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Hebrews Chapter
Ten
Hebrews 10
In chapter 10 this principle is applied to the sacrifice.
Its repetition proved that sin was there. That the sacrifice of Christ was only
offered once, was the demonstration of its eternal efficacy. Had the Jewish
sacrifices rendered the worshipers really perfect before God, they would have
ceased to be offered. The apostle is speaking (although the principle is
general) of the yearly sacrifice on the day of atonement. For if, through the
efficacy of the sacrifice, they had been permanently made perfect, they would
have had no more conscience of sins, and could not have had the thought of
renewing the sacrifice.
Observe, here, that which is very important, that the conscience is
cleansed, our sins being expiated, the worshiper drawing nigh by virtue of the
sacrifice. The meaning of theJewish service was that guilt was still there;
that of the Christian, that it is gone. As to the former, precious as the type
is, the reason is evident: the blood of bulls and of goats could not take away
sin. Therefore those sacrifices have been abolished, and a work of another
character (although still a sacrifice) has been accomplished-a work which
excludes all other, and all the repetition of the same, because it consists of
nothing less than the self devotedness of the Son of God to accomplish the will
of God, and the completion of that to which He was devoted: an act impossible
to be repeated, for all His will cannot be accomplished twice, and, were it
possible, it would be a testimony of the inadequacy of the first, and so of
both.
This is what the Son of God says in this most solemn
passage (vers. 5-9), in which we are admitted to know, according to the grace
of God, that which passed between God the Father and Himself when He undertook
the fulfillment of the will of God-that which He said, and the eternal counsels
of God which He carried into execution. He takes the place of submission and of
obedience, of performing the will of another. God would no longer accept the
sacrifices that were ordered under the law (the four classes of which are here
pointed out), He had no pleasure in them. In their stead He had prepared a body
for His Son; vast and important truth! for the place of man is obedience. Thus,
in taking this place, the Son of God put Himself into the position to obey
perfectly. In fact He undertakes the duty of fulfilling all the will of God, be
it what it may-a will which is, ever "good, acceptable, and perfect."
The psalm says in the Hebrew, [1] ears for me," translated by the
Septuagint,"Thou hast prepared me a body;" words which, as they give
the true meaning, are used by the Holy Ghost. For " the ear" is
always employed as a sign of the reception of commandments, and the principle
of obligation to obey or the disposition to do so. " He hath opened mine
ear morning by morning" (Isa. 1), that is, has made me listen to His will,
be obedient to His commands. The ear was bored or fastened with an awl to the
door, in order to express that the Israelite was attached to the house as a
slave, to obey, for ever. Now in taking a body, the Lord took the form of a
servant. (Phil. ii.) Ears were digged for Him. That is to say, He placed [2] in a position in which He had to obey all
His Master's will, whatever it might be. But it is the Lord Himself* who speaks
in the passage before us: " Thou," He says, " hast prepared me a
body."
Entering more into detail, He specifies burnt offerings
and offerings for sin, sacrifices which had less of the character of communion,
and thus had a deeper meaning; but God had no pleasure in them. In a word the
Jewish service was already declared by the Spirit to be unacceptable to God. It
was all to cease, it was fruitless; no offering that formed part of it was
acceptable. No; the counsels of God unfold themselves, but first of all in the
heart of the Word, the Son of God, who offers Himself to accomplish the will of
God. " Then said he, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written
of me, to do thy will, O God." Nothing can be more solemn than thus to
lift the veil from that which takes place in heaven between God and the Word
who undertook to do His will. Observe that, before He was in the position of
obedience, He offers Himself in order to accomplish the will of God, that is to
say, of free love for the glory of God, of free will; as One who had the power,
He offers Himself, He undertakes obedience, He undertakes to do whatsoever God
wills. This is indeed to sacrifice all His own will, but freely and as the
effect of His own purpose, although on the occasion of the will of His Father.
He must needs be God in order to do this, and to undertake the fulfillment of
all that God could will.
We have here the great mystery of this divine intercourse, which
remains ever surrounded with its solemn majesty, although it is communicated to
us that we may know it. And we ought to know it; for it is thus that we
understand the infinite grace and the glory of this work. Before He became man,
in the place where only divinity is known, and its, eternal counsels and
thoughts are communicated between the divine Persons, the Word-as He has
declared it to us, in time, by the prophetic Spirit--such being the will of God
contained in the book of the eternal counsels, He who was able to do it,
offered Himself freely to accomplish that will. Submissive to this counsel
already arranged for Him, He yet offers Himself in perfect freedom to fulfill
it. But in offering He submits, yet at the same time undertakes to do all that
God, as God, willed. But also in undertaking to do the will of God, it was in
the way of obedience, of submission, and of devotedness. For I might undertake
to do the will of another, as free and competent, because I willed the thing;
but if I say '"to do thy will," this in itself is absolute and
complete submission. And this it is which the Lord, the Word, did. He did it
also, declaring that He came in order to do it. He took a position of obedience
by accepting the body prepared for Him. He came to do the will of God.
