24. Under the old covenant, the bloodshedding was sym- bolical: the death of the institutor was by proxy. In the ratification of the new covenant, Christ himself was the cov- enant-victim, and a real cleansing power attaches to his blood as the offering of his eternal spirit.
* See also Riehm, Lehrbegriff des Hebrderbriefes, p. 542.
Cu. IX.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 491
The holy places made with hands (yeporolnra ayia). For holy places rend. a holy. place, the plural being used of the sanctuary. Christ is not entered into a hand-made sanc- tuary.
Figures (ayrirvra). Or figure. Only here and 1 Pet. iii. 21, see note. Answering to the patterns in the heavens, ch. vill. 5. Rev. lke in pattern.
Now to appear (viv éudanobjvat). Now, not only in contrast with the time of the old, typical economy, but also implying a continually-present manifestation, for us, now, as at his first entrance into the heavenly sanctuary. *Eudaue- Ojvat, rend. to be manifested. Better than to appear, because it exhibits the manifestation of Christ as something brought about as the result of a new and better economy, and distinctly contemplated in the institution of that economy. Christ is made openly manifest before the face of God. The Levitical priest was compelled to shroud the ark and the shekinah with incense-smoke, that he might not look upon God face to face.
25. Nor yet that (od © iva). Supply did he enter. “Nor yet did he enter that he might offer,” etc.
He should offer himself often (zroAA axis rpoodépn éavtov). His offering did not need repetition like the Levitical sacri- fices. Offer himself refers rather to Christ’s entrance into the heavenly sanctuary and presentation of himself before God, than to his offering on the cross. See on ver. 14. The sacrifice on the cross is described by wa@eiv suffer, ver. 26, and is introduced as a distinct thought. The point is that, being once in the heavenly sanctuary, Christ was not compelled to renew often his presentation of himself there, since, in that case, it would be necessary for him to suffer often. Each separate offering would necessitate a corre- sponding suffering.
492 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. (Cu. IX.
26. Since the foundation of the world (ao xataBorjs xdcpov). For, from the foundation of the world, sin required atonement by sacrifice; and, therefore, if Christ had been a victim like others, which must be offered repeatedly, he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. If his sacrifice, like the animal atonements, had availed for a time only, he would have been obliged to repeat his offering whenever that time expired; and, since his atonement was designed to be universal, it would have been necessary for him to appear repeatedly upon earth, and to die repeatedly from the foundation of the world. Comp. 1 Pet. i. 20; Apoc. xiii. 8.*
In the end of the world (émi cuvrede/g Trav aiwvev). In N. T. cuvrérera consummation, always with aiav age. With the plural aidvwv only here. Everywhere else cvvrédeva ai@vos. The A. V. gives a wrong impression as of the end of this visible world. The true sense is the consummation of the ages: that is to say, Christ appeared when the former ages had reached their moral consummation under the old Levitical economy. Comp. ch. i. 2.
To put away sin (eis a0érnow tis duaprias). Lit. for the putting away of sin. For a@érnows see on ch. vii. 18. Note the singular number, sin. The sacrifice of Christ dealt with sin as a principle: the Levitical sacrifices with individ- ual transgressions.
27. That there is no place for a repeated offering of Christ is further shown by reference to the lot of men in general. The very idea is absurd; for men die once, and judgment
* If the question of the retrospective value of Christ’s sacrifice is raised here, some light is thrown upon it by the expression “through his eternal spirit,’ ver. 14. An eternal spirit is independent of time, and acts performed under its inspiration are valid for all time. Christ offered himself in spirit before the foundation of the world. Was not the act of his eternal spirit the core of the whole preparatory system of sacrifice? What I take to be the correct interpretation of Rom. iii. 25, as given in the notes on that passage, agrees with this.