Secondly, The subject spoken of is 6 véuos, the law,—T™\7. That which he immediately intends is the sacrifices of the law, especially those which were offered yearly by a perpetual statute, as the words immediately following do declare. But he refers what he speaks unto the law itself, as that whereby those sacrifices were instituted, and whereon all their virtue and . efficacy did depend. They had no more of the one or other but what they had by and from the law. And “the law” here, is the covenant which God made with the people at Sinai, with all the institutions of worship thereunto belonging. It is not the moral law, which originally, and as absolutely considered, had no expiatory sacrifices belonging unto it; nor is it the ceremonial law alone, whereby all the sacrifices of old were either appointed or regulated: but it is the first testament, the first covenant, as it had all the ordinances of worship annexed unto it, as it was the spring and
*O vomos.
cause of all the privileges and advantages of the church of Israel;
and whereunto the moral law as given on mount Sinai, and both the ceremonial law and the judicial also did belong. This he calls “the law,” Heb. vii. 19; and the “ covenant” or “testament” com- pletely, chap. ix. |
Thirdly, Concerning this law or covenant the apostle declares two things: 1. Positively, and by way of concession, it had “ shadow of good things to come;” 2. Negatively, that it had “not the very image of the things” themselves:
xia.
_ which we must consider together, because they contribute light
unto one another.
These expressions are Acts hbribal: and have therefore given occasion unto various conjectures about the nature of the allusions in them, and their application unto the present subject-matter. I shall not trouble the reader with a repetition of them; they may be found in most commentators. I shall therefore only fix on that sense of the words which I conceive to be the mind of the Holy Ghost, giving the reasons why I conceive it so to be.
Both the expressions used and the things intended in them, a “shadow,” and “the very image,” have respect unto the “good
420 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP. X.
things to come.” The relation of the law unto them is that which is declared. Wherefore the true notion of what these good things to come are, will determine what it is to have a shadow of them, and not the very image of the things themselves.
First, The “ good things” intended may be said to be mérrovra, either with respect unto the law or with respect unto the gospel; and were so either when the law was given or when this epistle was written. If they were yet to come with respect unto the gospel, and were so when he wrote this epistle, they can be nothing but the good things of heaven and eternal glory. These things were then, are still, and will always be, unto the church militant on the earth, “good things to come;” and are the subject of divine promises concerning future times: “ In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began,” Tit. i. 2. But this cannot be the sense of the words. For,—
1. The gospel itself hath not the very image of these things, and so should not herein differ from the law. or that “the very image” of these things is the things themselves shall be immediately declared.
2. The apostle in this whole discourse designs to prove that the law, with all the rites of worship annexed unto it, was a type of the good things that were really and actually exhibited in and by the gospel, or by the Lord Christ himself in the discharge of his office. Wherefore they are called “ good things to come” with respect unto the time of the administration of the law. They were so whilst the law or first covenant was in force, and whilst the institutions of it were continued. They had, indeed, their original in the church, or were “good things to come,” from the first promise. They were more declared so to be, and the certainty of their coming more con- firmed, by the promise made unto Abraham. After these promises, and their various confirmations, the law was given unto the people. Howbeit the law did not bring in, exhibit, or make present, the good things so promised, that they should no more yet be to come. They were still “ good things to come” whilst the law was in force. Nor was this absolutely denied by the Jews; nor is yet so to thisday. For though they place more in the law and covenant of Sinai than God ever placed in them, yet they acknowledge that there are good things to come promised and fore-signified in the law, which, as they suppose, are not yet enjoyed. Such is the coming of the Messiah; in which sense they must grant that “the law had a shadow of good things to come.” ?
Hence it is evident what are those “good things to come;” namely, Christ himself, with all the grace, and mercy, and privi- leges, which the church receiveth by his actual exhibition and com- ing in the flesh, upon the discharge of his office. For he himself