That of which we have been speaking is continually
manifested in the life of Jesus on earth. God shines through His position in
the human body; for He was necessarily God in the act itself of His
humiliation; and none but God could have undertaken and been found in it; yet
He was always, and entirely and perfectly, obedient and dependent on God. That
which revealed itself in His existence on earth was the expression of that
which was accomplished in the eternal abode, in His own nature. That is to say
(and of this Ps.40 speaks), that which He declares, and that which He was here
below, are the same thing; the one in reality in heaven, the other bodily on
earth. That which He was here below was but the expression, the living, real,
bodily manifestation of what is contained in those divine communications which
have been revealed to us, and which were the reality of the position that He
assumed.
And it is very important to see these things in the free
offer made by divine competency, and not only in their fulfillment in death. It
gives quite a different character to the bodily work here below.
In reality, from chapter 1 of this epistle, the Holy
Ghost always presents Christ in this way. But this revelation in the psalm was
requisite to explain how He became a servant, what the Messiah really was; and
to us it opens an immense view of the ways of God, a view, the depths of
which-clearly as it is revealed, and through the very clearness of the
revelation-display to us things so divine and glorious that we bow the head and
veil our faces, as having had part as it were in such communications, on
account of the majesty of the Persons whose acts and whose intimate
relationships are revealed. It is not here the glory that dazzles us. But even
in this poor world there is nothingto which we are greater strangers than the
intimacy of those who are, in their modes of life, much above ourselves. What
then, when it is that of God! Blessed be His name! there is grace that brings
us into it, and that has drawn nigh to us in our weakness. We are then admitted
to know this precious truth, that the Lord Jesus undertook of His own free will
the accomplishment of all the will of God, and that He was pleased to take the
body prepared for Him in order to accomplish it. The love, the devotedness to
the glory of God, and the way in which He undertook to obey, are fully set
forth. And this-the fruit of God's eternal counsels--displaces (by its very
nature) every provisional sign: and contains, in itself alone, the condition of
all relationship with God, and the means by which He glorifies Himself. [3]
The Word then assumes a body, in order to offer Himself
as a sacrifice. Besides the revelation of this devotedness of the Word to
accomplish the will of God, the effect of His sacrifice according to the will
of God is also set before us.
He came to do the will of Jehovah. Now faith understands
that it is by this will of God (that is, by His will who, according to His
eternal wisdom, prepared a body for His Son) that those whom He has called unto
Himself for salvation are set apart to God, in other words, are sanctified. It
is by the will of God that we are set apart for Him (not by our own will), and
that by means of the sacrifice offered to God.
We shall observe that the epistle does not here speak of
the communication of life, or of a practical sanctification wrought by the Holy
Ghost: [4] the subject is the Person of Christ ascended
on high, and the efficacy of His work. And this is important with regard to
sanctification, because it shews that sanctification is a complete setting
apart to God, as belonging to Him at the price of the offering of Jesus, a
consecration to Him by means of that offering. God took the unclean Jews from
among men and set them apart--consecrated them to Himself; so now the called
ones, from that nation, and, thank God, ourselves also, by means of the
offering of Jesus.
But there is another element, already pointed out in this
offering, the force of which the epistle here applies to believers, namely,
that the offering is "once for all." It admits of no repetition. If
we enjoy the effect of this offering, our sanctification is eternal in its
nature. It does not fail. It is never repeated. We belong to God for ever
according to the efficacy of this offering. Thus our sanctification, our being
set apart to God has-with regard to the work that accomplished it-all the
stability of the will of God and all the grace from which it sprang; it has,
too, in its nature, the perfection of the work itself, by which it was
accomplished, and the duration and the constant force of the efficacy of that
work. But the effect of this offering is not limited to this setting apart for
God. The point already treated contains our consecration by God Himself through
the perfectly efficacious offering of Christ fulfilling His will. And now the
position which Christ has taken, in consequence of His offering up of Himself,
is employed in order clearly to demonstrate the state it has brought us into
before God.
The priests among the Jews-for this contrast is still
carried on-stood before the altar continually to repeat the same sacrifices
which could never take away sins. But this Man, when He had offered one
sacrifice for sins, [5] at the right hand of God.
