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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Hebrews 10 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/hebrews/10.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/hebrews/10.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/hebrews/10-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../hebrews/">Hebrews</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../hebrews/9.htm" title="Hebrews 9">◄</a> Hebrews 10 <a href="../hebrews/11.htm" title="Hebrews 11">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"><span class= "bld">X.</span><p>The latter part of the ninth chapter was an expansion of <a href="/context/hebrews/10-11.htm" title="And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:">Hebrews 10:11-12</a>. In particular, <a href="/context/hebrews/10-23.htm" title="Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)">Hebrews 10:23-28</a> have been occupied with the theme, “Christ entered once for all into the Holy Place, having won eternal redemption.” The repeated offerings presented by the high priests have been contrasted with the sacrifice which He has offered. To this thought the opening verses of this chapter attach themselves, explaining more fully the inefficacy of the one, the power and virtue of the other. Gradually the main thoughts of the preceding chapters are gathered up, and the last and chief division of the argument of the Epistle is brought to a close in <a href="/hebrews/10-18.htm" title="Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.">Hebrews 10:18</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-1.htm">Hebrews 10:1</a></div><div class="verse">For the law having a shadow of good things to come, <i>and</i> not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.</div>(1) <span class= "bld">A Shadow of good things to come.</span>—These words have already come before us; the “shadow” in <a href="/hebrews/8-5.htm" title="Who serve to the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, said he, that you make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount.">Hebrews 8:5</a>, and “the good things to come” in the ordinary reading of <a href="/hebrews/9-11.htm" title="But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;">Hebrews 9:11</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Not the very image.—</span>The antithesis is hardly what we should have expected. The word “image” is indeed consistent with the very closest and most perfect likeness; but why is the contrast to “shadow” expressed by a word which cannot denote more than likeness, and not by a reference to the things themselves? The answer would seem to be that, from the very nature of the “good things to come,” the law could not be conceived of as having the things themselves; but had it possessed “the very image” of them, a representation so perfect might have been found to bring with it equal efficacy.<p><span class= "bld">Can never with those sacrifices.</span>—It is difficult to ascertain the exact Greek text in the latter half of this verse. With the ordinary reading the general construction of the sentence is that which the Authorised version represents, “For the law . . . can never . . . make perfect.” The better MSS., however, read “they can,” a change which introduces some irregularity of construction: the pronoun “they” must probably in this case be understood of the priests. The order of the Greek is also very peculiar. Two translations of the verse (with the changed reading) may be given: (1) “They can never with the same sacrifices year by year which they offer continually make them that draw nigh perfect.” (2) “They can never year by year, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, make them that draw nigh perfect.” The difference between the two renderings will be easily seen. The former makes the whole sentence to relate to the annual sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, and gives to “continually” almost the same meaning as “year by year.” The meaning of the latter is that by the annual sacrifices, which are the same as those which the priests are offering for the people day by day (for the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement did not <span class= "ital">in itself</span> differ from the ordinary sin offering), they cannot make the worshippers perfect. The latter translation agrees best with the original, and conveys a very striking thought. <span class= "ital">It</span> is open, however, to a very serious objection—that it separates the verse into two incongruous parts. That annual sacrifices not different in kind from the sin offerings which were presented day by day (and which the very institution of the Day of Atonement declared to be imperfect) could not bring to the worshippers what they needed, is an important argument; but it has no connection with the first words of the verse. Hence, though the Greek does not very readily yield the former translation, it is probably to be preferred. With the expression “them that draw nigh” or “approach” (to God) comp. <a href="/hebrews/7-26.htm" title="For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;">Hebrews 7:26</a>, where the same word is used. On “make perfect” see <a href="/hebrews/7-11.htm" title="If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?">Hebrews 7:11</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-9.htm" title="Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;">Hebrews 9:9</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-2.htm">Hebrews 10:2</a></div><div class="verse">For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.</div>(2) <span class= "bld">For then.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">otherwise.</span> The very repetition of the annual ceremonial was a testimony to its imperfection. The idea of repetition has been very strikingly brought out in <a href="/hebrews/10-1.htm" title="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.">Hebrews 10:1</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Once purged.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have no more consciousness of sins. “</span>Worshippers,” not the same word as in <a href="/hebrews/10-1.htm" title="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.">Hebrews 10:1</a>, but similarly used in <a href="/hebrews/9-9.htm" title="Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;">Hebrews 9:9</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-14.htm" title="How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?">Hebrews 9:14</a>; <a href="/hebrews/12-28.htm" title="Why we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:">Hebrews 12:28</a> (<a href="/philippians/3-3.htm" title="For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.">Philippians 3:3</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>): in <a href="/hebrews/8-5.htm" title="Who serve to the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, said he, that you make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount.">Hebrews 8:5</a>; <a href="/hebrews/13-10.htm" title="We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.">Hebrews 13:10</a>, it is applied to priestly service.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-3.htm">Hebrews 10:3</a></div><div class="verse">But in those <i>sacrifices there is</i> a remembrance again <i>made</i> of sins every year.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">There is a remembrance.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">a remembrance of sins is made year by year.</span> In each of the three prayers of the high priest (see <a href="/hebrews/5-3.htm" title="And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.">Hebrews 5:3</a>) for himself and his house, for the priesthood, for the people, he made special acknowledgment of sin. “I have sinned, I and my house and the sons of Aaron: Thy people have done perversely.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-4.htm">Hebrews 10:4</a></div><div class="verse">For <i>it is</i> not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.</div>(4) This verse explains those which precede. No inconsistency really belonged to these sacrifices and this ceremonial, though so often repeated; for it was impossible that any such sacrifice should really remove sin. The offering was necessary, and it answered its purpose; but it could not remove the necessity for another and a better offering.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-5.htm">Hebrews 10:5</a></div><div class="verse">Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:</div>(5) <span class= "bld">Wherefore.</span>—That is, on account of this powerlessness of the sacrifices of the law.<p><span class= "bld">He saith.</span>—Christ, in the prophetic word of Scripture. Though not directly mentioned here, He has been the subject of the whole context (<a href="/context/hebrews/9-25.htm" title="Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others;">Hebrews 9:25-28</a>). The words which follow are a quotation from <a href="/context/psalms/40-6.htm" title="Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required.">Psalm 40:6-8</a>, and agree substantially with the LXX., except that in <a href="/hebrews/10-7.htm" title="Then said I, See, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.">Hebrews 10:7</a> a word of some importance is omitted (see the Note there). The LXX., again, is on the whole a faithful representation of the Hebrew text: one clause only (the last in this verse) presents difficulty. Particular expressions will be noticed as they occur: the general meaning and application of the psalm must first receive attention. Like Ps. 1. and 51 (with some verses of Psalms 69), Psalms 40 is remarkable for its anticipation of the teaching of the prophets (<a href="/context/isaiah/1-11.htm" title="To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me? said the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.">Isaiah 1:11-17</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/7-21.htm" title="Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh.">Jeremiah 7:21</a>; <a href="/hosea/6-6.htm" title="For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.">Hosea 6:6</a>; <a href="/context/micah/6-6.htm" title="With which shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?">Micah 6:6-8</a>; <span class= "ital">et al.