Ver. 26. ἐπεὶ ἔδει αὐτὸν ... ‘‘Since in that case he must often have suffered since the creation.” If Christ’s one offering of Himself were not eternally efficacious, if it required periodical renewal, then this demanded periodical sacrifice. It was “ποῖ without blood”
340
x Matt.
αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται. xxvi. 28:
‘ > Ὁ > / - , 27. καὶ καθ᾽ ὅσον ἀπόκειται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις
- a , εἰ Kom. v. ἅπαξ ἀποθανεῖν, μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο κρίσις - 28. * οὕτως 1 ὁ Χριστὸς ἅπαξ
6, δ, 15, et
vi, ποια. προσενεχθεὶς εἰς τὸ πολλῶν ἀνενεγκεῖν ἁμαρτίας, ἐκ δευτέρου χωρὶς
Peter iii.
ς , 3 ο fe. 3 / 3 , 18, ἁμαρτίας ὀφθήσεται τοῖς αὐτὸν ἀπεκδεχομένοις εἰς σωτηρίαν.
1 Insert και with SACDEKLP.
the entrance was made, and if the entrance required repetition, so must the sacrifice be repeated. And as sin pre- vailed ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου, the παθεῖν must also date from the first. The contrast is with the one offering ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ κ.τ.λ. “If his offering of Himself were not independent of time and valid as a single act, if it were valid only for the generation for whom it is immediately made, then in order to benefit men in the past, He must have suffered often, indeed in each generation of the past” (Davidson). νυνὶ δὲ ἅπαξ... **But now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested for sin’s abolition by His sacrifice”. νυνὶ, ‘‘as things are,’’ in contrastto the casesupposed in ver. 25, the possibility of His repeated entrance and sacrifice. For the word, see Viii. 6. & πα € not πολλάκις, vv. 25, 26; and this, ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων [for ἐπὶ in this use see Winer, p. 489] at that period of history in which all that has happened since the foundation of the world (ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου) finds its interpretation and adjustment. If there was to be one sacrifice for all generations, the occurrence of that sacrifice itself marked the period as the consummation. It closes the periods of symbolism, ex- pectation and doubt, suggesting, perhaps, the word πεφανέρωται for Christ’s appear- ance, as that which was dimly fore- shadowed, blindly longed for. ets ἀθέτησιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, The object of Christ’s appearance, the abolition of sin, made the repetition of His sacrifice unnecessary. In vii. 25 ἀθέτησις is used of permanent displacement, removal, or setting aside, that is, abolition. τῆς ἁμαρτίας of sin, in its most general and comprehensive sense, all sin. This was the great object of Christ’s manifesta- tion, the annulling of sin, its total destruction, the counteraction of all its effects. This wasto be accomplished δι ὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ “through His sacrifice,’ the simple subjective genitive. The sentence draws attention not to the nature of the sacrifice, but to its three characteristics, that it was made once for tall, in the consummation, for sin’s aboli- tion.
Ver. 27. καὶ καθ᾽ ὅσον . . . “And inasmuch as it is reserved for men once to die and, after this, judgment, so, also, Christ, etc.” To confirm his statement that Christ’s sacrifice was ‘‘ once for all,” he appeals to the normal conditions of human death. To men generally, τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, it is appointed once to die, men are not permitted to return to earth to compensate for neglect or failure, but immediately succeeding upon death, if not
in time, yet in consequence, follows judgment. The results of life are entered upon. So Christ died but once and the
results will be apparent in His appearing the second time without sin unto salva- tion. ἀπόκειται “is reserved” as in Longinus’ De Subl. ix. 7, ἡμῖν δυσδαιμονοῦσιν ἀπόκειται λιμὴν κακῶν ὁ θάνατος, cf. iii. 5; also Dion. Hal. v. 8, ὅσα τοῖς κακούργοις ἀπόκειται παθεῖν, and especially 2 Tim. iv. 8. What is destined for all men is not simply death, but ἅπαξ ἀποθ. once to die. Cf. the fragment of Sophocles θανεῖν yap οὐκ ἔξεστι τοῖς αὐτοῖσι δίς. peta δὲ τοῦτο κρίσις “after this,” but how long, the author does not say. ‘Man dies once, and the next thing before him is judgment. So Christ died once and the next thing before Him is the Advent” (Vaughan).