There-having finished for His own all that regards their
presentation without spot to God-He awaits the moment when His enemies shall be
made His footstool, according to Psalm 110: "Sit thou at my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy footstool." And the Spirit gives us the
important reason so infinitely precious to us: "For he hath perfected for
ever them that are sanctified."
Here (ver. 14) as in verse 12, on which the latter depends,
the word " for ever " has the force of permanence-uninterrupted
continuity. He is ever seated, we are ever perfected, by virtue of His work and
according to the perfect righteousness in which, and conformably to which, He
sits at the right hand of God upon His throne, according to that which He is
personally there, His acceptance on God's part being proved by His session at
His right hand. And He is there for us.
It is a righteousness suited to the throne of God, yea,
the righteousness of the throne. It neither varies nor fails. He is seated
there for ever. If then we are sanctified-set apart to God-by this offering
according to the will of God Himself, we are also made perfect for God by the
same offering, as presented to Him in the Person of Jesus.
We have seen that this position has its origin in the
will, the good-will of God (a will which combines the grace and the purpose of
God), and that it has its foundation and present certainty in the
accomplishment of the work of Christ, the perfection of which is demonstrated
by the session at the right hand of God of Him who accomplished it. But the
testimony-for to enjoy this grace we must know it with divine certainty, and
the greater it is, the more would our hearts be led to doubt it-the testimony
upon which we believe it must be divine. And this it is. The Holy Ghost bears
witness to us of it. The will of God is the source of the work; Christ, the Son
of God accomplished it; the Holy Ghost bears witness to us of it. And here the
application to the people, called by grace and spared, is in consequence fully
set forth, not merely the fulfillment of the work. The Holy Ghost bears us
witness, " Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more."
Blessed position! The certainty that God will never
remember our sins and iniquities is founded all the steadfast will of God, on
the perfect offering of Christ, now consequently seated at the right hand of
God, and on the sure testimony of the Holy Ghost. It is a matter of faith that
God will never remember our sins.
We may remark here the way in which the covenant is
introduced; for although, as writing to "the holy brethren, partakers of
the heaven]y calling," he says, "a witness to us," the form of
his address is always that of an epistle to the Hebrews (believers, of course,
but Hebrews, still bearing the character of God's people). He does not speak of
the covenant in a direct way, as a privilege in which Christians had a direct
part. The Holy Ghost, he says, declares, "I will remember no more,"
& etc. It is this which he quotes. He only alludes to the new covenant,
leaving it aside consequently as to all present application. For after having
said, "This is the covenant," & etc., the testimony is cited as
that of the Holy Ghost, to prove the capital point which he was treating, that
is, that God remembers our sins no more. But he alludes to the covenant
(already known to the Jews as declared before of God) which gave the authority
of the scriptures to this testimony, that God remembered no more the sins of
His people who are sanctified and admitted into His favour, and which, at the
same time, presented these two thoughts: first, that this complete pardon did
not exist under the first covenant: and, second, that the door is left open for
the blessing of the nation when the new covenant shall be formally established.
Another practical consequence is drawn: sins being
remitted, there is no more oblation for sin. The one sacrifice having obtained
remission, no others can be offered in order to obtain it. Remembrance of this
one sacrifice there may indeed be, whatever its character; but a sacrifice to
take away the sins which are already taken away, there cannot be. We are
therefore in reality on entirely new ground-on that of the fact, that by the
sacrifice of Christ our sins are altogether put away, and that for us, who are
sanctified and partakers of the heavenly calling, a perfect and everlasting
permanent cleansing has been made, remission granted, eternal redemption
obtained. So that we are, in the eyes of God, without sin, on the ground of the
perfection of the work of Christ, who is seated at His right hand, who has
entered into the true holiest, into heaven itself, to sit there because His
work is accomplished. Thus all liberty is ours to enter into the holy place (all
boldness) by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, that is His flesh, to
admit us without spot into the presence of God Himself, who is there revealed.
For us the veil is rent, and that which rent the veil in order to admit us has
likewise put away the sin which shut us out.
We have also a great High Priest over the house of God,
as we have seen, who represents us in the holy place.
On these truths are founded the exhortations that follow.
One word before we enter on them, as to the relation that exists between
perfect righteousness and the priesthood. There are many souls who use the
priesthood as the means of obtaining pardon when they have failed. They go to
Christ as a priest, that He may intercede for them and obtain the pardon which
they desire, but for which they dare not ask God in a direct way. These
souls-sincere as they are-have not liberty to enter into the holy place.They
take refuge with Christ that they may afresh be brought into the presence of
God. Their condition practically is that in which a pious Jew stood. They have
lost, or rather they have never had by faith, the real consciousness of their
position before God in virtue of the sacrifice of Christ. I do not speak here
of all the privileges of the assembly: we have seen that the epistle does not
speak of them. The position it makes for believers is this: those whom it
addresses are not viewed as placed in heaven, although partakers of the
heavenly calling; but a perfect redemption is accomplished, all guilt entirely
put away for the people of God, who remembers their sins no more. The
conscience is made perfect-they have no more conscience of sins-by virtue of
the work accomplished once for all. There is no more question of sin, that is,
of its imputation, of its being upon them before and, between them and God.
