Similitude (ouwornra). Better, likeness: answering to made like, ver. 3, and emphasising the personal resemblance to Melchisedec.
16. The law of a carnal commandment (vépov éevror‘js capkivns). The phrase N. T.°. Neopov the norm or standard, as Rom. vii. 21, 23. ’Evrodjs, the specific precept of the Mosaic law regarding Levitical priests. Comp. Eph. ii. 15. Lapkins fleshly, indicates that the conditions of the Levitical priesthood had reference to the body. Fitness for office was determined largely by physical considerations. The priest must be of proper descent, without bodily blemish, cere- monially pure. See ch. ix. 1-5, 10, and comp. Rom. viii. 38. Such a priesthood cannot be eternal.
After the power of an endless life (xara dtvapw Cis axatanrvtov). Avvautv inherent virtue. Rend. for endless, indissoluble. Comp. katadv0n loosened down, of a tent, 2 Cor. v. 1; of the stones of the temple, Matt. xxiv. 2. Jesus was high priest in virtue of the energy of indissoluble life which dwelt in him, unlike the priests who die, ver. 8. This truth the writer finds in the Psalm.
462 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ([Ca. VI.
18,19. The structure of the passage is as follows: The two verses contain a proposition in two parts. The verb ywerat is or comes to pass is common to both parts. *Ovdév— 6 vopos is parenthetical. Rend. “for there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment, because of its weakness and unprofitableness (for the law made nothing perfect), and the bringing in thereupon of a better hope through which we draw nigh unto God.”
18. There is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before (a0érnows pév yap yiverat mpoayovons évTodss ). Verily is superfluous. *A@érnovs only here and ch. ix. 26; a very few times in LXX: The fundamental idea is the doing away of something established (Gerdv). The verb aereiv to make void, do away with, is common in N. T. and in LXX, where it represents fifteen different Hebrew words, meaning to deal falsely, to make merchandise of, to abhor, to transgress, to rebel, to break an oath, etc. The noun, in a technical, legal sense, is found in a number of papyri from 98 to 271 4.D., meaning the making void of a document. It appears in the formula eds a0érnow Kai axipwow for annulling and cancelling. IIpoayovons évrodfs, rend. of a foregoing commandment. The expression is indefinite, applying to any commandment which might be superseded, although the commandment in ver. 16 is probably in the writer’s mind. Foregoing, not emphasising mere precedence in time, but rather the preliminary character of the commandment as destined to be done away by a later ordinance. With foregoing comp. 1 Tim. i. 18; v. 24.
For the weakness and unprofitableness thereof (dia 7d auTis acbevés kal avodperes). Rend. “ because of its weakness and unprofitableness.” It could not bring men into close fellowship with God. See Rom. v. 20; viii. 8; Gal. iii. 21. "Avaderys unprofitable, only here and Tit. iii. 9.
19. For the law made nothing perfect (ovdév yap éredet- wcev ovduos). Parenthetical. The A.V. overlooks the paren- thesis, ignores the connection of bringing in with disannulling,
Cu. VII.) THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 463
translates 5€ but instead of and, and supplies did; thus making an opposition between the law.which made nothing perfect and the bringing in of a better hope, which did make something perfect. What the writer means to say is that, according to the Psalm, there takes place, on the one hand, a disannulling of the preliminary commandment because it was weak and unprofitable, unable to perfect anything, and on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope.
The bringing in of a better hope (érevcaywy? Kpelrtovos édridos). "Emewcaywy) N. T.°, (LXX, is “a bringing in upon” (émt), upon the ground formerly occupied by the com- mandment. So Rev., correctly, “a bringing in thereupon.” For xpe(rrv better, see on ch. i. 4. The comparison is not between the hope conveyed by the commandment, and the better hope introduced by the gospel, but between the com- mandment which was characteristic of the law (Eph. ii. 15) and the hope which characterised the gospel (Rom. v. 2-5; viii. 24).