2. It is affirmed of him, that he “entereth,” in the present tense. Some think that respect is had unto the continuance of the temple-service at that time. “He entereth;’ that is, he continueth so to do. And this the apostle sometimes admits of, as Heb. viii. 4. But in this place he intends no more but the constitution of the law. ‘According unto the law, he entereth. This is that which the law requires.’ And hereby, as in other in- stances, the apostle lays before their consideration a scheme of their ancient worship, as it was at first established, that it might be the better compared with the dispensation of the new covenant and the ministry of Christ.
3. This entrance is limited unto “the holy place ;” the most holy place in the tabernacle or temple, the holy place made with hands.
4, There is the season of his entrance; “yearly:’ annual revolution, on the day fixed by the law, the tenth day of the month Tizri, or our September.
5. The manner of his entrance was, “with the blood of others;” “blood that was not his own,” as the Syriac expresseth it. The blood of the sacrifice of Christ was his own. _ He “redeemed the church a rod jdiov aiuaros,” Acts xx. 28. Hereunto ddrérpiov is opposed,— 08 05, “other blood,”
Eiotpyeras,
Eis r& dyim.
>
once in an
, Kar’ eviauroy,
Ey aivacs arroTpIY.
/
394 AN EXPOSITION OF THE (omar. Ix.
“the blood of others;” that is, the blood of bulls and goats offered in sacrifice: “in” for “cum,” say most expositors; which is not un- usual, See 1 John v. 6; Gen, xxxii, 10; Hos, iv. 3. The meaning is, by virtue of the blood of others, which he carried with him into the holy place.
That which is denied of Christ, the antitype, is the repetition of this service, and that because of the perfection of his sacrifice; the other being repeated because of their imperfection, And we may observe, that—
Obs. IV. Whatever had the greatest glory in the old legal insti- tutions, carried along with it the evidence of its own imperfection, compared with the thing signified in Christ and his office—The entrance of the high priest into the holy place was the most glorious: solemnity of the law; howbeit the annual repetition of it was a sufficient evidence of its imperfection, as the apostle disputes in the beginning of the next chapter.
VERSE 26.
"Ere! tbe abrdy worrdus wade amd naraCorns xdomour vow O& carmé ext ouvredsiy ray aidvay, sig abérnow cmapriag dim Hg Duolug abrod TE DAVE POT bh,
*Exe/ is properly causal; “ quia,” “ quandoquidem,” “quoniam.” But it is ge-
nerally rendered in this place by all expositors, “alioquin,” by concession,— If it were so that he would offer, offer himself; “for otherwise.” “Hoe, Syr., 2°7 sn, “he would have been a debtors’ it would have been due from him, Opor- tebat,” “ oportuisset;” “he ought.” Tloardxus wradeiv. Vulg., “ frequenter pati.” Others, “sape,” “sepius passum fuisse;” “to have suffered often,” “more often,” “ frequently;” that is, once every year. Syriac, SONS NPvart | “many times,” and not once only. “Asé xaraborys xoowov. Vulg., “ab origine mundi;” others, “a condito mundo,” “from the foundation of the world;” that is, after the entrance of sin. "Exh ovvreaci¢ ray widvov. Syr., 82227 ANIA, “in the end of the world.” Vulg., “in consummatione seculorum;” “sub con- summationem seculorum ;” “ towards the consummation of all things.” “In the fulness of time.” Wis ddernow &ucprias, “ad peceatum abolendum,” “ad aboli- tionem peccati.” Vulg., “ad destructionem peccati;” Rhem., “the destruction of sin.” TleQavépwres, “ apparuit,” “ patefactus est.” “ Te was made manifest.” Aid ring Svoles adrov. The Vulgar renders the words, “ per hostiam suam appa- ruit;” which the Rhemists translate, “he hath appeared by his own host;” most absurdly, both as unto words and sense. Syr., “at one time he offered his soul by the sacrifice” or “immolation of himself.” What ePevéparae doth relate unto, we must inquire in the exposition of the words.’
1 Hxvosirion.—I'rom the fact that Christ has offered his own blood, it is in- ferred that he needed not to repeat this sacrifice; in verses 27, 28, it is inferred from the same thing that he could not repeat it. A man can offer the blood of another repeatedly; his own blood he can offer—in other words, die—only once. —Lbrard The pretence of repeating the Redeemer’s one and only offering in the sacrifice of the mass, is in most direct opposition to the doctrine of this epistle. esseeeLhe apostle speaks of men’s dying’ only “once” as analogous to Cbrist’s having been but “once offered.” There is only one death for men on earth; and _ there is only one offering by Christ, and that implies his death,—Z'wener,— Ep. |
‘VER 26.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 895
Ver. 26.—For then [2f otherwise] must he [he ought] often [to] have suffered since [ from] the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world [in the consummation of times| hath he appeared, [deen made manifest,| to put away [to abolish, or for the de- struction of | sin by the sacrifice of himself.
There are sundry difficulties in these words, both as to the signi- fication and construction of them, as also as unto their sense and importance, with the nature of the argument contained in them and the things treated of. I shall not repeat the various conjec- tures of expositors, most of which are alien from the mind of the apostle and easy to be refuted, if that belonged any way unto the edification of the reader; but I shall only give that account of the whole and the several parts of it which, according unto the best of my understanding, doth represent the mind of the Holy Ghost with perspicuity and clearness,