There cannot be, because of the work accomplished upon the cross. The
conscience therefore is perfect; their Representative and High Priest is in
heaven, a witness there to the work already accomplished for them. Thus, although
the epistle does not present them as in the holiest, as sitting there-like in
the Epistle to the Ephesians-they have full liberty, entire boldness, to enter
into it. The question of imputation no longer exists. Their sins have been
imputed to Christ. But He is now in heaven-a proof that the sins are blotted
out for ever. Believers therefore enter with entire liberty into the presence
of God Himself, and that always-having no more for ever any conscience of sins.
For what purpose then is priesthood? What is to be done
with respect to the sins we commit? They interrupt our communion; but they make
no change in our position before God, nor in the testimony rendered by the
presence of Christ at the right hand of God. Nor do they raise any question as
to imputation. They are sins against that position, or against God, measured by
the relationship we are in to God, as in it. For sin is measured by the
conscience according to our position. The perpetual presence of Christ at God's
right hand has this twofold effect for us: 1st, perfected for ever we have no
more conscience of sins before God, we are accepted; 2nd, as priest He obtains
grace to help in time of need, that we may not sin. But the present exercise of
priesthood by Christ does not refer to sins: we have through His work no more
conscience of sins, are perfected for ever. There is another truth connected
with this, found 1 John 2: we have an Advocate [6] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
On this our communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ is founded
and secured. Our sins are not imputed, for the propitiation is in all its value
before God. But by sin communion is interrupted; our righteousness is not
altered-for that is Christ Himself at God's right hand in virtue of His work;
nor is grace changed, and " he is the propitiation for our sins;" but
the heart has got away from God, communion is interrupted. But grace acts in
virtue of perfect righteousness, and by the advocacy of Christ on behalf of him
who has failed: and his soul is restored to communion. Nor is it that we go to
Jesus for this; He goes, even if we sin, to God for us. His presence there is
the witness of an unchangeable righteousness which is ours; His intercession
maintains us in the path we have to walk in, or as our Advocate He restores the
communion which is founded on that righteousness. Our access to God is always
open. Sin interrupts our enjoyment of it, the heart is not in communion; the
advocacy of Jesus is the means of rousing the conscience by the action of the
Spirit and the word, and we return (humbling ourselves) into the presence of
God Himself. The priesthood and advocacy of Christ refer to the condition of an
imperfect and feeble, or failing, creature upon earth, reconciling it with the
perfectness of the place and glory in which divine righteousness sets us. The
soul is maintained steadfast or restored.
Exhortations follow. Having the right thus to approach
God, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. This is
the only thing that honours the efficacy of Christ's work, and the love which
has thus brought us to enjoy God. In the words that follow, allusion is made to
the consecration of the priests-a natural allusion, as drawing near to God in
the holiest is the subject. They were sprinkled with blood and washed with
water, and then they drew nigh to serve God. Still, although I doubt not of the
allusion to the priests, it is quite natural that baptism should have given
rise to it. The anointing is not spoken of here-it is the power or privilege of
the moral right to draw nigh.
Again, we may notice that, as to the foundation of the
truth, this is the ground on which Israel will stay in the last days. In Christ
in heaven will not be their place, nor the possession of the Holy Ghost as
uniting the believer to Christ in heaven; but the blessing will be founded on
water and on blood. God will remember their sins no more; and they will be
washed in the clean water of the word.
The second exhortation is to persevere in the profession
of the hope without wavering. He who made the promises is faithful.
Not only should we have this confidence in God for
ourselves, but we are also to consider one another for mutual encouragement;
and, at the same time, not to fail in the public and common profession of
faith, pretending to maintain it, while avoiding the open identification of
oneself with the Lord's people in the difficulties connected with the
profession of this faith before the world. Besides, this public confession had
a fresh motive in that the day drew nigh. We see that it is the judgment which
is here presented as the thing looked for-in order that it may act on the
conscience, and guard christians from turning back to the world, and from the
influence of the fear of man--rather than the Lord's coming to take up His own
people. Verse 26 is connected with the preceding paragraph (23-25) the last
words of which suggest the warning of verse 26; which is founded, moreover, on
the doctrine of these two chapters (9 and 10), with regard to the sacrifice. He
insists on perseverance in a full confession of Christ, for His one sacrifice
once offered was the only one. If any who had professed to know its value
abandoned it, there was no other sacrifice to which he could have recourse,
neither could it be ever repeated. There remained no more sacrifice for sin.