</span>) on one point, the inferior worth of ceremonial observances when contrasted with moral duties. It seems probable that the psalm is David’s, as the inscription relates, and that its key-note is to be found in the words of Samuel to Saul (<a href="/1_samuel/15-22.htm" title="And Samuel said, Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.">1Samuel 15:22</a>): “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying (literally, <span class= "ital">hearkening to</span>) the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey (literally, <span class= "ital">to hear</span>) is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” The first part of the psalm is an expression of thanksgiving to God for deliverance from peril. David has learned the true mode of displaying gratitude, not by offerings of slain animals, but by the sacrifice of the will. So far does the latter excel the former, so truly is the sacrifice of will in accordance with the will of God, that the value of the legal offerings is in comparison as nothing. There is in all this no real slighting of the sacrificial ritual (see <a href="/context/jeremiah/7-21.htm" title="Thus said the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat flesh.">Jeremiah 7:21-28</a>), but there is a profound appreciation of the superiority of spiritual service to mere ritual observance. It can hardly be said that this quotation rests on the same principle as those of the first chapter. The psalm is certainly not Messianic, in the sense of being wholly predictive like Psalms 110, or directly typical like Psalms 2. In some respects, indeed, it resembles 2 Samuel 7 (See the Note on <a href="/hebrews/1-5.htm" title="For to which of the angels said he at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?">Hebrews 1:5</a>.) As there, after words which are quoted in this Epistle in reference to Christ, we read of David’s son as committing iniquity and receiving punishment; so in this psalm we read, “Mine iniquities are more than the hairs of mine head.” David comes with a new perception of the true will of God, to offer Him the service in which He takes pleasure. And yet not so—for such service as he can offer is itself defective; his sins surround him yet in their results and penalties. Hence, in his understanding and his offering of himself he is a type, whilst his sinfulness and weakness render him but an imperfect type, of Him that was to come. Such passages as these constitute a distinct and very interesting division of Messianic prophecy. We may then thus trace the principle on which the psalm is here applied. Jesus came to His Father with that perfect offering of will and self which was foreshadowed in the best impulses of the best of the men of God, whose inspired utterances the Scriptures record. The words of David, but partially true of himself, are fulfilled in the Son of David. Since, then, these words describe the purpose of the Saviour’s life, we can have no difficulty in understanding the introductory words, “when He cometh into the world, He saith;” or the seventh verse, where we read, “Lo, I am come to do Thy will.” When David saw the true meaning of the law, he thus came before God; the purpose of Jesus, when He received the body which was the necessary instrument for human obedience, finds its full expression in these words.<p><span class= "bld">Sacrifice and offering.</span>—The corresponding Hebrew words denote the two divisions of offerings, as made with or without the shedding of blood.<p><span class= "bld">But a body hast thou prepared me.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">but a body didst Thou prepare for me.</span> Few discrepancies between the LXX. and the Hebrew have attracted more notice than that which these words present. The words of the Psalmist are, “In sacrifice and offering Thou hast not delighted: ears hast Thou digged for me.” As in Samuel’s words, already referred to as containing the germ of the psalm, sacrifice is contrasted with <span class= "ital">hearing</span> and with <span class= "ital">hearkening to the voice of the Lord, </span>the meaning evidently is, Thou hast given me the power of hearing so as to obey. A channel of communication has been opened, through which the knowledge of God’s true will can reach the heart, and excite the desire to obey. All ancient Greek versions except the LXX. more or less clearly express the literal meaning. It has been supposed that the translators of the LXX. had before them a different reading of the Hebrew text, preferable to that which is found in our present copies. This is very unlikely. Considering the general principles of their translation, we may with greater probability suppose that they designed merely to express the general meaning, avoiding a literal rendering of a Hebrew metaphor which seemed harsh and abrupt. They seem to have understood the Psalmist as acknowledging that God had given him that which would produce obedience; and to this (they thought) would correspond the preparation of a body which might be the instrument of rendering willing service. If the present context be carefully examined, we shall see that, though the writer does afterwards make reference (<a href="/hebrews/10-10.htm" title="By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.">Hebrews 10:10</a>) to the new words here introduced, they are in no way necessary to his argument, nor does he lay on them any stress.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-6.htm">Hebrews 10:6</a></div><div class="verse">In burnt offerings and <i>sacrifices</i> for sin thou hast had no pleasure.</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Burnt offerings.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">whole burnt offerings.</span> These (which were the symbol of complete consecration) are not mentioned in this Epistle, except in this verse and <a href="/hebrews/10-8.htm" title="Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;">Hebrews 10:8</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Thou hast had no pleasure.</span>—Better (for conformity with the preceding clauses), <span class= "ital">Thou hadst no</span> <span class= "ital">pleasure.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-7.htm">Hebrews 10:7</a></div><div class="verse">Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.</div>(7) <span class= "bld">Lo, I come.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Lo, I am come</span>—I am here. The original meaning of the following words is not quite certain. The Hebrew admits of two renderings. (1) Then I said, Lo, I am come! in the roll of the Book it is prescribed unto me; (2) Then I said, Lo, I am come with the roll of the Book that is written concerning me. The “roll of the Book” is the roll containing the Divine Law. The next clause is quite distinct in construction: “I delight to do Thy will, O God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.” The omission of the words “I delight,” alters the connection of the words; but it will be seen that, though the Hebrew verses are condensed, their meaning is exactly preserved.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-8.htm">Hebrews 10:8</a></div><div class="verse">Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and <i>offering</i> for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure <i>therein</i>; which are offered by the law;</div>(8) <span class= "bld">Above when he said.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">Whereas he saith above;</span> or, as we might express it, “Saying at the outset,” “Setting out with saying.” In the following words the best MSS. have the plural, “<span class= "ital">Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and </span>(<span class= "ital">sacrifices</span>)<span class= "ital"> for sin.”</span> The change from singular to plural is in harmony with the thought of <a href="/context/hebrews/10-1.htm" title="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.">Hebrews 10:1-4</a>, the repetition of sacrifices.<p><span class= "bld">Which are offered by the law.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">such as are offered according to law.</span> The change from “the law” to “law” seems intentional, as if the writer had in thought the contrast between any external law of ritual and a principle of inward obedience.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-9.htm">Hebrews 10:9</a></div><div class="verse">Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">Then said he, Lo, I come.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do Thy will.</span> The words “O God” are not in the true text, but have been accidentally repeated from <a href="/hebrews/10-7.htm" title="Then said I, See, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.">Hebrews 10:7</a>.<p><span class= "bld">He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.