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complexity of his nature may be very differently conceived of. His ‘life’ extends to two orders, the seen and the unseen, the temporal and the eternal, the material and the spiritual. And according as one or the other is predominant in the thought of the speaker yuchv may represent the energy of life as it is manifested under the present conditions of sense, or the energy of life which is potentially eternal. This manifoldness of the yuchv is recognised in Heb. 4:12. ‘The Word of God’ analyses its constituent parts and brings them before our consciousness. So it is that we have ‘to gain our life,’ ‘our soul’ in the education of experience inspired by faith (10:39 hJmei'" ... pivstew" eij" peripoivhsin yuch'" : comp. Matt. 10:39; 11:29; 16:25 f. || Mark 8:35 f. || Lk. 9:24, 17:33; 21:19 kthvsesqe ). In the sadnesses and disappointments and failures of effort (Heb. 12:3 tai'" yucai'" ejkluovmenoi ) we have ‘hope as anchor of the soul, entering into that which is within the veil’ (6:19). And it is for the preservation of this harmonious sum of man's vital powers that Christian teachers watch unweariedly (Heb. 13:17 ajgrupnou'sin uJpe;r tw'n yucw'n ).

Little is said in the Epistle on the ‘spirit’ ( pneu'ma ) by which man holds converse with the unseen. Just as he has affinity by ‘the flesh’ with the animal world, so he has by ‘the spirit’ affinity with God. God is indeed ‘the Father of spirits’ (Heb. 12:9), and in His presence we draw near to ‘spirits of just men made perfect’ (12:23).

These three elements have in themselves no moral character. They are of the nature of powers to be used, disciplined, coordinated, harmonised. The expression of the moral character lies in ‘the heart.’ Men in a mere enumeration can be spoken of as ‘souls,’ but ‘the heart’ is the typical centre of personal life. It is the ‘heart’ which receives its strong assurance by grace (Heb. 13:9). ‘Unbelief’ has its seat in ‘the heart’ (Heb. 3:12 kardiva ponhra; ajpistiva" ). In Christ we can approach God ‘with a true heart’ (Heb. 10:22 meta; ajlhqinh'" kardiva" ), offering Him the fulness of our individual being which we have realised for His service, having severally ‘had our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience’ ( id. rjerantismevnoi ta;" kardiva" ajpo; suneidhvsew" ponhra'" ). See also Heb. 3:8, 10, 15; 4:7 (Ps. 95:8, 10); Heb. 4:12 (note); 8:10 (note); 10:16 (Jer. 31:33).

For man has a sovereign power throned within him through which the divine law finds a voice. He has a ‘conscience’ ( suneivdhsi" ) whose judgments he can recognise as having final authority. He has ‘conscience of sins’ (Heb. 10:2). He knows that certain acts are evil and that he is responsible for them. In such a state he has an ‘evil conscience’ (Heb. 10:22; contrast Heb. 13:18 kalh; suneivdhsi" ). The conscience feels the defilement of ‘dead works,’ which counterfeit the fruits of its righteous claims on man's activity (Heb. 9:14); and it furnishes the standard of that perfection towards which man aspires (Heb. 9:9 kata; suneivdhsin teleiw'sai . Additional Note).

Of the words which describe man's intellectual faculties diavnoia (‘understanding’) is found in a quotation in 8:10; 10:16 (Jer. 31:33); but nou'" , which occurs in each group of St Paul's Epistles, is not found in this Book.

III. THE HIGH-PRIESTHOOD OF CHRIST UNIVERSAL AND SOVEREIGN (Hebrews 5-7)


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