All sins were pardoned by the efficacy of this sacrifice: but if, after having
known the truth, they were to choose sin instead, there was no other sacrifice
by virtue even of the perfection of that of Christ. Nothing but judgment
remained. Such a professor, having had the knowledge of the truth and having
abandoned it, would assume the character of an adversary.
The case, then, here supposed is the renunciation of the
confession of Christ, deliberately preferring-after having known the truth-to
walk according to one's own will in sin. This is evident, both from that which
precedes and from verse 29.
Thus we have (chaps. 6, 10.) the two great privileges of
Christianity, what distinguishes it from Judaism, presented in order to warn
those who made profession of the former, that the renunciation of the truth,
after enjoying these advantages, was fatal; for if these means of salvation
were renounced, there was no other. These privileges were the manifested
presence and power of the Holy Ghost, and the offering which, by its intrinsic
and absolute value, left no place for any other. Both of these possessed a
mighty efficacy, which, while it gave divine spring and force, and the
manifestation of the presence of God on the one hand, made known on the other
hand the eternal redemption and the perfection of the worshiper; leaving no
means for repentance, if any one abandoned the manifested and known power of
that presence; no place for another sacrifice (which, more over, would have
denied the efficacy of the first), after the perfect work of God in salvation,
perfect whether with regard to redemption or to the presence of God by the
Spirit in the midst of His own. Nothing remained but judgment.
They who despised the law of Moses died without mercy.
What then would not those deserve at the hand of God, who trod under foot the
Son of God, counted the blood of the covenant, by which they had been
sanctified, as a common thing, and did despite to the Spirit of grace? It was
not simple disobedience, however evil that might be; it was contempt of the
grace of God, and of that which He had done, in the Person of Jesus, in order
to deliver us from the consequences of disobedience. On the one hand, what was
there left, if with the knowledge of what it was, they renounced this? On the
other hand, how could they escape judgment? for they know a God who had said
that vengeance belonged unto Him, and that He would recompense; and, again, the
Lord would judge His people.
Observe here the way in which sanctification is
attributed to the blood; and, also, that professors are treated as belonging to
the people. The blood, received by faith, consecrates the soul to God; but it
is here viewed also as an outward means for setting apart the people as a
people. Every individual who had owned Jesus to be the Messiah, and the blood
to be the seal and foundation of an everlasting covenant available for eternal
cleansing and redemption on the part of God, acknowledging himself to be set
apart for God, by this means, as one of the people-every such individual would,
if he renounced it, renounce it as such; and there was no other way of
sanctifying him. The former system had evidently lost its power for him, and
the true one he had abandoned. This is the reason why it is said, " having
received the knowledge of the truth."
Nevertheless he hopes better things, for fruit, the sign
of life, was there. He reminds them how much they had suffered for the truth,
and that they had even received joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing
that they had a better and an abiding portion in heaven. They were not to cast
away this confidence, the reward of which would be great. For in truth they
needed patience, in order that, after having done the will of God, they might
receive the effect of the promise. And He who is to come will come soon.
It is to this life of patience and perseverance that the
chapter applies. But there is a principle which is the strength of this life,
and which characterises it. In the midst of the difficulties of the christian
walk the just shall live by faith; and if anyone draws back, God will have no
pleasure in him. " But," says the author, placing himself as ever in
the midst of the believers, "we are not of them who draw back, but of them
that believe unto the saving of the soul." Thereupon he describes the
action of this faith, encouraging believers by the example of the elders who had
acquired their renown by walking according to the same principle as that by
which the faithful were now called to walk.
[1] It
is not the same word as to "bore, or thrust through , in Exodus 21 nor as
"open" in Isaiah 1. The one (digged) is, to prepare for obedience,
the other would be to bind to it for ever, and to subject to the obedience when
due. Exodus 21 intimates, the blessed truth that, when He had fulfilled His personal
service on earth, He would not abandon either His assembly or His people. He is
ever God, but ever man, the humbled man, the glorified and reigning man, the
subject man, in the joy of eternal perfection.
[2] As
throughout the epistle, the Messiah is the subject. In the psalm it is the
Messiah who speaks, that is, the Anointed here below. He expresses His patience
and faithfulness in the position which He had taken, addressing Jehovah as his
God and He tells us that He took this place willingly, according to the eternal
counsels respecting His own Person. For the Person is not changed. But He
speaks in the psalm according to the position of obedience which He had taken,
saying always, 'I' and 'me', in speaking of what took place before His
incarnation.
