Hebrews 10

Hebrews 10:1

For the Mosaical law, which contained no more than an imperfect shadow or rude first draught of those mercies made over to us by the gospel, eternal life, &c. and not the lively representation or effigies of them, such as the gospel now affords us, is no way able by sacrificing every year, as long as the temple lasts, bullocks and goats, that is, by repeating often those same kinds of sacrifices, to work that great benefit for the worshippers which the gospel is designed to do, viz. to give men full pardon of sin, and purify their consciences.

Hebrews 10:2

For then they would not need to be offered again continually, when the work for which they were offered was once wrought; as, if the cure were wrought, the medicine need not be any more applied.

Hebrews 10:3

Whereas now being only a commemoration of sins, not a purging them away, they are offered every year anew on the day of expiation, thereby commemorating not only the sins committed that year, since the last day of expiation, but their former sins again, for which they had formerly sacrificed at the time of committing of them, and to typify that one true sacrifice of Christ, that alone is able to do the work for all our sins.

Hebrews 10:4

For the truth is, it is not in the power of any sacrifice of any beast to take away the guilt of sin or purify the conscience.

Hebrews 10:5

And therefore in the prophetic psalm concerning Christ’s coming into the world, God’s despising of those legal sacrifices is mentioned, and all that is

²² for their deliverance, εἰς σωτηρίαν: see note [b] ch. ii. ²³ The King’s MS. adds here διὰ πίστεως, by fa th. ¹ the good, τῶν ἀγαθῶν. ² by the same sacrifices every year, κατ’ ἀνιαντὸν ταῖς αὐταῖς θυσίαις. ³ sure they would have ceased: for many other copies read ἐπὶ ἂν ἐπαύσαντο, leaving out οὐκ; others read the οὐκ not, but by way of interrogation: so Theophylact. ⁴ a commemoration, ἀνάμνησις.

Hebrews 10:6

And then he adds in the name of Christ speaking to God his Father, The offerings of legal sacrifices, I know, are not acceptable in thy sight, or able to reconcile thee to sinners.

Hebrews 10:7

Therefore I, that is, Christ, come (according to what he had undertaken and bound himself by bond to his Father, in order to that great work of our redemption) to perform whatsoever thou, my God, shalt require of me.

8, 9. By which place of the psalmist, psalm xl, it is clear, that the sacrifices appointed by Moses’s law are not of any force with God, but only the sufferings and death of Christ, the first being in that place wholly renounced and disclaimed, and only the second set up.

Hebrews 10:10

And by this gracious will of God, (which Christ came to perform in the body which God prepared for him, ver. 5,) by offering that body once for all, and not by those legal sacrifices, which were oft repeated, all our sins are expiated, (see note [e] ch. ix,) and we received into God’s favour, as many of us as by performing the condition of sincere obedience, still required of us, are rendered capable of that great benefit purchased for us by the sufferings of Christ.

Hebrews 10:11

Again, under the law, the high priest was wont every year once, (see ch. vii. 27,) on the great day of expiation, to officiate and offer up yearly the same kinds of sacrifices, bullocks, &c., none of which have power to free the conscience from the guilt, or the offender from the punishment of sin.

Hebrews 10:12

But Christ having by his own death made one complete sacrifice, which will suffice for the sins of all

Hebrews 10:13

Exercising his regal office in men’s hearts, and meaning to exercise it also over sin and death itself, in abolishing or subduing them both in the resurrection.

Hebrews 10:14

For that one offering of his in his death hath done the whole work, once for all completely, for all obedient Christians, all sanctified disciples of his, (that having the intercession of Christ in heaven, the sending the Spirit, &c. adjoined with it, which are the grounds of furnishing us with all grace, &c.) 15—17. And of this the scriptures of the Old Testament do testify; for after he had premised, as the first thing promised in his covenant, the writing his laws in their hearts and on their minds, and revealing his will, and giving them his sanctifying grace for the reforming of their wicked lives, he then adds, as a second part of his covenant, the free pardon of all the sins and transgressions of their former life, whatsoever they have been.

Hebrews 10:16

[g] be the death—] What the word φίρεσθαι signifies here, will be best guessed by the context, which looks to the validity of wills and testaments, and to the pleading of them in law, to receive benefit from them. This is expressed, ver. 17, by βεβαίa and ἰσχύει, and of this it is sufficiently known in all laws, what is here said, that as long as the testator lives there is no validity in his will, no pleading any thing from it, because voluntas est ambulatoria, say the lawyers, a man as long as he lives may change his will. In this sense may this sixteenth verse be thus interpreted, Ὅπου διαθήκη, Where there is a testament, that is, where a testament is produced or pleaded, or, where a testament is a testament, or, to the confirming of a testament to the proving of a will, ἀνάγκη, it is necessary, φίρεσθαι θάνατον τοῦ διατιθεμένου, that the death of the testator be brought, produced, alleged, brought into the court, testimony brought of it; for otherwise the will will not be βεβαίa, firm, nor ἰσχύειν, of force, ὅτε ζῆ, &c., as long as the testator is alive, or as long as there is no constat of his death. Thus is the word φίρειν and φίρεσθαι used sometimes in the New Testament in a forensical sense, as κατηγορίων φίρειν, to bring an accusation, 1 John xviii. 29, αἰτιάματα φίρειν, Acts xxv. 7, to bring accusations or charges against any, and φίρειν κρίσιν, to bring or enter a suit against one.

