race of sin and render it t for the service of God (Heb 9:14).
* [9:11] The good things that have come to be: the majority of later manuscripts here read “the good things to come”; cf. Heb 10:1.
* [9:13] A heifer’s ashes: ashes from a red heifer that had been burned were mixed with water and used for the cleansing of those who had become ritually de led by touching a corpse; see Nm 19:9, 14–21.
* [9:14] Through the eternal spirit: this expression does not refer
either to the holy Spirit or to the divine nature of Jesus but to the life of the risen Christ, “a life that cannot be destroyed” (Heb 7:16). [9:15–22] Jesus’ role as mediator of the new covenant is based upon his sacri cial death (cf. Heb 8:6). His death has e ected deliverance from transgressions, i.e., deliverance from sins committed under the old covenant, which the Mosaic sacri ces were incapable of e acing. Until this happened, the eternal inheritance promised by God could not be obtained (Heb 9:15). This e ect of his work follows the human pattern by which a last will and testament becomes e ective only with the death of the testator (Heb 9:16–17). The Mosaic covenant was also associated with death, for Moses made use of blood to seal the pact between God and the people (Heb 9:18–21). In Old Testament tradition, guilt could normally not be remitted without the use of blood (Heb 9:22; cf. Lv 17:11).
[9:16–17] A will. . .death of the testator: the same Greek word diathēkē, meaning “covenant” in Heb 9:15, 18, is used here with the meaning will. The new covenant, unlike the old, is at the same time a will that requires the death of the testator. Jesus as eternal Son is the one who established the new covenant together with his Father, author of both covenants; at the same time he is the testator whose death puts his will into e ect.
[9:19–20] A number of details here are di erent from the descrip- tion of this covenant rite in Ex 24:5–8. Exodus mentions only calves (“young bulls,” NAB), not goats (but this addition in Hebrews is of doubtful authenticity), says nothing of the use of water and crimson wool and hyssop (these features probably came from a di erent rite; cf. Lv 14:3–7; Nm 19:6–18), and describes Moses as splashing blood on the altar, whereas Hebrews says he sprinkled it on the book (but both book and altar are meant to symbolize the agreement of God). The words of Moses are also slightly di erent from those in Exodus and are closer to the words of Jesus at the Last Supper in Mk 14:24 // Mt 26:28.
e. [9:6] Ex 27:21; 30:7; Lv 24:8.
f. [9:7] Ex 30:10; Lv 16:1–14.
g. [9:10] 13:9; Lv 11; 14:8; Nm 19:11–21; Col 2:16.
h. [9:11] 4:14; 10:1, 20.
i. [9:12] 7:27; Mt 26:28.
j. [9:13] 10:4; Lv 16:6–16; Nm 19:9, 14–21.
k. [9:14] 10:10; Rom 5:9; 1 Tm 3:9; Ti 2:14; 1 Pt 1:18–19; 1 Jn 1:7; Rev 1:5.
l. [9:15] 1 Tm 2:5.
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