[3]
Remark, also, here not only the substitution of the reality for the ceremonial
figures of the law, but the difference of principle. The law required for
righteousness, that man should do the will of God, and rightly. That was human
righteousness. Here Christ undertakes to do it, and has accomplished it in the
offering up of Himself. His so doing the will of God is the basis of our
relationship with God, and it is done, and we are accepted. As born of God our
delight is to do God's will, but it is in love and newness of nature, not in
order to be accepted.
[4] It
speaks of this last in the exhortations, chapter 12:14. But in the doctrine of
the epistle, "sanctification" is not used in the practical sense of
what is wrought in us.
[5] The
word translated here " for ever " is not the same word that is used
for eternally. It has the sense of continuously without interruption,
"eis" ____ "dienekes". He does not rise up or stand. He is
ever seated, His work being finished. He will indeed rise up at the end to come
and fetch us, and to judge the world, even as this same passage tells us.
[6] There
is a difference in detail here; but it does not affect my present subject. The
High Priest has to do with our access to God; the Advocate with our communion
with the Father and His government of us as children. The Epistle to the
Hebrews treats of the ground of access and shews us to be perfected for ever;
and the priestly intercession does not apply to sins in that respect. It brings
mercy and grace to help in time of need here, but we are perfected for ever
before God. But communion is necessarily interrupted by the least sin or idle
thought-yea, really had been, practically if not judicially, before the idle
thought was there. Here the advocacy of John comes in: " If any man
sin," and the soul is restored. But there is never imputation to the
believer.
── John Darby《Synopsis of Hebrews》
Hebrews 10
Chapter Contents
The insufficiency of sacrifices for taking away sin, The
necessity and power of the sacrifice of Christ for that purpose. (1-18) An
argument for holy boldness in the believer's access to God through Jesus
Christ, And for steadfastness in faith, and mutual love and duty. (19-25) The
danger of apostacy. (26-31) The sufferings of believers, and encouragement to
maintain their holy profession. (32-39)
Commentary on Hebrews 10:1-10
(Read Hebrews 10:1-10)
The apostle having shown that the tabernacle, and
ordinances of the covenant of Sinai, were only emblems and types of the gospel,
concludes that the sacrifices the high priests offered continually, could not
make the worshippers perfect, with respect to pardon, and the purifying of
their consciences. But when "God manifested in the flesh," became the
sacrifice, and his death upon the accursed tree the ransom, then the Sufferer
being of infinite worth, his free-will sufferings were of infinite value. The
atoning sacrifice must be one capable of consenting, and must of his own will
place himself in the sinner's stead: Christ did so. The fountain of all that
Christ has done for his people, is the sovereign will and grace of God. The
righteousness brought in, and the sacrifice once offered by Christ, are of
eternal power, and his salvation shall never be done away. They are of power to
make all the comers thereunto perfect; they derive from the atoning blood,
strength and motives for obedience, and inward comfort.
Commentary on Hebrews 10:11-18
(Read Hebrews 10:11-18)
Under the new covenant, or gospel dispensation, full and
final pardon is to be had. This makes a vast difference between the new
covenant and the old one. Under the old, sacrifices must be often repeated, and
after all, only pardon as to this world was to be obtained by them. Under the
new, one Sacrifice is enough to procure for all nations and ages, spiritual
pardon, or being freed from punishment in the world to come. Well might this be
called a new covenant. Let none suppose that human inventions can avail those
who put them in the place of the sacrifice of the Son of God. What then
remains, but that we seek an interest in this Sacrifice by faith; and the seal
of it to our souls, by the sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience? So that
by the law being written in our hearts, we may know that we are justified, and
that God will no more remember our sins.
Commentary on Hebrews 10:19-25
(Read Hebrews 10:19-25)
The apostle having closed the first part of the epistle,
the doctrine is applied to practical purposes. As believers had an open way to
the presence of God, it became them to use this privilege. The way and means by
which Christians enjoy such privileges, is by the blood of Jesus, by the merit
of that blood which he offered up as an atoning sacrifice. The agreement of
infinite holiness with pardoning mercy, was not clearly understood till the
human nature of Christ, the Son of God, was wounded and bruised for our sins.
