[2.] The end of this removal of the “ first,” was “the establishment of the second.” ‘This “second,” say some, is the will of God; but the opposition made before is not between the will of God and the legal sacrifices, but between those sacrifices and the coming of Christ to do the will of God. Wherefore it is the way of the expiation of sin, and of the complete sanctification of the church by the coming, and mediation, and sacrifice of Christ, that is this “second,” the thing spoken of in the second place; this God would “ establish,” approve, confirm, and render unchangeable.
Obs. XXIV. As all things from the beginning made way for the coming of Christ in the minds of them that did believe, so every thing was to be removed out of the way that would hinder his coming, and the discharge of the work he had undertaken; law, temple, sacrifices, must all be removed to give way unto his coming, So is it testified by his forerunner, Luke iii, 4-6, “As it is written _
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VER. 5-10.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 477
in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” So it must be in our own hearts; all things must give way unto him, or he will not come and make his habitation in them.
Ver. 10.—* By the which will we are sanctified, through the offer- ing of the body of Jesus Christ once [| for all.]”
From the whole context the apostle makes an inference, which is comprehensive of the substance of the gospel, and the description of the grace of God which is established thereby.
Having affirmed, in Christ’s own words, that he came to do the will of God, he shows what was that will of God which he came to do, what was the design of God in it and the effect of it, and by what means it was accomplished; which things are to be inquired into: as, 1. What is the will of God which he intends; “ By the- which will.” 2. What was the design of it, what God aimed at in this act of his will, and what is accomplished thereby; “ We are sanctified.” 3. The way and means whereby this effect proceedeth from the will of God; namely, “ Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ,” in opposition to legal sacrifices. 4. The manner of it, _ in opposition unto their repetition; it was “once for all.’ But the sense of the whole will be more clear, if we consider,—
1. The end aimed at in the first place, namely, the sanctification of the church, And sundry things must be observed concerning it:—
(1.) That the apostle changeth his phrase of speech into the first person, “ We are sanctified ;” that is, all those believers whereof the gospel church-state was constituted, in opposition unto the church- state of the Hebrews and those that did adhere unto it: so he speaks before, as also chap. iv. 3, “ We who have believed do enter into rest.” For it might be asked of him, ‘You who thus over- throw the efficacy of legal sacrifices, what have you yourselves attained in your relinquishment of them?’ ‘We have,’ saith he, ‘that sanctification, that dedication unto God, that peace with him, and that expiation of sin, that all those sacrifices could not effect.’ And observe,—
Obs. XX VY. Truth is never so effectually declared, as when it is con- firmed by the experience of .its power in them that believe it and make profession of it. This was that which gave them the con- fidence which the apostle exhorts them to hold fast and firm unto the end.
Obs. XX VI. It is a holy glorying in God, and no unlawful boasting,
478 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [CHAP, X.
for men openly to profess what they are made partakers of by the grace of God and- blood of Christ. Yea, it is a necessary duty for men so to do, when any thing is set up in competition with them or opposition unto them.
Obs. XX VIT. It is the best security in differences in and about reli- gion, (such as these wherein the apostle is engaged, the greatest and highest that ever were,) when men have an internal experience of the truth which they do profess.
(2.) The words he useth are in the preterperfect tense, jyiaowévor
Zowev, and relate not only unto the things; but the time
ewes “1 of the offering of the body of Christ. For although all
that is intended herein did not immediately follow on
the death of Christ, yet were they all in it, as the effects in their
proper cause, to be produced by virtue of it in their times and sea-
sons; and the principal effect intended was the immediate conse- quent thereof,
(3.) This end of God, through the offering of the body of Christ, was the sanctification of the church: “We are sanctified.” The principal notion of sanctification in the New Testament, is the effecting of real, internal holiness in the persons of them that do believe, by the change of their hearts and lives. But the word is not here so to be restrained, nor is it used in that sense by our apostle i in this epistle, or very rarely: It is here plainly comprehen- sive of all that he hath denied unto the law, priesthood, and sacri- fices of the old testament, with the whole church-state of the Hebrews under it, and the effects of their ordinances and services; as, [1.] A complete dedication unto God, in opposition unto the typical one which the people were partakers of by the sprinkling of the blood of calves and goats upon them, Exod. xxiv. [2.] A com- plete church-state for the celebration of the spiritual worship of God, by the administration of the Spirit, wherein the law could make nothing perfect. [3.] Peace with God upon a full and perfect: expiation of sin; which he denies unto the sacrifices of the law, verses 1-4, [4.] Real, internal purification or sanctification of our natures and persons from all inward filth and defilement of them; which he proves at large that the carnal ordinances of the law could not effect of themselves,’ reaching ‘no farther than the purification of the flesh, [5.] Hereunto also belong the privileges of the gospel, in liberty, boldness, immediate access unto God, the means of that access, by Christ our high priest,and confidence therein ; in opposition unto that fear, bondage, distance, and exclusion from the holy place of the presence of God, which they of old were kept under. All these things are comprised in this expression of the apostle, “We | are sanctified.”