Hebrews 9

— while as the first tabernacle was yet standing;] While the first covenant or the law was yet in force, and so the Divine service properly appertaining thereto was to be performed. Dr. Wells.

— in the end of the world] The most exact rendering is, ‘at the conclusion of the ages: meaning the last of the dispensations which God ever intended to give mankind. Dr. Doddridge.

— of good things to come.] That is, say most interpreters, of the blessings of the Gospel religion: some understand it of heaven, the true holy of holies. Pyle. See the notes on chap. viii. 2.

— make the comers thereunto perfect.] Give men full pardon of sin, and purify their consciences. Dr. Hammond.

2. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? That is, any more than once! The reading of this passage by way of interrogation makes it very pertinent to the Apostle’s discourse; for such an interrogation amounts to an assertion, that, if the law did by its sacrifices make the comers thereunto perfect for ever, then the said sacrifices “would have ceased to be offered” any more than once. Dr. Wells. This latter reading is easy and natural, and is supported by some copies and versions. Dr. Doddridge.

— should have had no more conscience of sins.] Should have found no more trouble in their conscience for that sin, for which they had made former atonement. Bps. Hall and Fell.

Hebrews 9:9

9. — that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;] Such as, in and of themselves, had no power or virtue to acquit and justify him that did that service, and to appease and clear the conscience in spiritual matters. Bp. Hall.

Hebrews 9:10

10. Which stood only &c.] Which said law consisted for the most part in the differences of meats and drinks, &c. Bp. Hall.

— until the time of reformation.] That is, as the next verse expounds it, till the coming of the Messiah, when the Jews themselves expected a reformation of the law. Dr. Whitby.

Hebrews 9:11

11. — an high priest of good things to come.] Of those good things which were then future, and which the church through preceding ages expected as “to come.” Dr. Doddridge. Or, a High Priest, by whose sacrifice and intercession, not temporal, but heavenly and eternal blessings are obtained. Dean Stanhope. To obtain for us all those blessings, of purging the conscience, which could not be had by the law, and of bestowing on us our great reward, which is not to be had in this life; and so which were future in respect of the law, and of this life. Dr. Hammond.

— by a greater and more perfect tabernacle.] Namely, of the heavens. Bp. Fell. See the note on chap. viii. 2. By executing His mediatorial office as our High Priest in heaven. Dr. Wells.

Hebrews 9:12

12. — by his own blood he entered in once &c.] Not only do the sacred writers ascribe to Christ the title and qualifications requisite for the priesthood, but also the peculiar functions of the office: declaring, that in the heavenly sanctuary He made an offering to God, even an offering of Himself, or of “His own blood,” see also ver. 14; that He “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” ver. 26; that He “by Himself purged our sins,” chap. i. 3; that He “sanctified the people with His own blood,” chap. xiii. 12; that He “appears for us in the presence of God,” chap. ix. 24; that He “is at the right hand of God, making intercession for us,” Rom. viii. 34: all of them acts purely sacerdotal, and which cannot be ascribed to Christ in any but the sacerdotal character. Veyne.

Hebrews 9:13

13. — sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh.] Removed all legal pollutions, and restored the unclean, when sprinkled with them, to the service of the tabernacle, Numb. xix. Dean Stanhope.

not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Hebrews 9:14

14. — through the eternal Spirit] This may be understood either of our Lord’s eternal divinity, by which His most precious blood becomes of such infinite virtue and efficacy: or, of the Person of the Holy Ghost, in relation to our Lord’s humanity, and whom He received from His Father; called also the power and the glory of the Father, Rom. vi. 4; 2 Cor. xiii. 4; Luke i. 35: which Holy Spirit overshadowed the blessed Virgin at His conception; which visibly descended on Him at His baptism; by which He was carried into the wilderness, Matt. iv. 1; Luke iv. 14; by which He is said to be justified, sanctified, sealed, anointed, (all which He is said to have received from the Father;) see Rom. i. 4; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 Tim. iii. 16; John vi. 27, compared with Eph. i. 13; John x. 36; lastly, by which He hath power to lay down and to take up His life, when and as He pleased, John x. 18. Bp. Fell.

— purge your conscience from dead works] From the guilt of those sins which make men liable to death. Dean Stanhope.

