VoL, 1v.—3l
482 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. IX.
That is to say not of this building (rodr’ gor ov ravrns rhs xricews). For building rend. creation. See on Rom.viii. 19; 2 Cor. v. 17; Col. i. 15. The meaning is, not belonging to this natural creation either in its materials or its maker.
12. By the blood of goats and calves (6v’ aipwaros tpdyov Kal pooyor). Avawith,asver.11. Mdéovyos originally a tender shoot or sprout: then offspring generally. Everywhere in the Bible calf or bullock, and always masculine.
Hisownblood. The distinction is not between the different bloods, but between the victims. The difference of blood is unimportant. Regarded merely as blood, Christ’s offering is not superior to the Levitical sacrifice. If Christianity gives us only the shedding of blood, even Christ’s blood, it does not give us a real or an efficient atonement. Whatever signifi- cance may attach to the blood is derived from something else. See on ver. 14.
Once (épamaf). Rend. once for all.
Having obtained eternal redemption (alwviay AvTpwaw evpduevos). Having found and won by his act of entrance into the heavenly sanctuary. This is better than to explain “entered the sanctuary after having obtained redemption by his life, death, and resurrection ”; for the work of redemption is crowned and completed by Christ’s ascension to glory and his ministry in heaven (see Rom. vi). Even in the old sanctu- , ary the rite of the Day of Atonement was not complete until the blood had been offered in the sanctuary. Eternal, see on ch. vi. 2. Not mere duration is contemplated, but quality ; a redemption answering in its quality to that age when all the conditions of time shall be no more: a redemption not ritual, but profoundly ethical and spiritual. Avrpwou redemption, only here, L. i. 68; ii. 88. See on might redeem, Tit. ii. 4.
13-14. Justifying the preceding words, and answering the question, What has Christ to offer ?
Cx. IX.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 483
13. Ashes of a heifer (o7rodds Sapuarews). LTrrodds ashes, only here, Matt. xi. 21; L. x. 13, in both instances in the phrase sackcloth and ashes. Oftenin LXX. Adpanes heifer, N. T.°. The two examples selected cover the entire legal provision for removing uncleanness, whether contracted by sin or by contact with death. ‘The blood of bulls and goats” refers to the sin-offerings, perhaps especially to the annual atonement (Lev. xvi); “the ashes of a heifer” to the occas- ional sacrifice of the red heifer (Num. xix) for purification from uncleanness contracted by contact with the dead. The Levitical law required two remedies: the Christian economy furnishes one for all phases of defilement.
Sprinkling the unclean (parri{ouvca trols Kexowwwpmedvous). For sprinkling see on 1 Pet. i. 2. The verb only in Hebrews, except Mk. vii. 4. For the unclean rend. them that have been defiled. 'The literal rendering of the participle brings out better the incidental or occasional character of the defilement.
14. Through the eternal spirit (8:4 mvedpatos aiwviov).. For the rend. an. Acad through = by virtue of. Not the Holy: Spirit, who is never so designated, but Christ’s own human. spirit: the higher element of Christ’s being in his human life, which was charged with the eternal principle of the divine. life. Comp. Rom. i. 4; 1 Cor. xv. 45; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Heb. vii. 16. This is the key to the doctrine of Christ’s. sacrifice. The significance and value of his atonement lie in the personal ‘quality and motive of Christ himself which are back of the sacrificial act. The offering was the offering of Christ’s deepest self — his inmost personality. Therein.con- sists the attraction of the cross; not to the shedding of blood, but to Christ himself. This is Christ’s own declaration, J. xii. 82. “I will draw all men unto me.” Therein: con- sists its potency for men: not in Christ’s satisfaction of. justice by suffering a legal penalty, but in that the cross: is the supreme expression of a divine spirit of love, truth, mercy, brotherhood, faith, ministry, unselfishness, holiness, — a spirit which goes out to men with divine intensity of pur-