That the law possessed no more than a shadow of the coming good was exhi- bited in its constantly renewed sacrifices. Kat ἐνιαυτὸν belongs to ταῖς αὐταῖς θυσίαις, “with the same annually re- peated sacrifices,” further explained and emphasised by the relative clause, ἃς προσ- φέρουσιν εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲς, “which they perpetually offer”. οὐδέποτε δύναται - . . the law can never with these per- petually renewed offerings perfect the worshippers’’. “Νο repetition of the shadow can amount to the substance’ (Davidson). The proof is given in the following words, ver. 2: ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν ἐπαύ-
342
μένους τελειῶσαι.
aK
2. ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν ἐπαύσαντο προσφερόμεναι, διὰ
τὸ μηδεμίαν ἔχειν ἔτι συνείδησιν ἁμαρτιῶν τοὺς λατρεύοντας, ἅπαξ
ο. κεκαθαρµένους". 3. ἀλλ ἐν αὐταῖς ἀνάμνησις ἁμαρτιῶν κατ᾽ 14; Num. ἐνιαυτόν - 4. " ἀδύνατον γὰρ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων ἀφαιρεῖν ο Ps. χ] 6, ἁμαρτίας. 5. " Διὸ εἰσερχόμενος εἰς τὸν κόσμον λέγει, “ Θυσίαν καὶ ΤΣ Bea: προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω por: 6. ὁλοκαυτώματα ae καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ εὐδόκησας “- 7. τότε εἶπον, ᾿Ιδοὺ ἥκω - ἐν oe κεφαλίδι βιβλίου γέγραπται περὶ ἐμοῦ: τοῦ ποιῆσαι, ὁ Θεὸς, τὸ
1 κεκαθαρισμενους ΠΕΗΚΡ, 17, 37, 71. 3ηνδοκησας in ACD*HP, 37, 73.
σαντο προσφερόµεναι. The constant renewal of the yearly round of sacrifices proves that they were inefficacious, for had the worshippers once been cleansed they would have had no longer any con- sciousness of sins and would therefore have sought no renewal of sacrifice. ἐπεὶ, “since,” if the Ο.Τ. sacrifices had perfected those who used them. προσ- φερόμεναι corresponding to προσφ- έρουσιν, and τοὺς λατρεύοντας to τοὺς προσερχομένους οἵ previous verse. ἅπαξ κεκαθ., that is, once delivered from a sense of guilt, cf. ix. 14, where συνείδησις is also used in same sense as here, the consciousness of sin as barring approach to God. The sinner once cleansed may, no doubt, be again defiled and experience a renewed consciousness of guilt. But in the writer’s view this consciousness is at once absorbed in the consciousness of his original cleansing. Cf. John xiii. το. ἀλλ᾽ ἐν αὐταῖς. ... So far from these O.T. sacrifices once for all cleansing the conscience and thus perfecting the wor- shippers, “by and in them there is a yearly remembrance of sins,” that is, of sins not yet sufficiently atoned for by any past sacrifice. Cf. Num. v. 15. θυσία μνημοσύνου ἀναμιμνήσκουσα ἁμαρτίαν, and Philo, De Plantat., 25, αἱ θυσίαι ὑπομιμνήσκουσαι Tas ἑκάστων ἀγνοίας, κ.τ.λ. This remembrance of sins 15 κα τ᾽ ἐνιαυτόν, which is most naturally re- ferred to the annual confession of the whole people on the day of Atonement. The remembrance was not of sins pre- viously atoned for but of sins committed since the previous sacrifice; there was no perception that any previous atonement was sufficient for all sin. The under- lying ground of this inadequacy being expressed in ver. 4. ἀδύνατον yap. - - - “‘For it is impossible that the blood of oxen and goats should take away sins”. This obvious truth needs no proof. There is no relation between the physical blood
of animals and man’s moral offence. Cf. the Choephori of Aischylus, 7ο, “all waters, joining together to cleanse from blood the polluted hand, may strive in vain”. ἀφαιρεῖν ἁμαρτίας, “to take away sins,” in the sense of removing their guilt as in Num. xiv. 18, Lev. x. 17, Rom. xi. 27.
Vv. 5-10. The adequacy of Christ’s sacrifice as fulfilling God’s will. διὸ ‘‘ wherefore,” “such being the ineffective- ness of the sacrifices of the law and the condition of conscience of those under them,” “when He—that is ὁ Χριστός ix. 28 to whom alone εἰσερχόμ. is applicable—comes into the world,” refer- ring generally to His incarnate state, not to His entrance on his public ministry. λέγει, the words are quoted from Ps. xl. 6-8 and put in the mouth of Christ although the whole Psalm cannot be considered Messianic, cf. ver. 12. In what sense can λέγει be used of Christ ἢ It is not meant that He was present in the psalmist and so uttered what is here