</span>—It is important to inquire how this is done, first in the case of the writer of the psalm, then as the words are used of Jesus. David, perceiving that that which God seeks is the subjection of man’s will, refuses to rest in the sacrifices of the law. No one will think that burnt offering or gift or sacrifice for sin was henceforth at an end for him: the confession of his iniquities (<a href="/hebrews/10-12.htm" title="But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;">Hebrews 10:12</a>) implied a recourse to the appointed means of approach to God: even the sacrifices themselves were taken up into the service of obedience. But to the symbols shall be added the consecration and the sacrifice of praise (<a href="/psalms/50-23.htm" title="Whoever offers praise glorifies me: and to him that orders his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.">Psalm 50:23</a>) which they typified. The application to the Saviour must be interpreted by this context. In making these words His own, He declares the sacrifices of the law to be in themselves without virtue; Jehovah seeks them not from Him, but, having prepared a human body for Him, seeks only the fulfilment of His will. But included in that will of God was Christ’s offering of Himself for the world; and, on the other hand, it was His perfect surrender of Himself that gave completeness to that offering. His death was at once the antitype of the sacrifice for sin and the consummation of the words, “I am come to do Thy will, O God.” Hence, in saying, “Lo, I am come to do Thy will” (that which God has really willed), He taketh away the sacrifices of slain animals that He may establish the doing of God’s will. That such sacrifices as were formerly offered are no longer according to God’s pleasure follows as an inference from this.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-10.htm">Hebrews 10:10</a></div><div class="verse">By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once <i>for all</i>.</div>(10) <span class= "bld">By the which will we are sanctified.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">In which will we have been sanctified.</span> In the last verse we read of that which Jesus established—the doing of the will of God. He did that will when He offered the sacrifice of His perfect obedience—“obedience as far as death” (<a href="/philippians/2-8.htm" title="And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross.">Philippians 2:8</a>). In this will of God which He accomplished lies our sanctification, effected “through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” In <a href="/hebrews/9-14.htm" title="How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?">Hebrews 9:14</a> the efficacy of the blood of Christ to cleanse the conscience is contrasted with the power of the offerings of the law to “sanctify in regard to cleanness of the flesh:” here the real sanctification is joined with “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ.” In the word “body” lies a reference to <a href="/hebrews/10-8.htm" title="Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;">Hebrews 10:8</a>, where the body is looked on as the instrument of obedient service (comp. <a href="/romans/12-1.htm" title="I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.">Romans 12:1</a>); but the word “offering” still preserves its sacrificial character, and contains an allusion to the presentation of the body of the slain victim. (Comp. <a href="/hebrews/13-11.htm" title="For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.">Hebrews 13:11</a>). As this offering has been presented “once for all” (<a href="/hebrews/7-27.htm" title="Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.">Hebrews 7:27</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-12.htm" title="Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.">Hebrews 9:12</a>), so “once for all” has the work of sanctification been achieved.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-11.htm">Hebrews 10:11</a></div><div class="verse">And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:</div>(11) The last was a verse of transition. Naturally following from and completing the previous argument, it leads in the words “once for all” to a new thought, or rather prepares the way for the resumption of a subject to which in an earlier chapter marked prominence was given. If the sanctifying work of the true High Priest has been accomplished “once for all,” such ministry remains for Him no longer (<a href="/context/hebrews/10-12.htm" title="But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;">Hebrews 10:12-14</a>). Here, then, the writer brings us back to <a href="/context/hebrews/8-1.htm" title="Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;">Hebrews 8:1-2</a>—to that which he there declared to be the crowning point of all his words.<p><span class= "bld">And every priest.</span>—Some ancient MSS. and versions read “high priest,” but the ordinary text is in all probability correct. (With the other reading the work of the priests in their daily ministrations is ascribed to the high priest, whose representatives they were.) Hitherto the thought has rested almost entirely on the ceremonial of the Day of Atonement; there is therefore new significance in the contrast between Jesus and “<span class= "ital">every</span> priest” in all His ministrations. On “standeth” see the Note on <a href="/hebrews/8-1.htm" title="Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;">Hebrews 8:1</a>. The accumulation of words which point to the ceaseless repetition of the offerings of the law (<a href="/hebrews/10-1.htm" title="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.">Hebrews 10:1</a>) is very noteworthy. The last words point to <a href="/hebrews/10-4.htm" title="For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.">Hebrews 10:4</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-12.htm">Hebrews 10:12</a></div><div class="verse">But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;</div>(12) <span class= "bld">But this man.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">but He.</span> In the main this verse is a combination of <a href="/hebrews/7-27.htm" title="Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.">Hebrews 7:27</a> (<a href="/hebrews/9-26.htm" title="For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.">Hebrews 9:26</a>) and <a href="/hebrews/8-1.htm" title="Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;">Hebrews 8:1</a>. One addition is made, in the words, “for ever.” These words (which occur in three other places, <a href="/hebrews/7-3.htm" title="Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like to the Son of God; stays a priest continually.">Hebrews 7:3</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-1.htm" title="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.">Hebrews 10:1</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-14.htm" title="For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified.">Hebrews 10:14</a>) are by many joined with what precedes, by others with the latter part of the sentence, “it down on the right hand of God.” The different editions of our Bible and Prayer Book (Epistle for Good Friday) are divided, some (including the earliest) having a comma at the word “ever,” others at “sins.” In most of our earlier English versions the construction adopted was shown by the arrangement of the words. Thus Tyndale has, “sat him down for ever;” and the Bishops’ Bible, “is set down for ever.” Coverdale (following Luther) is very clear on the other side: “when He had offered for sins one sacrifice which is of value for ever.” Most modern commentators seem to adopt the latter view (“for ever sat down”), but hardly, perhaps, with sufficient reason. The analogy of <a href="/hebrews/10-14.htm" title="For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified.">Hebrews 10:14</a> is distinctly on the other side; and the Greek phrase rendered “for ever” is more suitably applied to the offering of a sacrifice than to the thought of the following words. The contrast to <a href="/hebrews/10-11.htm" title="And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:">Hebrews 10:11</a> is strongly marked. The sacrificial work has been performed, and the High Priest no longer “standeth ministering.” The words “sat down” (<a href="/psalms/110-1.htm" title="The LORD said to my Lord, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.">Psalm 110:1</a>) add to the priestly imagery that of kingly state.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-13.htm">Hebrews 10:13</a></div><div class="verse">From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">Expecting.</span>—This word belongs to the contrast just mentioned. He does not minister and offer His sacrifice again, but waits for the promised subjection of His foes. Once before in this context (<a href="/hebrews/9-28.htm" title="So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin to salvation.">Hebrews 9:28</a>) our thought has been thus directed to the future consummation. There it consists in the second coming of Christ for the salvation of “them that wait for Him;” here it is He Himself who is “waiting,” and the end is the attainment of supreme dominion. (See <a href="/hebrews/1-3.htm" title="Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:">Hebrews 1:3</a>; <a href="/hebrews/1-13.htm" title="But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?">Hebrews 1:13</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-14.htm">Hebrews 10:14</a></div><div class="verse">For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.</div>(14) No repetition of His offering is needed, for by one offering He hath brought all unto “perfection,” and that “for ever.” In <a href="/hebrews/7-11.htm" title="If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?">Hebrews 7:11</a> we have read that “perfection” did not come through the Levitical priesthood or through the law (<a href="/hebrews/10-19.htm" title="Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,">Hebrews 10:19</a>); the object of man’s hopes and of all priestly service has at last been attained, since through the “great High Priest” “we draw nigh to God” (<a href="/hebrews/7-19.htm" title="For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw near to God.">Hebrews 7:19</a>). In this is involved salvation to the uttermost (<a href="/hebrews/7-25.htm" title="Why he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.">Hebrews 7:25</a>). The last word of this verse has occurred before, in <a href="/hebrews/2-11.htm" title="For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,">Hebrews 2:11</a>. As was there explained, it literally means those who <span class= "ital">are being sanctified, </span>all those who, from age to age, through faith (<a href="/hebrews/10-22.htm" title="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.">Hebrews 10:22</a>) receive as their own that which has been procured for all men.