— to serve the living God?] As the legally cleansed were admitted to serve Him in the sanctuary. Bp. Fell. God, being an holy God, can enter into covenant with none, or admit them into His service, whilst they lie under the guilt of sin unpardoned, and so have not found grace in His sight. “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” and with him He established His covenant, Gen. vi. 8, 18. Abraham believes in God, and this was counted to him for righteousness; and then the Lord makes a covenant with him by sacrifice, Gen. xv. 10, 18. So, Exod. xxiv. 5—8, the Jews offer burnt offerings, and sacrifice peace offerings to the Lord, and the blood is sprinkled upon all the people, and then He enters into covenant with them. Hence the Apostle saith, “Let us draw near in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil (or condemning) conscience,” chap. x. 22. Dr. Whitby.

The blood of Christ corresponds, in all essential points, to the Levitical sacrifices for sin. It is expressly called an offering: is affirmed, like the legal offerings, to be perfect and without spot; and, like them also, to have the power of cleansing from pollution, and of qualifying for the service of God. In point of real worth and excellence, the legal offerings fell indeed infinitely short of the offering made by Christ. For the blood, which was carried by the high priest within the vail, though accepted by God, was after all but the blood of brute beasts, and therefore in itself of very little worth. Whereas Christ made in the heavenly sanctuary an offering of His own blood, even the blood of the Son of God; an offering, than which the whole extent of nature could not furnish one more valuable in itself, or

The necessity of Christ’s death. Anno DOMINI 64.

Hebrews 9:15

15. — he is the mediator of the new testament,] ‘Testament’ and ‘covenant’ are the same word in the original: here rendered “testament,” because of the inheritance, which the Son of God, by His death procuring remission of our sins, hath left unto us. For a testament is one kind of covenant confirmed by death; and it was an ancient form of confirmation of all covenants by the blood and death of some living creature. Bp. Fell.

Hebrews 9:16

16. For where a testament is, &c.] He had said, that the promise of eternal inheritance was received by means of death. And this is agreeable to the condition of all other inheritances conveyed by will, and of all covenants ratified with blood. Dean Stanhope. The blessings of Christianity may be thus considered, either as a covenant of God the Father, that was to receive its ratification by the blood of Christ, or as the will and testament of Christ Himself, that could not take place but at and by His death. Pyle.

Hebrews 9:17

17. For a testament is of force &c.] While the devisor lives, he may alter his will; and therefore his death must be proved, in order to give the will force. And in covenants, till the blood was shed, no bargain was struck. Dean Stanhope.

Hebrews 9:18

18. — without blood.] And the substituted solemn death of some creature to ratify it. Bp. Fell.

Hebrews 9:22

22. — almost all things] Some few excepted, as metals, which were purified by fire, and clothes by water. See Numb. xxx. 23; Lev. xvi. 28. The rest were purified by being sprinkled with blood. Dean Stanhope.

Hebrews 9:23

23. — that the patterns of things in the heavens &c.] Thus did men gain access to that sanctuary, which was a type of heaven: but to procure them admittance into heaven itself, a nobler blood, even that of Christ, was necessary. It may seem bold to say, that heaven should either need or receive cleansing or purification. But as the altar and sanctuary were then said to be purified, when the priests and people, who approached them, had their impurities done away, and were put in a due legal capacity of holding communion with God there; so, in allusion to those types, heaven may be said to be “purified,” according to the Levitical construction of the word, when the bodies and souls of men, designed to approach God there, are washed from the pollution of their sins, which incapacitated them for that blessed dwelling. Dean Stanhope.

— with better sacrifices than these.] Namely, the great sacrifice of Christ. Pyle.

Hebrews 9:26

26. For then must he often have suffered &c.] The reasoning in this passage merits the reader’s particular attention, because it supposeth two facts which are of great importance. The first is, that from the fall of Adam to the end of the world, no man will be pardoned but through Christ’s having offered Himself to God a sacrifice for sin. The second is, that although Christ offered Himself only once, and that at the conclusion of the Mosaick dispensation, that one offering is in itself so meritorious, and of such efficacy in procuring pardon for the penitent, that its influence reacheth backwards to the beginning of the world, and forwards to the end of time; on which account Christ is with great propriety termed, Rev. xiii. 8, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The phrase, “from the foundation of the world” in this passage, is not to

Christ was offered once for all. The weakness of the law sacrifices. Anno DOMINI 64.

world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Hebrews 9:27

27, 28. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, &c.] And thus, so far, the death of Christ is like that of all other men; namely, that as they die but once, and then are to receive an eternal recompence for what they have done in this life; so Christ, after once dying for our sins, has no more sufferings to undergo, no further sacrifice to make, and is to appear no more upon the earth, till, at the solemn day of judgment, He comes to crown and reward all His true disciples. Pyle.

