to the heavenly hosts—-Curist. Rend. therefore “ Jesus is
Christ.” Observe that our writer rarely uses the formula Jesus Christ. In ch. x. 10 it occurs in a passage in which the messianic mission of Jesus is emphasised (see vv. 5, 9), and in xiii. 21, in a liturgical formula. The temptation to forsake Jesus as Messiah is treated in the next verse.
9. Be not carried about (4) wapadépecde). A.V. follows T. R. wepipepecbe. Rend. “carried away.” The present tense indicates a present and active danger.
566 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. ([Ca. XII.
With divers and strange doctrines (d:dayais mroukirats Kat Eévais). For “doctrines” rend. “teachings.” These teachings represent various phases of one radical error —the denial of Jesus’s messiahship and of his messianic economy as super- seding Judaism and all other means of salvation. Among them the writer’s mind would naturally turn to the prescrip- tions concerning clean and unclean meats and sacrificial festivals. See next clause. These teachings were various as contrasted with the one teaching of the gospel; they were strange as they differed from that teaching. Comp. Gal. i. 6-9. For mrotx/dXats see on 2 Tim. iii. 16.
That the heart be established (GeRatodcGar tHv xapdiav). There is an emphasis on heart as well as on grace. These strange teachings all emphasised externalism, in contrast with Christianity, which insisted upon the purification of the heart and conscience. The contrast is strongly stated in ch. ix. 9, 14, and the Epistle constantly directs the readers to the heart as the true point of contact with God, and the source of all departures from him. See ch. iii. 8, 10, 12,15; iv. 7, 12; viii. 10; especially x. 22. Hence, the writer says, “it is good that the solid basis of your assurance before God be in the heart, purged from an evil conscience, so that you can draw near to God with a firmly-established confidence, with a true heart, in full assurance of faith”: ch. x. 22; comp. 1 Th. i183 592 Tima a2,
With grace, not with meats (ydpiti od Bpoyacw). The heart is the proper seat of the work of grace. Free grace is the motive-power of Christ’s sacrifice (2 Cor. viii. 9; Gal. i. 15); it is behind the blood of the new covenant, and is the energetic principle of its saving operation. See Rom. v. 2,15; 1 Cor. xv..10; Eph. ii. 5, 7,8; 2 Th. ii. 16; Heb. ii. 9; iv. 16; x. 29. With meats stands for the whole system of ceremonial observances, in contrast with grace, working on the heart. See ch. ix. 10. This ceremonial system yielded no permanent benefit to those who lived under it. See ch. vii. 25; ix. 9, 18, 14; x. 1, 2, 4.
Cx. XIII] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 567
Which have not profited them that have been occupied therein (év ofs ov« dperHOncav of mepirarodvres). Lit. in the which they who walked were not profited. Tlepurareiv to walk about is often used to express habitual practice or gen- eral conduct of life. See Rom. vi. 4; 2 Cor. x. 8; Eph. dhe BOR GOP iit. te3 Lys, Oh
10. Those who persist in adhering to the Jewish economy can have no part in the blessing of the new covenant. The two are mutually exclusive. The statement is cast in the mould of the Jewish sacrificial ritual, and in the figure of eating a sacrificial meal.
We have an altar (éyouev Ovotacryptov). It is a mistake to try to find in the Christian economy some specific object answering to altar — either the cross, or the eucharistic table, or Christ himself. Rather the ideas of approach to God, — sacrifice, atonement, pardon and acceptance, salvation, — are gathered up and generally represented in the figure of an altar, even as the Jewish altar was the point at which all these ideas converged. The application in this broader and more general sense is illustrated by Ignatius: “If one be not within the altar (évrds tot @votacrnpiov, the sacred pre- cinct), he lacketh the bread of God. ... Whosoever, there- fore, cometh not to the congregation (él To avré), he doth thereby show his pride, and hath separated himself,” Eph. v. Ignatius here uses the word, not of a literal altar, but of the church. Comp. Trail. vii. Again: “ Hasten to come to- . gether as to one temple, even God; to one altar, even to one Jesus Christ,” Magn. vii.