The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 17

if ab-roii be int.ended, and not am-ou (aud the atonement for" (Greek, lAc.u-1tlu-ll111) is in former is most likely, since the pronoun, Hebrnw i!:l~, which menns properly "to though it be reflective, is not emphatically cover;" i.e. to cover sin from the sight of so), it may with grammatical propriety refer God. And the result of such l\tonement either, like the previous av.-oii, to God, or to was called "purification," or "olennsing." bi.m who thus upholds nil things. In either This appears clearly in Lev. xvi., where case the general meaning of the clause re- the ceremonies of the great Day of Atone• mains the same. Enough has been lll\id on ment are detl\iled. After an account of the the whole series of phr11ses which is thus various saorifices of atonement, for the high roncluded to show the untenableness of the priest nnd his house, for the people, and Socinian interpretation, which would refer for the holy place itself polluted by their them only to Christ in the flesh and to the sins, we read (ver. 19), "And he shall Christian dispensation. On such interpre- sprinkle of the blood upon it [i.e, the altar] tation of the first of them Bull remarks, with his finger seven times, and cleanse it "Interpretatio Socinistarnm, Deum nempe (Ka6ap,ii), and hallow it from the uncleannue dici per Filiam SSlcule. condidisse, quod ( .,..,,, d1ta6apu-,wv) of the children of Israel." per ipsum genus humanum reformavit And finally (ver. 30), "For on thnt day et resta.uravit, et in novum quemda.m ate.- shall the priest make an atonement for you, tum tra.nstulit, prodigiosum est commentum. to cleanse you (1<a6aplu-a,), that ye may be Sane jummento aliquis tuto e.ffirme.re possit, clean from all your sins before the Lord." ex Hebrmis, nd quos scripta fuit illa cpistola., It is to be observed, further, that it is ue unnm quidem fuisse, qui scriptoris verbe. especially the meaning of the ceremonial hoe sensu intellexerit, aut vel per somnium of the Day of Atonement that Christ is cogitaverit, per Toh alwv,u, smcula, significa- spoken of afterwards in the Epistle as tum fnisse tantum genus humannm, nedum having fulfilled. For the phrase, ..-o,71u-cl.µ.•vos ejus pe.rtcm illam, cui tune temporis evan- 1ta8ap1u-µ.bv b.µ.ap'Tiwv, cf. Job vii. 21, ti.,a.,.( gelii lux effnleerat" ('Jud. Eccl. Cath.,' v. obit l..-o,11u-o, T,js b.voµ.las A1J871v, 1tal 1ta6ap1u-µ.bv 8). Wh.en he had made purification of Bins. 'l'?js b.µ.apTlas µ.au. Its meaning in the Epistle (So, according to the best-supported and now may be that Christ, by his death, brought generally accepted text.) The aorist is now into being and established a permanent resumed, denoting an act in time-the act purification of sins-" a fountain open for accomplished by him as incarnate SoN, sin and for uncleanness" (Zech. xiii. 1)-in previous to and necessary for his entering his blood, which is regarded as now ever on the iaheritance appointed to him as such. offered at the heavenly mercy-seat (eh. ix. This act, the grand purpose of the Incar- 12) and sprinkled on the redeemed below nation, was atonement. There can be no ( eh. ix. 14, 22). Thus the distinction, doubt that the cleansing effected by atone- ohderved above, between the atonement ment, and not the mere moral reformation (ll\au-µ.bs), of sacrifice and its application for of believers, is meant here by purification of cleansing (Ha6ap,u-µ.os) would be preserved sins. The sequel of the Epistle,. being, as (cf. 1 John i. 7 and Rev. vii. 14). Sat aforesaid, the full expression of the drift of down; i.e. entered on his inheritance of nil the exordium, is sufficient proof of this. things; not simply in the sense of resnming For in it Christ is exhibited at great length his pristine glory, but of obtaining the pre- OB the true High Priest of humanity, accom- eminence denoted in prophecy as appointed pli£hing truly what the Jewish priesthood to the SoN, human 118 well as Divine, and signified; and as having "sat down at the won by obedience and accomplished atone- right hand of the throne of the l\1ajesty in ment. And this his supreme exaltation the heavens," in virtue of his ace.omplished (ns will be seen hereafter) carries with it atonement (eh. viii 1; x. 12). Nor would the idea of an exaltation of humanity, of the Hebrew readers to whom the Epistle was which he wns the High Priest and Represen- addressed be likely to understand Ha6ap,u-µ.~v tative. But be it observE>.d that there is no ("purification") in any othe_r sense than chang11 in the subject of the sentence. He this. The verb Ha6apl(w1 is the LXX. who '' sat down on high" after me.king puri- equivalent for the Hebrew ;~, frequent in fication is the same with him through whom the Old Testament for ceremonial cleans- the worlds were mnde, and whose eternal ing, the result of atoning sacri?ce ; in Divinity has been expressed by tho present which senBC it is accordingly used m eh. x. participles. 'l'his i<lentificntion supports of this Epistle. The theory of the Jewish the orthodox position of there being but ono ceremonial law was that the whole congrega- personality in Christ, notwithstanding the tion incloo.ing the priests themselves, were two natures, and justifies, ngninst N estorilm- f/10 ~uch polluted by sin to approach the ism, the term B•oToHos 118 applied to the holy God who dwelt between the cherubim. blessed Virgin, with other cognnte exprcs• Therefore sacrifices were ordained to lllllke sions accepted in orthodo;,i; theology, such atonement for them. The word for "making as, "God suffered," though in his human, on. 1, 1-14.] THE EPIS'l.'LE TO THE HEBREWS. 7