Hebrews 9:1
Εἶχε μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ πρώτη, δικαιώματα λατρείας τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν.
Hebrews 9:2
σκηνὴ γὰρ κατεσκευάσθη, ἡ πρώτη— ἐν ᾗ ἥ τε λυχνία, καὶ ἡ τράπεζα, καὶ ἡ πρόθεσις τῶν ἄρτων— ἥτις λέγεται Ἅγια.
Hebrews 9:3
μετὰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον καταπέτασμα σκηνὴ, ἡ λεγομένη Ἅγια ἁγίων,
Hebrews 9:4
χρυσοῦν ἔχουσα θυμιατήριον, καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν τῆς διαθήκης, περικεκαλυμμένην πάντοθεν χρυσίῳ, ἐν ᾗ στάμνος χρυσῆ ἔχουσα τὸ μάννα, καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος Ἀαρὼν ἡ βλαστήσασα, καὶ αἱ πλάκες τῆς διαθήκης.
Hebrews 9:5
ὑπεράνω δὲ αὐτῆς Χερουβὶν δόξης, κατασκιάζοντα τὸ ἱλαστήριον· περὶ ὧν οὐκ ἔστιν νῦν λέγειν κατὰ μέρος.
Hebrews 9:6
Τούτων δὲ οὕτως κατεσκευασμένων, εἰς μὲν τὴν πρώτην σκηνὴν διὰ παντὸς εἰσίασιν οἱ ἱερεῖς, τὰς λατρείας ἐπιτελοῦντες.
Hebrews 9:7
εἰς δὲ τὴν δευτέραν, ἅπαξ τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ μόνος, ὁ ἀρχιερεύς, οὐ χωρὶς αἵματος, ὃ προσφέρει ὑπὲρ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῶν τοῦ λαοῦ ἀγνοημάτων.
Hebrews 9:8
Τοῦτο δηλοῦντος τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Ἁγίου μήπω πεφανερῶσθαι τὴν τῶν ἁγίων ὁδὸν, ἔτι τῆς πρώτης σκηνῆς ἐχούσης στάσιν,
Hebrews 9:9
ἥτις παραβολὴ εἰς τὸν καιρὸν τὸν ἐνεστηκότα, καθ’ ἣν δῶρά τε καὶ θυσίαι προσφέρονται, μὴ δυνάμεναι κατὰ συνείδησιν τελειῶσαι τὸν λατρεύοντα,
Hebrews 9:10
μόνον ἐπὶ βρώμασιν καὶ πόμασιν καὶ διαφόροις βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα σαρκὸς, μέχρι καιροῦ διορθώσεως ἐπικείμενα.
Hebrews 9:11
Χριστὸς δὲ, παραγενόμενος ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν γενομένων ἀγαθῶν, διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς οὐ χειροποιήτου, τοῦτ’ ἔστιν, οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως,
Hebrews 9:12
οὐδὲ δι’ αἵματος τράγων καὶ μόσχων, διὰ δὲ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος, εἰσῆλθεν ἐφάπαξ εἰς τὰ ἅγια, αἰωνίαν λύτρωσιν εὑράμενος.
Hebrews 9:13
Εἰ γὰρ τὸ αἷμα τράγων, καὶ ταύρων, καὶ σποδὸς δαμάλεως, ῥαντίζουσα τοὺς κεκοινωμένους, ἁγιάζει πρὸς τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς καθαρότητα,
For if the blood of goats and bulls and ashes of a heifer sprinkled on the defiled, made holy the purity of the flesh.
Paraphrase: Now we know that on the Great Day of Atonement, bulls and goats were offered as sacrifices to God to make atonement for the priest and for the entire nation. You have seen this ritual take place many times, no doubt. Even more common, is the ritual purification that takes place when someone comes into contact with a dead body. Then the ashes of the read heifer mixed with water are sprinkled on the unclean person. The person washes himself on the third and the seventh day and then is pronounced clean again. In this way, the external purity of God’s people was preserved.