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-15.htm">Hebrews 10:15</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Whereof</i> the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,</div>(15) <span class= "bld">Whereof.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">And the Holy Ghost also beareth witness unto us.</span> The Holy Ghost, speaking in Scripture (<a href="/hebrews/3-7.htm" title="Why (as the Holy Ghost said, To day if you will hear his voice,">Hebrews 3:7</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-8.htm" title="The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:">Hebrews 9:8</a>)—the Scripture quoted in <a href="/context/hebrews/8-8.htm" title="For finding fault with them, he said, Behold, the days come, said the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:">Hebrews 8:8-12</a>—beareth witness.<p><span class= "bld">After that he had said before.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">after He hath said.</span> The word “before” is not in the best MSS.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-16.htm">Hebrews 10:16</a></div><div class="verse">This <i>is</i> 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;</div>(16) <span class= "bld">I will put my laws.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">putting my laws upon their heart, upon their mind also will I write them.</span> The first part of the quotation (<a href="/context/hebrews/8-8.htm" title="For finding fault with them, he said, Behold, the days come, said the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:">Hebrews 8:8-10</a> in part) is omitted, and also some later lines (the last words of <a href="/hebrews/10-10.htm" title="By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.">Hebrews 10:10</a> and the whole of <a href="/hebrews/10-11.htm" title="And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:">Hebrews 10:11</a> in Hebrews 8). In the remainder we notice some variations, which prove that the writer is not aiming at verbal agreement with the original passage, but is quoting the substance only. (See the Note on <a href="/hebrews/8-10.htm" title="For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:">Hebrews 8:10</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-17.htm">Hebrews 10:17</a></div><div class="verse">And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.</div>(17) Every reader must feel that as these verses stand in the Authorised version the sense is imperfect. The words “after He hath said before” (<a href="/hebrews/10-15.htm" title="Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,">Hebrews 10:15</a>) imply “then He saith,” or similar words, at some point in the verses which follow. Our translators did not attempt to complete the sense; for the marginal note (“some copies have, <span class= "ital">Then he saith, And their”</span>) found in ordinary editions was added at a later date.<span class= "note">[12]</span> By many commentators it is believed that the words “saith the Lord” (<a href="/hebrews/10-16.htm" title="This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, said the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;">Hebrews 10:16</a>) are intended as the completion of the sentence, so that no supplement is needed. This is, we think, very improbable. As it is the last part of the quotation that is taken up here, it is at the beginning of this verse that the explanatory words must come in: “<span class= "ital">Then He saith, </span>And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” This we have seen to be the crowning promise of the new covenant of which Jesus is the Mediator. When these words were first quoted (<a href="/hebrews/8-12.htm" title="For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.">Hebrews 8:12</a>), some important points in the argument were still untouched. Now the firm basis of the promise has been shown, for the covenant has been ratified by the death of Christ, and the blessings He has won for men are eternal (<a href="/hebrews/9-15.htm" title="And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.">Hebrews 9:15</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-12.htm" title="Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.">Hebrews 9:12</a>).<p><span class= "note">[12] From Dr. Scrivener’s “Cambridge Paragraph Bible<span class= "ital">”</span> (p. xxxii.) we learn that the note was added by Dr. Paris in the Cambridge Bible of 1762. Dr. Scrivener adds: “probably from the Philoxenian Syriac version, then just becoming know.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-18.htm">Hebrews 10:18</a></div><div class="verse">Now where remission of these <i>is, there is</i> no more offering for sin.</div>(</span>18<span class= "note">)</span> <span class= "bld">Now where.</span>—Bather, <span class= "ital">But where remission</span> (or <span class= "ital">forgiveness, </span>see <a href="/hebrews/9-22.htm" title="And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.">Hebrews 9:22</a>) <span class= "ital">of these is, there is no longer offering for sin.</span> Here the argument reaches its triumphant close.<p>At this point we enter on the last great division of the Epistle (<a href="/hebrews/10-19.htm" title="Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,">Hebrews 10:19</a> to <a href="/hebrews/13-25.htm" title="Grace be with you all. Amen.">Hebrews 13:25</a>), which is occupied with earnest exhortation, encouragement to perseverance alternating with solemn warning against apostasy. The first section of this main division extends to the end of this chapter.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-19.htm">Hebrews 10:19</a></div><div class="verse">Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,</div>(19) The exhortation which here begins is very similar to that of <a href="/context/hebrews/4-14.htm" title="Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.">Hebrews 4:14-16</a>. Its greater fulness and expressiveness are in accordance with the development in the thought.<p><span class= "bld">Therefore.</span>—The chief thoughts taken up are those expressed in <a href="/context/hebrews/9-11.htm" title="But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;">Hebrews 9:11-12</a>. The word “boldness” has occurred in <a href="/hebrews/3-6.htm" title="But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.">Hebrews 3:6</a>; <a href="/hebrews/4-16.htm" title="Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.">Hebrews 4:16</a>. (See the Notes.)<p><span class= "bld">By the blood of Jesus.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">in the blood of Jesus;</span> for the meaning probably is, “Having’ therefore boldness in the blood of Jesus for entering into the Holy (<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>the Holiest) Place.” It is not that we enter “with the blood,” as the high priest entered the Holy of Holies (<a href="/hebrews/9-25.htm" title="Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others;">Hebrews 9:25</a>): no comparison is made between Christ’s people and the Jewish high priest. But as when he entered within the veil the whole people symbolically entered in with him, so do we enter with our High Priest, who “by means of His own blood” entered for us (and as our “Forerunner,” <a href="/hebrews/6-20.htm" title="Where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.">Hebrews 6:20</a>) into the immediate presence of God. In that through which He entered we have our “boldness to enter.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-21.htm">Hebrews 10:21</a></div><div class="verse">And <i>having</i> an high priest over the house of God;</div>(21) <span class= "bld">An high priest</span>.—The Greek words properly signify a <span class= "ital">great priest</span> (comp. <a href="/hebrews/4-14.htm" title="Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.">Hebrews 4:14</a>), which is one of the names by which the high priest is frequently designated, both in the Hebrew (Leviticus 21, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>)<span class= "ital">, </span>and in the LXX. It may seem strange that the writer should here make use of a new word in the place of that which has occurred so frequently. But there is strong reason for believing that the language of one of the prophecies of Zechariah (<a href="/context/zechariah/6-11.htm" title="Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;">Zechariah 6:11-13</a>) is here before his mind. In the preceding verses (<a href="/context/zechariah/6-12.htm" title="And speak to him, saying, Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:">Zechariah 6:12-14</a>) he has used words which united sacerdotal and kingly imagery; and it would be remarkable if this did not lead his thought to that prophecy. On the head of Joshua, “the great priest” (<a href="/zechariah/6-11.htm" title="Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;">Zechariah 6:11</a>), are placed crowns of silver and gold in token of royal dignity: then follows the prediction of Him of whom Joshua was the type. “He shall build the house of the Lord: and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne.” In the verse before us are combined several of the characteristic thoughts of that passage—the great priest, the priestly ruler, the house of God. The last-mentioned words are repeatedly used throughout the Old Testament, both in the Pentateuch and in later books, for the Tabernacle or Temple of God. In <a href="/hebrews/3-6.htm" title="But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.">Hebrews 3:6</a> (to which there is a manifest allusion here) the meaning is enlarged, but only so that under “the house” is also comprised the <span class= "ital">household</span> of God. Here the two thoughts are combined. Into the house of God we may enter; over it Jesus rules as “the great Priest.” The family of God subject to His rule includes the whole community of “the people of God” in heaven and upon earth.