Our way to heaven is by a crucified Saviour; his death is to us the way of
life, and to those who believe this, he will be precious. They must draw near
to God; it would be contempt of Christ, still to keep at a distance. Their
bodies were to be washed with pure water, alluding to the cleansings directed
under the law: thus the use of water in baptism, was to remind Christians that
their conduct should be pure and holy. While they derived comfort and grace
from their reconciled Father to their own souls, they would adorn the doctrine
of God their Saviour in all things. Believers are to consider how they can be
of service to each other, especially stirring up each other to the more
vigorous and abundant exercise of love, and the practice of good works. The
communion of saints is a great help and privilege, and a means of stedfastness
and perseverance. We should observe the coming of times of trial, and be
thereby quickened to greater diligence. There is a trying day coming on all
men, the day of our death.
Commentary on Hebrews 10:26-31
(Read Hebrews 10:26-31)
The exhortations against apostacy and to perseverance,
are urged by many strong reasons. The sin here mentioned is a total and final
falling away, when men, with a full and fixed will and resolution, despise and
reject Christ, the only Saviour; despise and resist the Spirit, the only
Sanctifier; and despise and renounce the gospel, the only way of salvation, and
the words of eternal life. Of this destruction God gives some notorious
sinners, while on earth, a fearful foreboding in their consciences, with
despair of being able to endure or to escape it. But what punishment can be
sorer than to die without mercy? We answer, to die by mercy, by the mercy and
grace which they have despised. How dreadful is the case, when not only the
justice of God, but his abused grace and mercy call for vengeance! All this
does not in the least mean that any souls who sorrow for sin will be shut out
from mercy, or that any will be refused the benefit of Christ's sacrifice, who
are willing to accept these blessings. Him that cometh unto Christ, he will in
no wise cast out.
Commentary on Hebrews 10:32-39
(Read Hebrews 10:32-39)
Many and various afflictions united against the early
Christians, and they had a great conflict. The Christian spirit is not a
selfish spirit; it puts us upon pitying others, visiting them, helping them,
and pleading for them. All things here are but shadows. The happiness of the
saints in heaven will last for ever; enemies can never take it away as earthly
goods. This will make rich amends for all we may lose and suffer here. The
greatest part of the saints' happiness, as yet, is in promise. It is a trial of
the patience of Christians, to be content to live after their work is done, and
to stay for their reward till God's time to give it is come. He will soon come
to them at death, to end all their sufferings, and to give them a crown of
life. The Christian's present conflict may be sharp, but will be soon over. God
never is pleased with the formal profession and outward duties and services of
such as do not persevere; but he beholds them with great displeasure. And those
who have been kept faithful in great trails for the time past, have reason to
hope for the same grace to help them still to live by faith, till they receive
the end of their faith and patience, even the salvation of their souls. Living
by faith, and dying in faith, our souls are safe for ever.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Hebrews》
Hebrews 10
Verse 1
[1] For
the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the
things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
From all that has been said it appears, that
the law, the Mosaic dispensation, being a bare, unsubstantial shadow of good
things to come, of the gospel blessings, and not the substantial, solid image
of them, can never with the same kind of sacrifices, though continually
repeated, make the comers thereunto perfect, either as to justification or
sanctification. How is it possible, that any who consider this should suppose
the attainments of David, or any who were under that dispensation, to be the
proper measure of gospel holiness; and that Christian experience is to rise no
higher than Jewish?
Verse 2
[2] For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the
worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
They who had been once perfectly purged,
would have been no longer conscious either of the guilt or power of their sins.
Verse 3
[3] But
in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
There is a public commemoration of the sins
both of the last and of all the preceding years; a clear proof that the guilt
thereof is not perfectly purged away.
Verse 4
[4] For
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
It is impossible the blood of goats should
take away sins — Either the guilt or the power of them.
Verse 5
[5] Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
When he cometh into the world — In the fortieth psalm the Messiah's coming into the world is
represented. It is said, into the world, not into the tabernacle, Hebrews 9:1; because all the world is interested
in his sacrifice.
A body hast thou prepared for me — That I may offer up myself. Psalms 40:6,etc.
Verse 7
[7] Then
said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy
will, O God.
In the volume of the book — In this very psalm it is written of me. Accordingly I come to do thy
will - By the sacrifice of myself.
Verse 8
[8]
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for
sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the
law;
Above when he said, Sacrifice thou hast not
chosen — That is, when the Psalmist pronounced
those words in his name.
Verse 9
[9] Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he
may establish the second.
Then said he — in
that very instant he subjoined.
Lo, I come to do Thy will — To offer a more acceptable sacrifice; and by this very act he taketh
away the legal, that he may establish the evangelical, dispensation.
Verse 10
[10] By
the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all.
By which will — Of
God, done and suffered by Christ.
We are sanctified —
Cleansed from guilt, and consecrated to God.
Verse 11
[11] And
every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
Every priest standeth — As a servant in an humble posture.