Hebrews 10:18

And this being done once for all, there is no need of any further sacrifices or Judaical observances, for which some of you do so zealously contend.

Hebrews 10:19

The doctrine then of the superlative excellence of Christ’s priesthood above the Mosaical being thus evidenced, and the benefit of it being to us so great, even to give us liberty (see note [a] John vii.) to approach unto God in prayer, and apprehension of his promises, to have title to heaven itself, through what Christ hath purchased for us;

Hebrews 10:20

(Which confidence and liberty to enter he hath helped us to by a way never known before, and that a clear or living way, in opposition to the dead shadows and rudiments under the law; which, I say, he hath helped us to, by passing himself from the outer to the inner tabernacle, from this life to another, breaking through the veil or partition between them, that is, through his flesh, being fain to die before he entered heaven;)

Hebrews 10:21

And having one that intercedes for us at the right hand of God, and that hath taken upon him the whole care of his church, and of every faithful servant of his that shall adhere and keep close to him;

Hebrews 10:22

Let us serve and worship him unfeignedly, being filled with faith, (see notes [a] [h] Luke i,) and having reformed our wicked lives in sincere resolution of heart, (without which there is no more reception to be hoped for at God’s hands, Isaiah i. 15, than under the law there was liberty to come into the congregation for them that had touched any impure thing, till they were sprinkled with water by the priest,) and having our actions washed and pure also.

Hebrews 10:23

Let not all the afflictions and dangers that can approach us move us so much as to waver in our Christian profession, which, having the hope of eternal life joined with it, is fortification enough against all the terrors of this world, having God’s fidelity engaged to make good the promise to us.

Hebrews 10:24

And let us weigh and consider all advantages that we can have upon one another, to provoke and excite one another to charity and all actions of piety, (such as are joining in the public service, ver. 25,) whensoever we see any thing of fainting or growing cold in any;

Hebrews 10:25

And not suffer ourselves to proceed so far toward defection, as to give over the public assemblies, (the forsaking of which is not only deserting of the public profession of Christ, but also of the means of growth in grace,) but stir up one another to the performance of this and such other duties of confession toward Christ, by this argument among others, that now their deliverance from the persecutions which so discouraged them is near at hand, (by reason of the destruction of the enemies of the cross, the Jews and Gnostics, that have caused all these persecutions,) which therefore would make it unreasonable for them now to give over their constancy, and lose all, when they are so near the end of their voyage: (see Rom. xiii. 11, and James v. 7, 8.)

²² let us come to him—in fulness of faith, προσερχώματα—ἐν πληροφορία— ²³ hope, ἐλπίδος.

[a] day approaching] The notion of ἡμέρα Χριστοῦ, the day of Christ, and ἡμέρα, day, and παρουσία Χριστοῦ, coming of Christ, and βασιλεία Θεοῦ, kingdom of God, and many the like, signifying that famous destruction of the Jews, hath been often mentioned. The other phrases have been gathered together from their dispersions through this book, note [c] on Matt. iii., and notes [b] [c] on Matt. xxiv., &c. Now for this of ἡμέρα, day, or ἡμέρα Χριστοῦ, day of Christ, although somewhat hath been said, note [d] on Rom. xiii., yet now more fully it must be explained. The force of the phrase may appear Zach. xiv. 1. Behold the day of the Lord cometh, and I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken, &c., and so in many places of the Old Testament: and accordingly in the New, Luke xvii. 24, the Son of man, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ αὐτοῦ, in his day, that is, when he comes to destroy Jerusalem; so Matt. xxiv. 36, περὶ δὲ ἡμέρας ταύτης, of that day and hour, that is, the punctual time of this destruction (not of the day of the last judgment, but of somewhat that was to come in that age, ver. 34,) knows no man. So Luke xvii. 30, ἡμέρα, the day wherein the Son of man shall be revealed; and ver. 31, ἐν ἐκείνῃ ἡμέρᾳ, in that day; and ch. xix. 40, ἡμέραι, the days shall come in which thy enemies shall cast a trench. So Acts ii. 20, ἡμέρα Κυρίου μεγάλη καὶ ἐπιφανής, the great and conspicuous day of the Lord, from which none of the Jews should escape, but only the believers: in which place, as it is cited out of Joel,

HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. A a

Hebrews 10:26

[h] to put away] Ἀθετεῖν properly signifies to frustrate, as ἀθετεῖν βουλὴν Θεοῦ, to frustrate God’s counsel, that is, deprive it of (evacuate) the end of it; and so here Christ’s death is ἀθέτησις ἁμαρτίας, depriving sin of its end or design, which was first to get us into its power, to reign in our mortal bodies, and then maliciously to bind us over to punishment eternal; from both which Christ’s death was designed to redeem us, from living in sin, and from being punished for it, according to the two benefits of Christ’s death, signified in the sacraments, grace and pardon.