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-22.htm">Hebrews 10:22</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(22) <span class= "bld">Let us draw near.</span>—See <a href="/hebrews/10-1.htm" title="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.">Hebrews 10:1</a>; also <a href="/hebrews/4-16.htm" title="Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.">Hebrews 4:16</a>; <a href="/hebrews/7-25.htm" title="Why he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.">Hebrews 7:25</a>; <a href="/hebrews/11-6.htm" title="But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.">Hebrews 11:6</a>.<p><span class= "bld">With a true heart.</span>—“True,” the word used in <a href="/hebrews/8-2.htm" title="A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.">Hebrews 8:2</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-24.htm" title="For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:">Hebrews 9:24</a>, a <span class= "ital">real</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>a sincere heart. As in Hebrews 6 we read of “full assurance,” or rather, “fulness of hope,” so here of <span class= "ital">fulness of faith.</span> “Without this there could be for us no “living way” (<a href="/hebrews/10-20.htm" title="By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;">Hebrews 10:20</a>) for entering into the holiest place. The thought of the whole verse connects itself with the priestly character of those who are the people of God (<a href="/exodus/19-6.htm" title="And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.">Exodus 19:6</a>; <a href="/context/revelation/1-5.htm" title="And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,">Revelation 1:5-6</a>). It is as priests that they enter the house of God, sprinkled with the blood of atonement (<a href="/hebrews/12-24.htm" title="And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things that that of Abel.">Hebrews 12:24</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-14.htm" title="How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?">Hebrews 9:14</a>; <a href="/leviticus/8-30.htm" title="And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on his sons' garments with him; and sanctified Aaron, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.">Leviticus 8:30</a>; <a href="/1_peter/1-2.htm" title="Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, to obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you, and peace, be multiplied.">1Peter 1:2</a>), and with all defilement washed away (<a href="/leviticus/8-6.htm" title="And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.">Leviticus 8:6</a>). “Sprinkled from an evil conscience:” that is, freed by means of the “sprinkling” from a conscience defiled by guilt. In the last words there is a clear allusion to baptism, as the symbol of the new life of purity (<a href="/ephesians/5-26.htm" title="That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,">Ephesians 5:26</a>; <a href="/titus/3-5.htm" title="Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;">Titus 3:5</a>; <a href="/1_peter/3-21.htm" title="The like figure whereunto even baptism does also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:">1Peter 3:21</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-23.htm">Hebrews 10:23</a></div><div class="verse">Let us hold fast the profession of <i>our</i> faith without wavering; (for he <i>is</i> faithful that promised;)</div>(23) In this verse again we have the characteristic words of earlier exhortations: “hold fast” (<a href="/hebrews/3-6.htm" title="But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.">Hebrews 3:6</a>; <a href="/hebrews/3-14.htm" title="For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end;">Hebrews 3:14</a>); “profession,” or, rather, <span class= "ital">confession</span> (<a href="/hebrews/3-1.htm" title="Why, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;">Hebrews 3:1</a>; <a href="/hebrews/4-14.htm" title="Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.">Hebrews 4:14</a>).<p><span class= "bld">Of our faith.</span>—This rendering, apparently found in no earlier English version, is supposed to be due to oversight on the part of our translators. The true reading is “of the hope” (<a href="/hebrews/6-11.htm" title="And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end:">Hebrews 6:11</a>; <a href="/context/hebrews/6-18.htm" title="That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us:">Hebrews 6:18-19</a>). The two following words must be joined with “confession,” “let us hold fast the confession of the (Christian) hope so that it waver not.” This hope “maketh not ashamed” (<a href="/romans/5-5.htm" title="And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.">Romans 5:5</a>), for the promise is sure.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-24.htm">Hebrews 10:24</a></div><div class="verse">And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:</div>(24) Gradually the writer passes from that which belongs to the individual (<a href="/context/hebrews/10-19.htm" title="Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,">Hebrews 10:19-20</a>) to the mutual duties of members of a community. Possibly he knew that amongst those whom he addresses there had existed “provocations” that did not tend towards brotherly love. The strict meaning may simply be—let us take note of one another, to stimulate one another to good works; but in the result, if not in the expression, is included the converse thought, “that we may ourselves be thus provoked.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-25.htm">Hebrews 10:25</a></div><div class="verse">Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some <i>is</i>; but exhorting <i>one another</i>: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.</div>(25) <span class= "bld">As the manner</span> <span class= "bld">of some is.</span>—Some members of this community, it would seem, had persuaded themselves that the relation of Judaism to Christianity, of the “synagogue” (the Greek word here used seems to allude to this technical name, and yet intentionally to avoid it) and the Church, was such as to permit them to avoid close intercourse with Christians and direct association with Christian assemblies. This neglect was the first step towards apostasy.<p><span class= "bld">Exhorting.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">encouraging.</span> (Comp. <a href="/hebrews/12-12.htm" title="Why lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;">Hebrews 12:12</a>.)<p><span class= "bld">The day</span>.—See <a href="/1_corinthians/3-13.htm" title="Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.">1Corinthians 3:13</a>—“the day shall declare” every man’s work. Elsewhere we read of “the day of the Lord” (<a href="/1_thessalonians/5-2.htm" title="For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.">1Thessalonians 5:2</a>); “the day of Christ” (<a href="/philippians/1-10.htm" title="That you may approve things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.">Philippians 1:10</a>). The words of Jesus to His disciples (Matthew 24; Luke 17) had enabled all who were willing to hear to understand “the signs of the times.” As the writer gave these warnings, the day when the Son of Man should come in His kingdom, bringing judgment upon Jerusalem (<a href="/matthew/16-28.htm" title="Truly I say to you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.">Matthew 16:28</a>), was close at hand—that day which is distinctly presented to us in the New Testament as the type of His final coming.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-26.htm">Hebrews 10:26</a></div><div class="verse">For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,</div>(26) <span class= "bld">For.</span>—The connecting links are the thought of the consequences to which such sinful neglect (<a href="/hebrews/10-25.htm" title="Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.">Hebrews 10:25</a>) may lead, and the awful revelation of judgment which the final day will bring. Even more clearly than in <a href="/context/hebrews/6-4.htm" title="For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,">Hebrews 6:4-6</a> the state described is one of wilful and continued sin, which is the result and the expression of apostasy from Christ. It is not, “If we fall under temptation and commit sin;” but, “If we are sinning wilfully.” The descriptive words are few as compared with those of the former passage, but they teach the same lesson. Not merely the “knowledge” but the “full knowledge” (<a href="/romans/1-28.htm" title="And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;">Romans 1:28</a>) of the truth has been received by those to whom the writer here makes reference; they have been “sanctified in the blood of the covenant” (<a href="/hebrews/10-29.htm" title="Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, with which he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite to the Spirit of grace?">Hebrews 10:29</a>). For such “there remaineth no longer a sacrifice for sins:” that offering of Jesus which they deliberately reject has abolished all the earlier sacrifices. The observances and ceremonies of Judaism, which had been full of meaning whilst they pointed to Him that was to come, have lost all their virtue through His coming. Nay more: for such sin as this, the sin of knowing and wilful rejection of the only Sin offering, God has provided no other sacrifice. In its general significance this passage does not differ from <a href="/context/hebrews/6-4.htm" title="For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,">Hebrews 6:4-6</a>. (See the Notes.