Comments:
Hebrews 9:14
πόσῳ μᾶλλον τὸ αἷμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὃς διὰ Πνεύματος αἰωνίου, ἑαυτὸν προσήνεγκεν ἄμωμον τῷ Θεῷ, καθαριεῖ τὴν συνείδησιν ἡμῶν ἀπὸ νεκρῶν ἔργων, εἰς τὸ λατρεύειν Θεῷ ζῶντι!
How much rather, the blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanses our conscience from dead works in order that we might worship the living God.
Paraphrase: Now if this is what the blood of bulls and goats can do, how much more powerful is the blood of Christ. Consider that Jesus was not dragged to the altar by another person as the sacrificial animals were. On the contrary, He went to the cross by His own resolve (Luke 9:51) and determination to do the will of His Father (John 10:17-18; Philippians 2:6-8) the Holy Spirit strengthening Him every step of the way. (Isaiah 61:1; Acts 10:38) Furthermore, consider that Jesus was without blemish just as all sacrificial animals must be. (Leviticus 1:3; Malachi 1:8; Hebrews 4:15) Now, my dear brothers and sisters, it is only this sacrifice which can purify your conscience from the guilt which constantly tortures it. The sins which are so fresh in your memory, which are calling out for God’s justice (Genesis 4:10), which prevent you from worshipping God as you desire, and which, one day, will drag you down to eternal death; yes, these sins are washed away by the power of the atoning death of the Son of God. Now you can enter God’s presence without terror and sing for joy to the Rock of our salvation and to the One who gives us eternal life!
Comments:
Is the “spirit” here the third person of the Trinity or the divine spirit of Jesus’ person? Alford (p171) suggests that the animals, who were offered in Old Testament religion, had no spirit and thus could give no consent to their being made a sacrifice. Jesus, however, did have a spirit, and He was sacrificed willingly with the full consent of His own spirit which, as the author writes, was an eternal spirit or a divine Spirit.
But Christ offered Himself, with His own consent assisting and empowering the sacrifice. And what was that consent? the consent of what? of the spirit of a man? such a consent as yours or mine, given in and through our finite spirit whose acts are bounded by its own allotted space in time and its own responsibilities? No: but the consenting act of His divine Personality—His πνεῦμα αἰώνιον, His Godhead, which from before time acquiesced in, and wrought with, the redemption-purpose of the Father.
On the other hand, Turner points out (p123) that the ministry of Jesus is often connected with the Holy Spirit. (Isaiah 11:2; 61:1; John 3:34) His birth (Matthew 1:18, 20, Luke 1:35); His baptism (Matthew 3:16, John 1:32, 33); His temptation (Matthew 4:1); His miracles (Matthew 12:18, 28, Acts 10:38); and His instructions to His disciples prior to His ascension. (Acts 1:2)
Who can doubt then, that this offering was made by or in accordance with the influence of the same Spirit? And although the usual epithet applied to the Spirit is holy, yet the Apostle may here have preferred the substitute eternal, in order to make it harmonize with the leading thought of the whole context, particularly as expressed in the preceding verse, the perpetual efficacy of Christ’s one sacrifice.
Owen argues (p304) that both meanings are necessary here. Stuart argues (p585) that it refers to Christ’s glorified state.
For λατρεύειν, see articular infinitives.
Hebrews 9:15
Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο, διαθήκης καινῆς μεσίτης ἐστίν, ὅπως, θανάτου γενομένου, εἰς ἀπολύτρωσιν τῶν ἐπὶ τῇ πρώτῃ διαθήκῃ παραβάσεων, τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν λάβωσιν οἱ κεκλημένοι, τῆς αἰωνίου κληρονομίας.
