The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 256

~oul. 11 DcAd works" are those which are regarded as meritorious in themselves 1 and apart fron:i the disposition n.nd motive which prompted them. They do not proceed from a heart ~h'l'.'e by faith and love. No living spiritual sentiment breathes through them. And their mfluence on the soul is not inspiring, but depressing. They have no fitness for quickening spiritual affections and powers, but for crushing and killing them. '!'hey, moreover, tend to defile man's religious nature. As the touching of a corpse, or the bone of a dead body, or treading upon a grave, defiled a man under the Mosaic Law, so the contact of these dead works with mau's soul contaminates it. The moral influence of the blood of Christ cleanses away this contamination ( cf. 1 John i. 6-9). 'l'he holy irnd infinite love of God manifested in the death of Christ for us, when it ie realized by us, burns up base passions and impure human affections and unholy desires. It acts wit~in us as a fervent and purifying fire. And it inspires the soul for true sfiritual service. It II cleanses the oonscience from dead works to serve the living God. The word used to express this service indicates its religiousness. It" denotes in the New Testament the priestly consecration and offering up of the whole man to the service of God, .•. the willing priestly offering of one's self to God." It does not signify service which is limited to religious duties, but the performance of every duty and all Juties in "religious spirit. The whole life is consecrated to the living God, and all its occupations become exalted into a Divine service (cf. 1 Cor. x. 31; Col. iii. 17). "How much more," then, "shall the blood of Christ?" etc. In the ceremonial cleansings the connection between the means and the end was merely symbolical and arbitrary ; hut in the redemptive influences of the gospel there is a beautiful and sublime fitness for the accomplishment of their end. The infinite righteousness and love manifested in the great self-sacrifice of the Saviour are eminently adapted to redeem and purify man's soul from sin, and to inspire and invigorate him for the willing service of the living God. Our text corrects two errors concerning the sacrifice of Christ. 1. It e-0rrects the error of those who make the essence of that Eacri.fice to e-0nsist in the physical sufferings and death of our Lord. God has no delight in mere pain, or blood-shedding, or death. In themselves these things cannot be pleasing to God. It was the spirit in which Christ suffered and died that made his death a Divine sacrifice and a mighty power of spiritual redemption. 2. It corrects the error of those wlw depreciate the expres5ion of the Divine spirit of self-sacri- fice in the life and death of our Lord. It was morally necessary that he should give himself as a sacrifice for us, in order that the mighty influence of the Divine righteous- ness and love might be brought to bear upon us and redeem us. " Behoved it not the Christ to suffer these things ? " "Thus it behoved the Christ to suffer," etc. (Luke xxiv. 26, 46, 47).-W. J. Ver. 22.-Forgi'.veness through sacrifice. "Without shedding of blood Is no remission." This is as true in Christianity as it was in Judaism. The text suggests- !. A SAD FACT. Implied in the text and in the ·whole of the present section of the Epistle is the sad fact that men are sinners, needing forii;iveness of sin and cleausing of son!. Men endeavour by various methods to get rid of this fact of sin. Some attribute what the Bible calls sin to defective social arrangements. Men, say they, are parts of a very imperfect and faulty organization, and their errors are to be charged against the organization, not against the individuals composing it. Others denominate sin "mis- direction" or miotake, thus eliminating the element of will and moral responsibility. Others speak of it as •• imperfect development." Others charge all personal wrong- doing upon the force of temptation, or the pressure of circumstances, ignoring the fact that solicitation is not compulsion. With these theories, how are we to account for the self-reproaches which men heap upon themselves after wrong-doing-for the fact that men do blame themselves for wrong-doing? We feel that we ha.ve sinned, that we are morally free and responsible individually, that we have broken a holy law, that we deserve punishment. The penitent heart cries," Against thee, thee only, have I sinned," etc.; "God be merciful to me the sinner." It is a terrible fact that sin is in the world, that we individually are sinnerB. IL A GREAT WANT. Remission of sins-forgiveness. Man everywhere is consciously guilty before God ; everywhere his heart cries out for reconciliation with him, and Cor- gi veness from him. Altars, sacrifices, pilgrimages, penances, all witness to this. Evidences of this deep need are in our per,onal experience. The guilt, the cousciousne11& OIi, IL 1-28.] THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 247