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-27.htm">Hebrews 10:27</a></div><div class="verse">But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.</div>(27) <span class= "bld">But a certain fearful looking for.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">But a fearful awaiting of judgment, and a jealousy of fire that shall devour the adversaries.</span> For Christ’s “waiting” servants the thought of “judgment” is lost in that of “salvation” (<a href="/context/hebrews/9-27.htm" title="And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment:">Hebrews 9:27-28</a>); to these sinners nothing is left but the awaiting of judgment. The next words are a partial quotation, or an adaptation, of <a href="/isaiah/26-11.htm" title="LORD, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yes, the fire of your enemies shall devour them.">Isaiah 26:11</a> : “Let them see (and be ashamed) the zeal for the people; yea, fire shall devour Thine adversaries.” (The Greek translation gives the second clause correctly, but not the former part of the sentence.) In the prophetic imagery of the Old Testament the destruction of the enemies of Jehovah is but the other aspect of His zeal or jealousy for His people. This imagery was familiar to every Hebrew; and no words could show more powerfully than these that to forsake Christ for Judaism was (not to join, but) to <span class= "ital">abandon</span> “the people of God.” For such apostates there remaineth the zeal, the jealous wrath, of a devouring fire. (Comp. <a href="/hebrews/12-29.htm" title="For our God is a consuming fire.">Hebrews 12:29</a>; Malachi 4)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-28.htm">Hebrews 10:28</a></div><div class="verse">He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:</div>(28) <span class= "bld">He that despised Moses’ law.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">A man that hath set at nought a law of Moses dieth without pity before two or three witnesses.</span> The reference is to <a href="/context/deuteronomy/17-2.htm" title="If there be found among you, within any of your gates which the LORD your God gives you, man or woman, that has worked wickedness in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,">Deuteronomy 17:2-7</a>, the last words being a direct quotation from <a href="/hebrews/10-6.htm" title="In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure.">Hebrews 10:6</a> in that section. There the subject is apostasy from Jehovah to the worship of idols. That sin which, by the acknowledgment of all, had in ancient time robbed Israel of the name of God’s people is tacitly placed by the side of the sin of those who for sake Christ. It will be seen how impressively the thought of the last verse is maintained in this.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-29.htm">Hebrews 10:29</a></div><div class="verse">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?</div>(29) <span class= "bld">Shall he be thought worthy.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">shall he be accounted</span> (or, <span class= "ital">judged</span>)<span class= "ital"> worthy, </span>by God the Judge of all, when “the Day” shall come. In the act of apostasy the sinner trampled under foot the Son of God, treated with contempt and scorn Him to whom belongs this highest Name (<a href="/context/hebrews/1-1.htm" title="God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,">Hebrews 1:1-4</a>); and the principle of this act becomes the principle of the whole succeeding life. That “blood” by which the new covenant was established (<a href="/context/hebrews/9-15.htm" title="And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.">Hebrews 9:15-17</a>)—the blood in which he himself had received the sanctification which the law could not give—he has esteemed an unholy thing. There is no medium between highest reverence and utter contumely in such a case: to those who did not receive Jesus as Lord He was a deceiver (<a href="/matthew/27-63.htm" title="Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.">Matthew 27:63</a>), and one who deserved to die.<p><span class= "bld">Hath done despite.</span>—Hath treated with outrage and insult the Spirit of whose gifts he had been partaker (<a href="/hebrews/6-4.htm" title="For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,">Hebrews 6:4</a>), for “grace” returning arrogant scorn.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-30.htm">Hebrews 10:30</a></div><div class="verse">For we know him that hath said, Vengeance <i>belongeth</i> unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.</div>(30) <span class= "bld">By a new and living way.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">by the way which He dedicated</span> (or <span class= "ital">inaugurated</span>)<span class= "ital"> for us, a new and living way.</span> This way was opened to us by Him; in it we follow Him. For Him, the way into the Holiest led through the veil, His flesh. As the veil concealed from the high priest the place of God’s presence, which he could enter only by passing through the veil; so, although in His earthly life Jesus dwelt in the presence of God, yet as our representative He could not enter the heavenly sanctuary until He had passed through and out of His life of flesh (see <a href="/hebrews/9-11.htm" title="But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;">Hebrews 9:11</a>). There is probably a covert allusion to the rending of the Temple veil in the hour when Jesus thus passed through the rent veil of His flesh. This way is new (<a href="/hebrews/9-8.htm" title="The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:">Hebrews 9:8</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-12.htm" title="Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.">Hebrews 9:12</a>), it is living, for in truth this “way” is living union with Christ (<a href="/john/14-6.htm" title="Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.">John 14:6</a>).<p>(30) <span class= "bld">Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense.</span>—This quotation from <a href="/deuteronomy/32-35.htm" title="To me belongs vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come on them make haste.">Deuteronomy 32:35</a> completely preserves the sense of the original words, “To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence,” whilst departing from their form. The LXX. shows still wider divergence, neglecting entirely the emphasis which rests on the words “to <span class= "ital">Me”</span> It is therefore very remarkable that this quotation is given, in exactly the same form, in <a href="/romans/12-19.htm" title="Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, said the Lord.">Romans 12:19</a>. As, however, the words “I will recompense” are found in the most ancient of the Targums (that of Onkelos) it is very possible that St. Paul may have there adopted a form already current amongst the Jews. (See Note on <a href="/romans/12-19.htm" title="Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, said the Lord.">Romans 12:19</a>.) If so, there is no difficulty in accounting for the coincidence in this place. But, even if this supposition is. without foundation, and the saying in this form was first used in <a href="/romans/12-19.htm" title="Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, said the Lord.">Romans 12:19</a>, is there any real cause for wonder if a disciple of St. Paul in a single instance reproduces the Apostle’s words? It should be observed that the words “saith the Lord” must be omitted from the text, according to the best authorities.<p><span class= "bld">The Lord shall judge his people.</span>—This, again, is a quotation, and from the same chapter (<a href="/deuteronomy/32-36.htm" title="For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.">Deuteronomy 32:36</a>). If the context of the original passage be examined, there will be no doubt as to the meaning of the words. As in <a href="/psalms/43-1.htm" title="Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.">Psalm 43:1</a>; <a href="/psalms/135-14.htm" title="For the LORD will judge his people, and he will repent himself concerning his servants.">Psalm 135:14</a>, “to judge,” as here used, signifies to maintain the right of one who is exposed to wrong. “The Lord shall judge His people” (see <a href="/hebrews/10-27.htm" title="But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.">Hebrews 10:27</a>) when He shall appear to establish their cause by taking vengeance on His enemies and theirs. With what impressive force would the quotations in this section (<a href="/context/hebrews/10-27.htm" title="But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.">Hebrews 10:27-28</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-30.htm" title="For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, said the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.">Hebrews 10:30</a>)—differing widely in form, but presenting a very striking agreement in their meaning—fall on the ears of readers familiar from childhood with the ideas and language of the Old Testament Scriptures!<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-31.htm">Hebrews 10:31</a></div><div class="verse"><i>It is</i> a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.</div>(31) <span class= "bld">The living God.