314
i Gal. iv. 9. i iv. 16; Ἢ
Joan. i.
17; Acts
Rom. iii.
21, 28, et
vill. 3;
Eph. ii.
18, et iii.
12; Gal. ii. 16. 1 Ps. cx. 4. behalf of bringing men to God. The μὲν ... δὲ indicate that the sentence must thus be construed, and not as rendered in A.V. The reason of this replacement of the old legal enactment is given in the clause, διὰ τὸ αὐτῆς ἀσθενὲς καὶ ἀνωφελές “on account of its weakness and uselessness”. This arrangement depending on the flesh was helpless to achieve the most spiritual of achievements, the union of man with God, the bringing together in true spiritual fellowship of sinful and earthly man with the holy God. So Paul found that arrangements of a mechanical and external nature were ἀσθενῆ καὶ πτωχὰ στοιχεῖα, Gal. iv. ο. ‘* The uselessness (unhelplessness) of the priesthood was proved by its inability to aid men in that ἐγγίζειν τῷ Θεῷ, which is their one want’’ (Vaughan). The ordinance regulating the priesthood failed to ac- complish its object; and indeed this characterised the entire system of which it was a characteristic part. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἐτελείωσεν ὁ νόμος, “' for nothing was brought to perfection by the law”. The law made beginnings, / taught rudiments, gave initial impulses, ' hinted, foreshadowed, but brought no- thing to perfection, did not in itself pro- vide for man’s perfect entrance into God’s fellowship. Therefore there was intro- duced that which did achieve in perfect form this reconcilement with God, viz.: a better hope, which is therefore defined as δι᾽ ἧς ἐγγίζομεν τῷ Θεῷ, “by which we draw near to God”. The law said (Exod. xix. 21) διαμάρτυραι τῷ λαῷ μήποτε ἐγγίσωσι πρὸς τὸν Θεόν. The ‘better’? hope is that which springs from belief in the indestructible life of Christ and the assurance that that life is still active in the priestly function of intercession. It is the hope that is anchored within the veil fixed in Christ’s person and therefore bringing us into God’s presence and fellowship.
Vv. 20-22. Another element in the superiority of the covenant estab- lished upon the priesthood of Jesus is that in the very manner of the institution