And on account of this, He is the mediator of a new covenant so that becoming dead, for the redemption of the transgressions against the first covenant, those having been called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Paraphrase: Now when we see Jesus dying on the cross, we see Him engaged in the great work for which He was sent. That work was the bringing in of God’s new covenant. (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6) This was the great task to which His Father had called Him, from before the creation of the world. Now in obedience to this mandate, Jesus needed to ratify the new covenant and to make this covenant a legally binding contract for all people in place of the old covenant. Now, this kind of ratification can only be done by the shedding of blood. Recall that Moses (Galatians 3:19) ratified the first covenant with blood as we are told in Exodus 24. Now Jesus did the same with this new covenant (Luke 22:20); and in so doing, He ratifies the covenant and establishes new and better terms by which anyone can be reconciled to God. You might wonder what the problem was with the first covenant which God made with His people at Sinai? Were all those people who sinned under the old covenant lost forever? Certainly not. Let me explain. First, in order for there to be reconciliation between God and His people, sin must be forgiven. Second, the rituals and sacrifices of the first covenant were not able to give God’s people a full and complete forgiveness of their sin. The best the old covenant could do was to give the penitent worshipper a sense that their sin had been temporarily dealt with and then only in an external way. By external, I mean that, having performed the prescribed ritual, the person was allowed to participate again in the worship of God. How then were God’s old covenant people reconciled to God? Well brothers and sisters, the rituals they performed were all types and pictures of what Jesus would do. The power of these old covenant rituals was not something they had in themselves, but their power came from that to which they pointed, and they all pointed to the atoning work of Jesus Christ. When Jesus died, He fulfilled all these old covenant rituals and ratified God’s new way of reconciliation. This was a new covenant which sets before us a full and permanent forgiveness of sin. Anyone, who brings his sin to Christ, regardless of whether they sinned under the old or new covenant, receives a full and free forgiveness of all sin. And what is the result? The conscience, which never failed to torture them for their sin, is set free from guilt, just as a slave is set free when the ransom price is paid. These are the people God calls to Himself and gives them a place in the kingdom of God. (Luke 23:43) They have access to the tree of life. (Revelation 2:7) This is their inheritance, not a temporary one like the land of Israel, but an eternal inheritance that never fades away.
Comments:
Hebrews 9:16
Ὅπου γὰρ διαθήκη, θάνατον ἀνάγκη φέρεσθαι τοῦ διαθεμένου.
For where a will, a necessity, the death of the testator to be brought.
Paraphrase: Perhaps you wonder why this new covenant had to be ratified by someone’s death. This is a good question, and maybe it will help if you think of this new covenant in terms of a person’s last will. Before a person dies, he or she will write up a document to make clear how he would have his estate divided up after he dies. Now it hardly needs to be said that, before such a will can be acted on, the death of the person, who made the will, must first be proven.
Comments:
Lightfoot says (p141) that the author “starts from the sense of a ‘covenant,’ and glides into that of a ‘testament,’ to which he is led by two points of analogy, (1) the inheritance conferred by the covenant, and (2) the death of the person making it.
Hebrews 9:17
διαθήκη γὰρ ἐπὶ νεκροῖς βεβαία, ἐπεὶ μή ποτε ἰσχύει, ὅτε ζῇ ὁ διαθέμενος,
For a will established on deaths, since it does not ever have any force when the testator might be living.
Paraphrase: No one would think of executing someone’s will when they were still living.
Comments:
Hebrews 9:18
Ὅθεν οὐδὲ ἡ πρώτη, χωρὶς αἵματος ἐνκεκαίνισται.
For the same reason, the first, without blood was inaugurated.
Paraphrase: Now just as no last will is in effect until the person dies, so no covenant is in effect until it is ratified by the shedding of blood. Jesus died to ratify the new covenant just as the first covenant was also ratified with blood. Both the old and new covenants are made legally binding by the shedding of blood which is to say, by death.
Comments:
Gouge (p262): “This [that all covenants are ratified by blood] is not in regard of God’s delight in blood, but in regard of sin, which, in reference to God’s truth (Genesis 2:17) and justice, cannot otherwise be expiated.” Hebrews 9:22 confirms what Gouge says here.
Hebrews 9:19
λαληθείσης γὰρ πάσης ἐντολῆς κατὰ τὸν νόμον ὑπὸ Μωϋσέως παντὶ τῷ λαῷ, λαβὼν τὸ αἷμα τῶν μόσχων καὶ τῶν τράγων, μετὰ ὕδατος, καὶ ἐρίου κοκκίνου, καὶ ὑσσώπου, αὐτό τε τὸ βιβλίον καὶ πάντα τὸν λαὸν ἐράντισεν,
For every command spoken according to the law by Moses to all the people taking blood of bulls and goats with water and red wool and hyssop, he sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people.
