For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, {Many ancient authorities read they can.}can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.
Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year.
For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith,
{Psalm 11:6 ff}Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
But a body didst thou prepare for me;
In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hadst no pleasure:
Then said I, Lo, I am come
(In the roll of the book it is written of me)
To do thy will, O God.
Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law),
then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
{Or, In}By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every {Some ancient authorities read high priest.}priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins:
but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for {Or, sins, for ever sat down &c.}sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet.
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us; for after he hath said,
{Jeremiah 31:33 f.}This is the covenant that {Greek: I will covenant.}I will make with them
After those days, saith the Lord:
I will put my laws on their heart,
And upon their mind also will I write them;
then saith he,
And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
and having a great priest over the house of God;
let us draw near with a true heart in {Or, full assurance}fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil {Or, conscience, and our body washed with pure water: let us hold fast}conscience: and having our body washed with pure water,
let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised:
and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works;
not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a {Or, jealously}fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries.
A man that hath set at nought Moses' law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses:
of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be judged worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified {Greek: a common thing.}an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know him that said, {Deuteronomy 32:35}Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, {Deuteronomy 32:36}The Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were enlightened, ye endured a great conflict of sufferings;
partly, being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, becoming partakers with them that were so used.
For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that {Many ancient authorities read ye have your own selves for a better possession &c. Compare Luke 9:25; 21:19.}ye have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.
Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense of reward.
For ye have need of {Or, stedfastness}patience, that, having done the will of God, ye may receive the promise.
{Habakkuk 2:3 f.}For yet a very little while,
He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry.
But {Some ancient authorities read the righteous one.}my righteous one shall live by faith:
And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him.
But we are not {Greek: of shrinking back.}of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the {Or, gaining}saving of the soul.
Querverweise zu Hebräer 10,19 Heb 10,19
Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.
Wherefore also he is able to save {Greek: completely.}to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have {Or, thankfulness Compare 1 Corinthians 10:30.}grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with {Or, godly fear Compare chapter 5:7.}reverence and awe:
And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of holies;
For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
but into the second the high priest alone, once in the year, not without blood, which he offereth for himself, and for the {Greek: ignorances. Ecclus. 23:2 f.}errors of the people:
And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
the Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing;
So that thou art no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption.
in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through {Or, the faith of him}our faith in him.
It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ entered not into a holy place made with hands, like in pattern to the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear before the face of God for us:
nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place year by year with blood not his own;
For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness; but of power and love and {Greek: sobering.}discipline.
through whom also we have had our access {Some ancient authorities omit by faith.}by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and {Or, let us rejoice}we {Greek: glory. Verse 11; Hebrew 3:6.}rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall {Greek: persuade. compare Matthew 28:14.}assure our heart {Or, before him, whereinsoever our heart condemn us; because God & c.}before him:
because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God;
for through him we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father.
Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as he is, even so are we in this world.
My little children, these things write I unto you that ye may not sin. And if any man sin, we have an {Or, Comforter John 14:16. Or, Helper Greek: Paraclete.}Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.