Verse 12
[12] But
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the
right hand of God;
But he —
The virtue of whose one sacrifice remains for ever.
Sat down — As
a son, in majesty and honour.
Verse 13
[13] From
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
Verse 14
[14] For
by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
He hath perfected them for ever — That is, has done all that was needful in order to their full
reconciliation with God.
Verse 15
[15]
Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said
before,
In this and the three following verses, the
apostle winds up his argument concerning the excellency and perfection of the
priesthood and sacrifice of Christ. He had proved this before by a quotation
from Jeremiah; which he here repeats, describing the new covenant as now
completely ratified, and all the blessings of it secured to us by the one
offering of Christ, which renders all other expiatory sacrifices, and any
repetition of his own, utterly needless.
Verse 16
[16] This
is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I
will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Jeremiah 31:33, etc.
Verse 19
[19]
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of
Jesus,
Having finished the doctrinal part of his
epistle, the apostle now proceeds to exhortation deduced from what has been
treated of Hebrews 5:4, which he begins by a brief
recapitulation.
Having therefore liberty to enter, —
Verse 20
[20] By a
new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is
to say, his flesh;
By a living way —
The way of faith, whereby we live indeed.
Which he hath consecrated — Prepared, dedicated, and established for us.
Through the veil, that is, his flesh — As by rending the veil in the temple, the holy of holies became visible
and accessible; so by wounding the body of Christ, the God of heaven was
manifested, and the way to heaven opened.
Verse 22
[22] Let
us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us draw near — To
God.
With a true heart — In
godly sincerity.
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience — So as to condemn us no longer And our
bodies washed with pure water - All our conversation spotless and holy, which
is far more acceptable to God than all the legal sprinklings and washings.
Verse 23
[23] Let
us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful
that promised;)
The profession of our hope — The hope which we professed at our baptism.
Verse 25
[25] Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but
exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Not forsaking the assembling ourselves — In public or private worship.
As the manner of some is — Either through fear of persecution, or from a vain imagination that they
were above external ordinances.
But exhorting one another — To faith, love, and good works.
And so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching — The great day is ever in your eye.
Verse 26
[26] For
if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
For when we —
Any of us Christians.
Sin wilfully — By
total apostasy from God, termed "drawing back," Hebrews 10:38. After having received the
experimental knowledge of the gospel truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins - None but that which we obstinately reject.
Verse 28
[28] He
that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
He that, in capital cases, despised
(presumptuously transgressed) the law of Moses died without mercy - Without any
delay or mitigation of his punishment.
Verse 29
[29] Of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath
trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace?
Of how much sorer punishment is he worthy,
who — By wilful, total apostasy. It does not
appear that this passage refers to any other sin. Hath, as it were, trodden
underfoot the Son of God - A lawgiver far more honourable than Moses. And
counted the blood wherewith the better covenant was established, an unholy, a
common, worthless thing. By which he hath been sanctified - Therefore Christ
died for him also, and he was at least justified once.
And done despite to the Spirit of grace — By rejecting all his motions.
Verse 30
[30] For
we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense,
saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
The Lord will judge his people — Yea, far more rigorously than the heathens, if they rebel against him. Deuteronomy 32:35, etc.
Verse 31
[31] It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
To fall into the hands — Of his avenging justice.
Verse 32
[32] But
call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye
endured a great fight of afflictions;
Enlightened —
With the knowledge of God and of his truth.
Verse 34
[34] For
ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your
goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring
substance.
For ye sympathized with all your suffering
brethren, and with me in particular; and received joyfully the loss of your own
goods.
Verse 35
[35] Cast
not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
Cast not away therefore this your confidence
- Your faith and hope; which none can deprive you of but yourselves.
Verse 36
[36] For
ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promise.
The promise —
Perfect love; eternal life.
Verse 37
[37] For
yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
He that cometh — To
reward every man according to his works.
Verse 38
[38] Now
the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no
pleasure in him.
Now the just —
The justified person.
Shall live — In
God's favour, a spiritual and holy life.
By faith — As
long as he retains that gift of God.
But if he draw back — If
he make shipwreck of his faith My soul hath no pleasure in him - That is, I
abhor him; I cast him off. Habakkuk 2:3, etc.
Verse 39
[39] But
we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to
the saving of the soul.
We are not of them who draw back to perdition — Like him mentioned Hebrews 10:38.
But of them that believe — To the end, so as to attain eternal life.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Hebrews》
Chapter 10. Follow God's Will
Set Aside the
First
Establish the Second
I. Sacrifice
Once for All
II. Draw Near
to God
III. The
Righteous Lives by Faith
── Chih-Hsin
Chang《An Outline of
The New Testament》