</span>—As in <a href="/hebrews/3-12.htm" title="Take heed, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.">Hebrews 3:12</a>; <a href="/hebrews/9-14.htm" title="How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?">Hebrews 9:14</a> the exact meaning of the writer’s words is “a Living God;” and a reference to the first of these passages (and to <a href="/hebrews/4-12.htm" title="For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.">Hebrews 4:12</a>) will show clearly what is their force in this place. There can be little doubt that Deuteronomy 32, from which he has been quoting, is still in his thought. See <a href="/deuteronomy/32-40.htm" title="For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.">Deuteronomy 32:40</a>—“I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-32.htm">Hebrews 10:32</a></div><div class="verse">But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;</div>(32) In the last six verses the writer has enforced his exhortation by an appeal to the danger of falling away and the fearful consequences of unfaithfulness. From warning he now turns to encouragement, as in Hebrews 6; and here, as there, he thankfully recalls the earlier proofs which his readers had given of their Christian constancy and love. Let them call to mind and ever keep in remembrance what the grace of God had already enabled them to endure. (Comp. <a href="/2_john/1-8.htm" title="Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have worked, but that we receive a full reward.">2John 1:8</a>). As Theophylact has said, he bids them imitate, not others, but themselves.<p><span class= "bld">Illuminated.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">enlightened.</span> It is important to keep the word used in the parallel verse, <a href="/hebrews/6-4.htm" title="For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,">Hebrews 6:4</a> (see Note).<p><span class= "bld">Fight of afflictions.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">conflict of sufferings;</span> for the last word has in this Epistle (<a href="/context/hebrews/2-9.htm" title="But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.">Hebrews 2:9-10</a>) associations too sacred to be lost. The former word (akin to that used by St. Paul in <a href="/2_timothy/2-5.htm" title="And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.">2Timothy 2:5</a> of the contests in the public games) recalls the intense struggles of the contending athletes; it occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. Comp. <a href="/philippians/1-27.htm" title="Only let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;">Philippians 1:27</a>; <a href="/philippians/4-3.htm" title="And I entreat you also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.">Philippians 4:3</a>; (<a href="/philippians/1-30.htm" title="Having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.">Philippians 1:30</a>; <a href="/colossians/1-29.htm" title=" Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.">Colossians 1:29</a>; <a href="/colossians/2-1.htm" title=" For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;">Colossians 2:1</a>; <a href="/1_timothy/6-12.htm" title="Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.">1Timothy 6:12</a>; <a href="/hebrews/12-1.htm" title="Why seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,">Hebrews 12:1</a>.) This struggle they had manfully endured.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-33.htm">Hebrews 10:33</a></div><div class="verse">Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used.</div>(33) <span class= "bld">Whilst ye were made a gazingstock.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">being exposed in the theatre</span> (see the Notes on <a href="/acts/19-29.htm" title="And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.">Acts 19:29</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/4-9.htm" title="For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men.">1Corinthians 4:9</a>; <a href="/1_corinthians/15-32.htm" title="If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.">1Corinthians 15:32</a>). Here also it is probable that the word has only a figurative sense.<p><span class= "bld">Whilst ye became companions.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">having become sharers with them that thus lived</span>—that lived amidst “reproaches and afflictions.” Not “companions” only had they been, but sharers of the lot of their persecuted brethren, both by sympathy and by voluntary association with their sufferings.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-34.htm">Hebrews 10:34</a></div><div class="verse">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.</div>(34) <span class= "bld">For ye had compassion of me in my bonds.</span>—Rather (according to the true reading of the Greek), <span class= "ital">for ye had sympathy with them that were in bonds</span> (comp. <a href="/hebrews/13-3.htm" title="Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.">Hebrews 13:3</a>, “Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them”). The change of reading is very important in connection] with the question of authorship. (See the <span class= "ital">Introduction.</span>)<p><span class= "bld">And took joyfully.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">and accepted with joy the spoiling of your possessions.</span> In the spirit of <a href="/matthew/5-12.htm" title="Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.">Matthew 5:12</a> (<a href="/acts/5-41.htm" title="And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.">Acts 5:41</a>; <a href="/2_corinthians/12-10.htm" title="Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.">2Corinthians 12:10</a>), they accepted persecution not with “patience and long suffering” only, but “with joy” (<a href="/colossians/1-11.htm" title=" Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, to all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness;">Colossians 1:11</a>). The rendering “possessions” is necessary because a similar word (“substance” in the Authorised version) will immediately occur. In the last clause two remarkable changes in the Greek text are made necessary by the testimony of our best authorities. The words “in heaven” must certainly be removed; they are omitted in the oldest MSS., and are evidently an explanatory comment which has found its way into the text. For the reading, “in yourselves,” there is hardly any evidence whatever. The MSS. are divided between two readings, “yourselves” and “for yourselves;” the former having also the support of the Latin and Coptic versions. There is little doubt that we must read “yourselves;” and the most probable translation will now be, <span class= "ital">perceiving that ye have your own selves for a better possession and one that abideth.</span> They had been taught the meaning of the words spoken by Jesus of the man who gains the world and loses himself (<a href="/luke/9-25.htm" title="For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?">Luke 9:25</a>), and of those who win their souls by their endurance (<a href="/luke/21-19.htm" title="In your patience possess you your souls.">Luke 21:19</a>); so in <a href="/hebrews/10-39.htm" title="But we are not of them who draw back to perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.">Hebrews 10:39</a> the writer speaks of “the gaining of the soul.” Thus trained, they could accept with joy the loss of possessions for the sake of Christ, perceiving that in Him they had received <span class= "ital">themselves</span> as a possession, a better and a lasting possession. (It would be possible to render the clause, “knowing that ye yourselves have a better possession,” &c.; but the parallelism of <a href="/hebrews/10-39.htm" title="But we are not of them who draw back to perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.">Hebrews 10:39</a> renders it almost certain that the former view of the words is correct.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-35.htm">Hebrews 10:35</a></div><div class="verse">Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.</div>(35) <span class= "bld">Cast not away therefore your confidence.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Cast not away therefore your boldness, seeing it hath a great recompence.</span> To “cast away boldness” is the opposite of “holding fast the boldness of the hope” (<a href="/hebrews/3-6.htm" title="But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.">Hebrews 3:6</a>); the one belongs to the endurance of the faithful servant (<a href="/hebrews/10-32.htm" title="But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions;">Hebrews 10:32</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-36.htm" title="For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.">Hebrews 10:36</a>), the other to the cowardice of the man who draws back (<a href="/hebrews/10-38.htm" title="Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.">Hebrews 10:38</a>). This verse and the next are closely connected: Hold fast your boldness, seeing that to it belongs great reward; hold it fast, for “he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” On the last word, “recompence,” see <a href="/hebrews/2-2.htm" title="For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;">Hebrews 2:2</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-36.htm">Hebrews 10:36</a></div><div class="verse">For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.</div>(36) <span class= "bld">Patience</span>—<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>brave, patient endurance (see the Note on <a href="/hebrews/6-12.htm" title="That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.">Hebrews 6:12</a>). The general strain of the exhortation in that chapter (<a href="/context/hebrews/10-9.htm" title="Then said he, See, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.">Hebrews 10:9-20</a>) closely resembles these verses.<p><span class= "bld">That, after ye have done . . . ye might.</span>—Better, <span class= "ital">that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.