Hence it is to be observed, that in the service of the holy communion, we are not to pretend to offer Christ as a sacrifice to His Father: His sacrifice was but once to be offered, and that was done more than seventeen hundred years ago; and in the virtue of that sacrifice once offered, all faithful Christians and sincere penitents shall receive remission of sins, and all other benefits of His passion. But for us to think of offering Christ again as a sacrifice is in effect to put ourselves into the same rank and condition with the unbelieving Jews; that is, to need a repetition of the same sacrifices every year; nay, every day, which is the very reason why the Apostle denied the efficacy of them. We do not indeed deny, but that every time we approach to the Lord’s table, for the receiving of the holy communion, we offer sacrifices to God: for we offer alms, which we beg of God to accept as our oblations; and these, in the language of Scripture, are “sacrifices with which God is well pleased.” We likewise offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God for the death of our Saviour: and all our prayers and supplications we put up in His name, and in the virtue and for the merits of that sacrifice, which He offered to God in our behalf: and in so doing we commemorate that sacrifice both to God and before men. And this is all that the ancient church meant by the great Christian sacrifice, or the sacrifice of the altar. But if we go farther, if we will in the communion pretend to offer up the body and blood of Christ in sacrifice to God, that was once sacrificed upon the cross, it is intolerable. It is a thing that was never dreamed of in the first ages of the church: it is directly contradictory to the foundation of all the Apostle’s argument and discourse in this passage: and the very supposed of it brings along with it many grievous absurdities in the theory, and something that looks like impious in the practice. Yet this is the constant and avowed doctrine and practice of the church of Rome every time they celebrate this sacrament, and that is in every mass that is said among them. Abp. Sharp.

CHAP. X. Anno DOMINI 64.

Hebrews 9:28

28. — to bear the sins of many;] That is, ‘of all.’ Schleusner. See Rom. v. 13, 19; and the notes there.

— without sin] Without any further offering for sin; as in 2 Cor. v. 21. Pyle, Dr. Whitby. At His first appearance He was our sacrifice for sin; but at His second He shall come without any such offering, to bestow that salvation, which the sacrifice of Himself at His first coming purchased for all that trust in, and expect it from, Him. Dean Stanhope.

Chap. X. The second argument is still continued; namely, that Judaism was but a figurative introduction to Christianity. The insufficiency of the legal sacrifices for the complete atonement of sin is asserted. The death of Christ, the full and final sacrifice, is further proved from the Old Testament. It gives all good Christians a full assurance of heavenly happiness, and is the most comfortable argument for their final perseverance in their profession. The Jewish Christians are again particularly exhorted to constancy and patience under their sufferings; from the great danger of wilful apostasy, from the sense of their former courage, and the prospect of their certain and speedy deliverance from their persecutions.

Ver. 1. — the law having a shadow of good things to come.] It requires but little acquaintance with Scripture to know that the lesson, which it every where inculcates, is, that man by disobedience had fallen under the displeasure of His Maker; that to be reconciled to His favour, and restored to the means of acceptable obedience, a Redeemer was appointed, and that this Redeemer laid down His life to procure for repentant sinners forgiveness and acceptance. This surrender of life has been called by the sacred writers a sacrifice, and the end attained by it expulsion, or atonement. With some persons who have been desirous to reduce Christianity to a mere moral system, it has been a favourite object to represent this sacrifice as entirely figurative, founded only in allusion and similitude to the sacrifices of the law; whereas, that this is spoken of by the sacred writers as a real and proper sacrifice, to which those under the law bore respect but as types and shadows, is evident from various passages of holy writ, more particularly from the epistle to the Hebrews, as from this text, which declares that “the law having a shadow of good things,” &c. also ver. 12; ix. 9—14. These and numerous other passages abundantly prove that the sacrifice of Christ was a true and effective sacrifice, while those of the law were but faint representations and inadequate copies intended for its introduction. Dr. Magee.

— a shadow — not the very image] The law was but the first rude draught of good things to come, and had not the full image or lively expression of the things themselves. Bp. Hall.

Or, the word rendered “image” may be used for the essential or substantial form of a thing; that is, for the very thing itself, as opposed to its shadow or delinea-

The weakness of the law sacrifices. The sacrifice of Christ’s body Anno DOMINI 64.

they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.