Ver. 19. Ἔχοντες οὖν, ἀδελφοί, .. . ‘ Having then, brethren, confidence for the entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, a way which He inaugur- ated for us fresh and living, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” For the form of the sentence cf. iv. 14. παρρησίαν εἰς τὴν εἴσοδον, cf. ili. 6 and iv. 16 προσερχώμεθα μετὰ παρρησίας, aiso Eph. 11.12. ἐν ᾧ ἔχομεν τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ τὴν προσαγωγὴν. εἴσοδος may either mean an entrance objectively con- sidered, or the act of entering. Weiss adopts the former meaning, comrelled as he supposes by the 686v which follows in apposition and referring to Jud. i. 24 and Ezek. xxvii. 3. He would therefore
346
h iv. 14, 16. ζῶσαν, διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος, τουτέστι,
i Ezech.
> 44
τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτοῦ, 21.
xxxvi.25;" καὶ ἱερέα μέγαν ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ, 22. ' προσερχώµεθα
Eph. ii. 12; Jac. i. 6.
translate “boldness as regards the en- trance”’. The objection to this inter- pretation is the meaning put upon eis which more naturally expresses the object or end towards which the παρρησία is directed, the entering in, not merely the object about which the παρρησία is exer- cised. Cf. 2 Cor. vii. το, μετάνοιαν εἰς σωτηρίαν. But cf. Winer on eis. The expression in ix. 8, τὴν τῶν ἁγίων ὁδὸν, also favours Weiss’s interpretation. τῶν ἁγίων as the Greek commentators remark, here means “heaven”. ἐν τ. αἵματι Ἰησοῦ, on the whole, it is better to join these words not with παρρησίαν but with εἴσοδον. Bleek sees a reference to ix. 25,6 ἀρχιερεὺς εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὰ ἅγια ἐν αἵματι ἀλλοτρίῳ. ἣν ἐνεκαίνισεν ἡμῖν ὁδὸν .. . “The new and living way which He inaugurated [or dedicated] for us.” The antecedent of the clause is εἴσοδον, and this way into the holiest is here further described as first used by Christ that it might be used by us. For ἐγκαινίζειν means to handsel, to take the first use of a new thing. See Deut. xx. 5. He has entered within the veil as our πρόδρομος (vi. 19, 20) and has thus opened a way for us. It is πρόσφατον, recent, fresh. The lexicographers are agreed that, originally meaning fresh- slain and applied to νεκρός, πρόσφατος came to be used of flowers, oil, snow, mis- fortune, benefits, in Sivac. ix. 10, of a friend; in Eccles. i.9 οὐκ ἔστι wav πρόσ- φατον ὑπὸ τὸν ἥλιον. It was a way recently opened. Christ was the first who trodthat way. \Vetstein, who gives many examples of the use of the word, cites also from Florus, i. 15, 3, am interesting an- alogy: “ Alter [Decius Mus] quasi monitu deorum, capite velato, primam ante aciem diis manibus se devoverit, ut in con- fertissima se hostium tela jaculatus, novum ad victoriam iter sanguinis sui semita aperiret”. καὶ ζῶσαν, not as a way that abides (Chrys., etc.) nor as leading to life eternal (Grotius, etc.), nor as a way which consists in fellowship with a Person (Westcott), but as effective, actually bringing its followers to their goal. Cf. iv. 12. So Davidson and Weiss. διὰ τοῦ καταπετάσματος, a further characteristic of the way, it passed through the veil, that is, His flesh, which must first be rent before Christ could pass into the holiest. ‘* This beauti-
μετὰ ἀληθινῆς καρδίας ἐν πληροφορίᾳ πίστεως, ἐρραντισμένοι Tas
ful allegorizing of the veil cannot, of course, be made part of a consistent and complete typology. It is not meant for this. But as the veil stood locally before the holiest in the Mosaic Tabernacle, th way into which lay through it, so Christ’ life in the flesh stood between Him and His entrance before God, and His flesh had to be rent ere He could enter” (Davidson).
Ver. 21. καὶ ἱερέα μέγαν. The opened way into the holiest is not the only advantage possessed by the Christian, he has also ‘‘a great priest,” cf. iv. 14 ἔχοντες οὖν ἀρχιερέα μέγαν. . . προσ- ερχώμεθα. Philo (Leg. ad Gai., p. 1035) calls the High Priest ὁ μέγας ἱερεύς, and so Lev. xxi. 10, Num. xxxv. 25. But it is not to the fact that He is High Priest that this designation here points, but to His greatness as Son of God and as one who has passed into the Holy Presence. Especially is His greatness manifested in His administration ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον τοῦ θεοῦ, over God’s house (cf. ili. 6) that is, over those heavenly realities which replace the house of God on earth, and necessarily over those for whom the priest is appointed to minister Ta πρὸς Tov θεόν v. I). : yes 22. Being thus secure of an ac- ceptable entrance προσερχώμεθα, “let us keep approaching,” that is, to God (vii. 25, χι. 6); asemi-technical term. μετὰ ἀληθινῆς καρδίας, “with a true heart’’ (cf. Isa. xxxvili. 3), not with a merely bodily approach as if all were external and symbolic, but with that genuine engagement of the inner man which constitutes true worship. Chry- sostom has χωρὶς ὑποκρίσεως. Davidson has ‘‘with fundamental genuineness”; but it is the genuineness which is elicited in presence of realities. καρδία is inter- preted in 1 Pet. ili. 4, 6 κρυπτὸς τῆς καρδίας ἄνθρωπος. It is the inevitable qualification of one who comes ἐν πλη- ροφορίᾳ πίστεως, “in full assur- ance of faith,” believing not only that God is (xi. 6) but that a way to His favour and fellowship is opened by the Great Priest. To engender this full assurance has been the aim of the writer through- outthe Epistle. ῥεραντισμένοι... λελουσμένοι. These participles ex- press not conditions of approach to God which are yet to be achieved, but con-