by blood. kai; cwri;" aiJmat. ouj g. a[f. ] and apart from outpouring of blood there cometh no remission. The former statement was general ( scedovn ): this is universal (yet there is an exception Lev. 5:5, 11).
The principle which is here affirmed belongs to the Law; and finds expression in the Pentateuch (Lev. 17:11). It occurs in identical terms in a
later legal maxim ( : db ala hrpk $ ya ).
The outpouring of blood may be understood in two ways; either of the actual slaughter of the victim, or of the pouring out of the blood upon the altar. Neither idea is in itself complete. The provision of the blood and the application of the blood are both necessary. Maimonides, in speaking of the
Passover, lays down that the sprinkling of the blood is the main point ( rqy[ )
in sacrifice ( de Sacr. 1.2, § 6).
The word
aiJmatekcusiva
, Vulg.
sanguinis effusio
(
fusio
), is found elsewhere only in patristic writings.
a[fesi"
] The absolute use of
a[fesi"
is remarkable. Elsewhere in the N.
T., except Luke 4:18 (from LXX.), the word is always used with a gen. (usually
aJmartiw'n
). The absence of further definition here (contrast Heb. 10:18) leaves it with the broad sense of release, deliverance, not so much from special sins as from the bondage of which wrong-doing is a result. In this sense cleansing is to a certain degree opposed to release. The one marks the removal of the stain, the other the enabling for action.
At the same time the choice of givnetai , in place of ejstivn , presents the release as the issue of the operation of a divine law. Comp. 7:12, 18; 11:6.
Chrysostom in comparing the use of Blood under the Old and New Covenants writes of Christ and His disciples: pou' toivnun to; biblivon ejkavqhre ; ta;" dianoiva" aujtw'n : aujtoi; ga;r h\san bibliva th'" kainh'" diaqhvkh" . pou' de; ta; skeuvh th'" leitourgiva" ; aujtoiv eijsi : pou' de; hJ skhnhv ; aujtoiv eijsi pavlin : ejnoikhvsw ga;r ejn aujtoi'" kai; ejmperipathvsw, fhsiv .
9:23-28. The writer of the Epistle goes back now to the consideration of the fulfilment of the work of Christ. The exposition of the full meaning of blood as the means of atonement and ratification came in as a necessary parenthesis. The last illustrationthe use of the blood in cleansing all human means of approach to God under the Old Covenantsupplies the transition to the thought of Christ's cleansing the heavenly sanctuary through His own Blood (v. 23); so He entered once for all into heaven itself to fulfil His atoning work (9:24-26). And that single entrance suggests the thought of a corresponding return (9:27 f.).
The paragraph offers an additional feature in the preeminence of the new order over the old. The sacrifice on which it rests is better (9:12 f.): the covenant in which it is embodied is better (9:15-22): the service alsoone sovereign and all-sufficing actis better (9:23-28).
( c ) vv. 23-28. The truths taught by Christ's Entrance into the Presence of God.
The Blood of Christ by which the New Covenant was inaugurated was available also for the cleansing of the heavenly archetype of the earthly sanctuary (9:23). For Christ has entered once for all into the Presence of God for us, having overcome sin for ever (9:24-26); and men now await the Return of the great High-priest to announce the accomplishment of His work (9:27,