7. Errors (ayvonudtwyv). Lit. ignorances. See on ch. v. 2.
* Professor Bruce’s remarks on this point are worth reading: The Epistle to the Hebrews, p. 310 ff.
478 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. [Cu. IX,
8. The Holy Ghost. Speaking through the appliances and forms of worship. The intimation is that God intended to emphasise, in the old economy itself, the fact of his inac- cessibility, in order to create the desire for full access and to prepare the way for this.
The way into the holiest of all (tv Trav dayiwy odor). Lit. the way of the holies. For the construction comp. odov eOvav way of the Gentiles, Mk. x. 5. The phrase N. T.°. Tov ayiwv as in vv. 12, 24, 25; x. 19.
While as the first tabernacle was yet standing (é7: 77s TpeTHS oKNnYAS exovons ordow). By the first tabernacle is meant the first division. The point is that the division of the tabernacle showed the limitations of the Levitical system, and kept the people from coming directly to God. Of this limitation the holy place, just outside the second veil, was specially significant; for the holy place barred priests and people alike from the holy of holies. The priests could not pass out of it into the holy of holies; the people could not pass through it to that sanctuary, since they were not allowed in the holy place. The priests in the holy place stood between the people and God as revealed in the shrine. *Eyovons atdowy, lit. had standing. ‘The phrase N.T.°. Srdous, every- where in N. T. except here, is used in its secondary sense of faction, sedition, insurrection. Here in its original sense. Note that the sense is not physical and local as the A.V. implies, but remained a recognised institution.
9. Which (jrs). The first division of the tabernacle. The double relative directs attention to the emphasis which belongs to the first tabernacle. The way into the holiest was not yet manifest while the first tabernacle continued to be a recognised institution, seeing that the first tabernacle was a parable, etc.
A figure (aapa8onr). Outside of the Synoptic Gospels, only here and ch. xi. 19. Here of a visible symbol or type. See on Matt. xiii. 3.
Cu. IX.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 479
For the time then present (es tov xarpov Tov évertnxdta). Rend. now present, as contrasted with the “ time of reforma- tion,” ver. 10. See on these last days, ch.i.2. "Es for; with reference to; applying to. Kazpds season is used instead of aiwy age, because “the time” is conceived by the writer as a critical point,—a turning-point, at which the old system is to take its departure. For évestyxdta present, see on Gal. i. 4, and comp. Rom. viii. 88; 1 Cor. iii. 22.
In which (xa® 7v). The A.V. wrongly assumes a reference to the tabernacle ; whereas the reference is to the parable. Rend. according to which.
Were offered — could not (apoodépovtat piy Suvdpevac). Rend. “are offered” or “are being offered”; and for “could not,” “ cannot.”
Make him that did the service perfect (teredoar tov Natpevovta). Rend. as Rev. “make the worshipper perfect.” See ch. vii. 11.
As pertaining to the conscience (cata ovvelSnow). Having shown that the division of the tabernacle proved the imper- fection of the worship, the writer will now show that the Levitical ritual did not accomplish the true end of religion. The radical defect of the Levitical system was its inability to deal with the conscience, and thus bring about the “perfection” which is the ideal of true religion. That ideal contemplated the cleansing and renewal of the inner man; not merely the removal of ceremonial uncleanness, or the formal expiation of sins. Comp. Matt. xxiii. 25,26. For cvveidnots conscience, see on 1 Pet. iii. 16.
10. The impotence of the gifts and sacrifices lay in the fact that they were only symbolic ordinances.