( nu'n ). There is, to look at the subject from the opposite side, no succession in the fulfilment of His work; and, on the other hand, it cannot in any sense grow old.
Such epexegetical infinitives as ejmfanisqh'nai are generally in the aorist as expressing the abstract thought (Heb. 9:9; Matt. 11:7; 20:28; Luke 1:17); but the present is also used when the idea of continuance or repetition predominates: John 4:15; Luke 8:8; Mark 3:14; 7:4; 1 Cor. 1:17. Both tenses are combined 1 Cor. 10:7.
The manifestation of Christ before God is on our behalf ( uJte;r hJmw'n ). In Him humanity obtains its true harmony with God, and in Him it can bear the full light of God. He can be therefore, in virtue of His perfect manhood, our Advocate (1 John 2:2 jIhsou'n Cristo;n divkaion ). Nu'n ga;r prw'ton , as Theodoret says, eij" to;n oujrano;n fuvsi" ajnelhvluqen ajnqrwpeiva ; and each Christian in Christ , as well as through Him , has access to God: Eph. 3:12 ( ejn w|/ e[comen th;n ... prosagwghvn ). Comp. Heb. 7:25.
9:25. The writer of the Epistle goes on to meet another difficulty of his Jewish readers while he unfolds the absolute uniqueness of Christ's Death. They found it hard to understand how Christ should die, and how one death could have never-ending virtue. It is shewn from the very nature of the case that He could only die once, and that by this Death He satisfied completely the wants of humanity.
oujdj i{na
...]
Nor yet
did He enter (
eijsh'lqen
)
in order that He may again often offer Himself
, and so enter afresh as the High-priest from time to time. The main idea of the writer seems to be: Christ did not enter in order to secure an access to God which might be available on repeated occasions. Then for such a phrase as in order to repeat His entrance he substitutes in order to offer Himself, and thus by bringing into preeminence the preliminary condition of entrance he shews the impossibility of repetition.
pollavki"
] The parallel is between Christ's offering and entrance and the High-priest's offering and entrance as a whole repeated year by year. The idea that the parallel is between Christ's work and the repeated entrances of the High-priest into the Holy of Holies on each day of Atonement, which involved the two sacrifices of the bullock and goat, is against the whole form of the argument in the Epistle. The ceremony of the Day of Atonement is treated as one great act. The thought of the Highpriest's offering for himself is necessarily excluded in the case of Christ (7:27); but this consideration does not come into account here.
prosfevrh/ eJautovn
] Two different interpretations of this offering have been proposed. It has been supposed to correspond with the bringing of the blood into the Holy of Holies, and again with the offering of the victim upon the altar. The general usage of the writer, apart from other considerations, is decisive in favour of the second view. It is unreasonable to give a different sense to the words from that which they bear in v. 14
eJauto;n proshvnegken a[mwmon tw'/ qew'/
(comp. Heb. 9:28), where the reference is to the Passion of Christ. See also 11:17; 7:27
v. l.
; 8:3 note.
It was only by the offering upon the Cross that the Blood through which the divine High-priest entered into the heavenly sanctuary was made available.
This sense of the phrase is confirmed by the words which follow, where prosenecqeiv" stands parallel to ajpoqanei'n . Compare also Heb. 10:10