Paraphrase: You might wonder how the old covenant was ratified by death? You can read this in Exodus 24. There, Moses took the blood of animals and first splashed some on the altar (Exodus 24:6) which represented God’s signature to the covenant. Then he read the terms of the covenant to the nation of Israel; and when they gave their consent (Exodus 24:8), he splashed blood on them as well. In this way, the old covenant was ratified and made legally binding on both sides.
Comments:
The scroll mentioned here was what Moses wrote in Exodus 24:4. The ceremony given in Exodus 24 does not mention hyssop or scarlet wool. Perhaps the author assumed the use of these from other Old Testament rituals? The ritual purification for a leper involved the use of and something scarlet colored וּשְׁנִי תוֹלָעַת and hyssop. (Leviticus 14:4, 6, 51) The same were used in the ritual used to purify those who had come into contact with a dead person. (Numbers 19:6)
Hebrews 9:20
λέγων, Τοῦτο τὸ αἷμα τῆς διαθήκης, ἧς ἐνετείλατο πρὸς ὑμᾶς ὁ Θεός.
saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded to you.”
Paraphrase: Then Moses announced with great solemnity, “Look carefully now and remember that this blood ratifies the covenant which God has made with you. From now on, this covenant is legally binding on you and your children.” This was how the old covenant was ratified.
Comments:
Hebrews 9:21
Καὶ τὴν σκηνὴν δὲ, καὶ πάντα τὰ σκεύη τῆς λειτουργίας τῷ αἵματι ὁμοίως ἐράντισεν.
Hebrews 9:22
καὶ σχεδὸν ἐν αἵματι πάντα καθαρίζεται, κατὰ τὸν νόμον, καὶ χωρὶς αἱματεκχυσίας, οὐ γίνεται ἄφεσις.
and nearly all things in blood are purified according to the law; and without blood-shedding, there is no forgiveness.
Paraphrase: The fact of the matter is that almost everything in the worship of the old covenant was purified by blood. This is so that God’s people would learn well the lesson that apart from death, there can be no forgiveness of sin. God made a solemn promise to the first man and woman that sin would be punished with death (Genesis 2:17) and every human person and everything connected with them is defiled with sin. It’s a stain on everything they do. Now if God is going to enter into a covenant with men, then someone must carry the punishment for this sin, or God is not true to His word.
Comments:
Hebrews 9:23
Ἀνάγκη οὖν τὰ μὲν ὑποδείγματα τῶν ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, τούτοις καθαρίζεσθαι, αὐτὰ δὲ τὰ ἐπουράνια κρείττοσιν θυσίαις παρὰ ταύτας.
Hebrews 9:24
οὐ γὰρ εἰς χειροποίητα εἰσῆλθεν ἅγια Χριστός, ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν, ἀλλ’ εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν, νῦν ἐμφανισθῆναι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν,
Hebrews 9:25
οὐδ’ ἵνα πολλάκις προσφέρῃ ἑαυτόν, ὥσπερ ὁ ἀρχιερεύς εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὰ ἅγια κατ’ ἐνιαυτὸν ἐν αἵματι ἀλλοτρίῳ.
Hebrews 9:26
Ἐπεὶ ἔδει αὐτὸν πολλάκις παθεῖν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου. νυνὶ δὲ ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων, εἰς ἀθέτησιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται.
Hebrews 9:27
Καὶ καθ’ ὅσον ἀπόκειται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἅπαξ ἀποθανεῖν, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο κρίσις,
Hebrews 9:28
οὕτως καὶ ὁ Χριστός, ἅπαξ προσενεχθεὶς εἰς τὸ πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν ἁμαρτίας, ἐκ δευτέρου, χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας, ὀφθήσεται τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀπεκδεχομένοις εἰς σωτηρίαν.