</span> To do the will of God (<a href="/hebrews/13-21.htm" title="Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.">Hebrews 13:21</a>) is the necessary condition for receiving the promised blessing and reward (see <a href="/hebrews/11-39.htm" title="And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:">Hebrews 11:39</a>); for both “endurance” is necessary. In these words we have an echo of <a href="/matthew/7-21.htm" title="Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.">Matthew 7:21</a>, where our Lord sums up His requirements from those who call themselves His in words which express the purpose of His own life (<a href="/hebrews/10-7.htm" title="Then said I, See, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.">Hebrews 10:7</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-9.htm" title="Then said he, See, I come to do your will, O God. He takes away the first, that he may establish the second.">Hebrews 10:9</a>; <a href="/john/4-34.htm" title="Jesus said to them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.">John 4:34</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-37.htm">Hebrews 10:37</a></div><div class="verse">For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.</div>(37) The connection is this: “Ye have need of endurance” for “the end is not yet” (<a href="/matthew/24-6.htm" title="And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.">Matthew 24:6</a>); ye shall “receive the promise,” for the Lord shall surely come, and that soon.<p><span class= "bld">A little while.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">a very little while.</span> The expression is remarkable and unusual; it is evidently taken from <a href="/isaiah/26-20.htm" title="Come, my people, enter you into your chambers, and shut your doors about you: hide yourself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over.">Isaiah 26:20</a>—“Come my people . . . hide thyself for <span class= "ital">a little moment</span> until the indignation be overpast.” The subject of this passage, from which the one expressive phrase is taken, is the coming of Jehovah “to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;” in “a little moment” shall the indignation consume His foes, then will He give deliverance to His people. Even this passing reference would serve to call up before the mind of the Hebrew readers the solemn associations of the prophecy—the promised salvation, the awful judgment.<p><span class= "bld">And he that shall come will come.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">He that cometh will come and will not tarry.</span> In this and the next verse the writer of the Epistle takes up a passage, <a href="/context/habakkuk/2-3.htm" title="For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.">Habakkuk 2:3-4</a>, which occupies a very important place in the writings of St. Paul (<a href="/romans/1-17.htm" title="For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.">Romans 1:17</a>; <a href="/galatians/3-11.htm" title="But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.">Galatians 3:11</a>), and, as we have already seen (Note on <a href="/hebrews/6-1.htm" title="Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,">Hebrews 6:1</a>), in the later Jewish teaching. St. Paul’s citations are limited to a few words of <a href="/hebrews/10-4.htm" title="For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.">Hebrews 10:4</a>, “But the just shall live by faith;” here are quoted the whole of the fourth verse and part of the third. Perhaps it is too much to say that they are <span class= "ital">quoted, </span>they are rather applied, for, as will be seen, the order of the clauses (see next verse) is changed, and some alterations are made in the language. It is important in this Epistle to discriminate between the instances of direct quotation from the Scripture, where the word of God is appealed to as furnishing proof, and those in which passages of the Old Testament are explained and applied (see the Note on <a href="/hebrews/10-5.htm" title="Why when he comes into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering you would not, but a body have you prepared me:">Hebrews 10:5</a>). The words before us nearly agree with the LXX., “If he delay, wait for him, because coming he will come, and will not tarry.” The subject of the sentence there is not clear; probably the translator believed that the Lord spoke thus of His own coming, or the coming of the future Deliverer. In the Hebrew all relates to the vision, “it will surely come, it will not tarry.” The only difference between the LXX. and the words as they stand here consists in the substitution of “He that cometh” for “coming.” Now the reference to the Deliverer and Judge is made plain. No designation of the Messiah, perhaps, was more familiar than “He that cometh” (<a href="/matthew/11-3.htm" title="And said to him, Are you he that should come, or do we look for another?">Matthew 11:3</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>); but in is here employed with a new reference—to the second advent in place of the first. The departure from the sense of the Hebrew is not as great as may at first appear. When the prophet says “The <span class= "ital">vision</span> . . . shall surely come,” it is of that which the vision revealed that he speaks, <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>of the fall of the Chaldeans; but the salvation of Israel from present danger is throughout the prophets the symbol of the great deliverance (comp. <a href="/hebrews/12-26.htm" title="Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.">Hebrews 12:26</a> and <a href="/haggai/2-6.htm" title="For thus said the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;">Haggai 2:6</a>). With this verse comp. <a href="/hebrews/10-25.htm" title="Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.">Hebrews 10:25</a>; also <a href="/philippians/4-5.htm" title="Let your moderation be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.">Philippians 4:5</a>; <a href="/james/5-8.htm" title="Be you also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws near.">James 5:8</a>; <a href="/1_peter/4-7.htm" title="But the end of all things is at hand: be you therefore sober, and watch to prayer.">1Peter 4:7</a>; <a href="/revelation/1-3.htm" title="Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.">Revelation 1:3</a>; <a href="/revelation/22-20.htm" title="He which testifies these things said, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.">Revelation 22:20</a>, <span class= "ital">et al.</span>; and, in regard to the application of the prophecy, <a href="/context/hebrews/10-27.htm" title="But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.">Hebrews 10:27-28</a>; <a href="/hebrews/10-30.htm" title="For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense, said the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.">Hebrews 10:30</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-38.htm">Hebrews 10:38</a></div><div class="verse">Now the just shall live by faith: but if <i>any man</i> draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.</div>(38) <span class= "bld">Now the just shall live by faith.</span>—The Greek text of this clause is not perfectly certain, but it is probable that the word “my” should be added, so that the translation of the verse will be as follows, <span class= "ital">But my righteous one shall live by faith.</span> In the Hebrew the first part of the verse is altogether different: “Behold his soul is lifted up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous shall live in (or, <span class= "ital">by</span>) his faithfulness (or, <span class= "ital">faith</span>)<span class= "ital">.”</span>The first words seem to refer to the haughty Chaldean invader; the rendering of the last words is considered below. The Greek translation varies a little in different MSS.: “If one draw back, my soul hath no pleasure in him; but the righteous one shall live by my faithfulness” (or <span class= "ital">possibly</span>—not probably—“by faith in me”). In the Alexandrian MSS, the last words run thus: “But my righteous one shall live by faith” (or <span class= "ital">faithfulness</span>)<span class= "ital">.</span> It is clear, then, that in the passage before us the writer has taken the words as they stood in his text of the LXX., only changing the order of the clauses. Though the Hebrew word usually rendered faith in this passage occurs more than forty times in the Old Testament, in no other case has it this meaning, but almost always signifies faithfulness or truth. Here also the first meaning seems to be “by his faithfulness”; but the thought of faithful constancy to God is inseparably connected with trustful clinging to Him. Hence the accepted Jewish exposition of the passage seems to have taken the word in the sense of “faith.” “My righteous one” will naturally mean “my righteous servant”—the man who will not be seduced into wickedness; he shall live by his faithful trust, for salvation and life shall be given him by God Himself. In this context the word righteous recalls-verse 36, “having done the will of God.”<p>The transposition of the two clauses makes it almost certain that the “righteous one” is the subject of both: not <span class= "ital">if any man, </span>but, <span class= "ital">if he</span> (the righteous one) <span class= "ital">shrink back.</span> The Genevan and the Authorised stand alone amongst English versions in the former rendering.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/hebrews/10-39.htm">Hebrews 10:39</a></div><div class="verse">But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.</div>(39) <span class= "bld">Of them who draw back.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">But we are not of drawing</span> (or <span class= "ital">shrinking</span>)<span class= "ital"> back unto perdition, but of faith unto the gaining of the soul.</span> On the last words (which are nearly identical with those of <a href="/luke/17-33.htm" title="Whoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.">Luke 17:33</a>, though deeper in meaning) see the Note on <a href="/hebrews/10-34.htm" title="For you had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.">Hebrews 10:34</a>. 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