[b] For if we sin wilfully—] What is meant by this phrase, Ἐκουσίως ἁμαρτάνοντες μετὰ τὸ λαβεῖν τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας, sinning wilfully after receiving the acknowledgment of the truth, must be collected by a brief survey of every part of the phrase. First, ἁμαρτάνειν, to sin, as it signifies in general any kind or sort of sin, not only deliberate, but of ignorance, or passion, or surprise, and again, not only an act, but habit or course of sin, (and is to be determined to either by the context

Hebrews 10:28

So Christ having yielded up himself for a sacrifice for us, and so borne our sins up to the cross with him, (died as our surety or proxy,) shall do this but once; when he comes again, it shall be in another manner: he shall not come to this earth to die again, but shall come in glory and power, (quite unlike that state wherein he was when he bare our sins,) to the relieving and bestowing deliverance on those who expect and wait for him, and constantly adhere to his commands.

FOR the law having a shadow of ¹good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never ²with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

He that offended wilfully, and so capitally, under Moses’s law, was not capable there of any mercy; but the thing being proved against him by competent testimony, he was to be put to death:

Hebrews 10:29

How much sadder then will his condition be judged to be, who, against all light and conviction received and formerly assented to, shall thus fall off, and by doing so, join with those antichristian Gnostics and Jews, the crucifiers of Christ and enemies of Christians, which have despised Christ as vile and nothing worth, yea, as one that died as a malefactor, and so his blood no better than unclean, profane blood, not such as will bring any benefit to us, (as it was designed to do,) and scorn and reject the gospel itself, revealed to us by the apostles, authorized thereto by the descent of the Spirit on them, and other mercies in it so graciously bestowed on us?

Hebrews 10:30

For we know it is the Lord that said, Vengeance &c.; and again, psalm cxxxv. 14, that God will avenge his people, (his church,) and consequently will avenge the cause of those which now suffer among you, against their persecutors, in his time, if you can patiently wait for it.

Hebrews 10:31

To which purpose you may be armed with this consideration, that it is not near so formidable a thing to be persecuted and punished by mortal men as by him that lives for ever: (see Matt. x. 20.)

Hebrews 10:32

Now that the being persecuted for Christianity should bring you to this defection, there is no reason, considering how, when you did first receive the faith, (see Rom. xiii. 11,) ye endured afflictions courageously, (and therefore ought not now at last to fail in any reason, lest you lose the fruit of all that;)

Hebrews 10:33

Suffering most courageously and notoriously yourselves, and shewing your fellow-feeling and common concernment with them that were thus afflicted.

Hebrews 10:34

For (first to the latter of them, see note [a] Matt. vii.) you expressed your sense of my sufferings (and perhaps of many others that were in like manner imprisoned) in mourning for me and relieving me; and (for the former) ye parted with your worldly wealth, which was violently torn from you, with perfect patience, nay, rejoicing that you were thought worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake, and considering and assuring yourselves that such sufferings as these yield you (and will bring you by way of reward) a more valuable and durable kind of wealth—eternal bliss in heaven.

Hebrews 10:35

Having therefore endured so much upon these grounds of the certain retribution that all your sufferings bring with them, be not beaten out of your fearlessness (see note [a] John vii.) and patience and Christianity at last.

Hebrews 10:36

For Christianity being a life of faith and hope, fastened on future promises, both those of this life, release from persecutions, and those of another life, eternal bliss, which will not be had till we have done what God appoints us in the interim to do or suffer, it is clear that patience is necessary for all Christians at all times, and particularly for you at this.

Hebrews 10:37

For the time is now very near at hand, that Christ (see note [a] Matt. xi.) shall come as a judge to destroy the enemies, and as a reliever to rescue all faithful disciples, (see note [a]); and though you may think he hath stayed something long, yet now he will come very speedily to that work.

Hebrews 10:38

Meanwhile the true, constant Christian shall by the strength of his faith live, and hold out against all these terrors, sustain himself by his faith (see Rom. i. 17); and he that doth not so, but is affrighted and driven by afflictions out of his hold and profession, (as now ye are like to be,) God will certainly reject and hate such a man, never accept of such temporary obedience.

[c] draw back] What is here meant by ὑποστέλλεσθαι we have two ways of discerning; first, by considering the word in the few other places of the New Testament: Acts xx. 20, οὐδὲν ὑπεστειλάμην τῶν συμφερόντων τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι ὑμῖν, I did not withdraw, or hold back, from declaring to you any of those things that were profitable for you, and almost in the same words and sense, ver. 27, οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι, &c. I did not withdraw, or withhold, myself from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. So in Phavorinus, ὑποστειλάμενος, ὑποκρυψάμενος, hiding himself, getting out of the way, and ὑπεστειλάμην, παρ-

Hebrews 10:39

But as Christ told his disciples, that in times of persecution he that would save his life should be the most likely to lose it, and he that would venture the utmost for Christ’s sake should be most likely to thrive, and secure himself even in this world; so it