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tou;" aJgiazomevnou" ] Vulg. sanctificatos; O. L. nos sanctificans: all who from time to time realise progressively in fact that which has been potentially obtained for them. Compare Heb. 2:11; and contrast v. 10 hJgiasmevnoi .

The endeavour of the Old Latin to express the continuous form of the present is interesting (see for the converse 1:3).

There is a similar contrast between oiJ swzovmenoi (comp. 1 Cor. 15:2); Luke 13:23; Acts 2:47; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15; and seswsmevnoi Eph. 2:5, 8. Compare e[swsen 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5.

(4) Heb. 10:15-18. The fulfilment in Christ of the prophetic description of the New Covenant.

The Apostle goes back in conclusion to the testimony of the prophet from which he commenced his exposition of the high-priestly and sacrificial service of the new Covenant. A characteristic of that Covenant, which has been established by Christ, was the forgiveness of sins. Under it, therefore, offerings for sin were necessarily done away; and the Temple services could no longer have any value for the Christian.

15 And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us; for after that He hath said ,

16 This is the covenant that I will covenant with them

After those days, saith the Lord , Even putting my laws upon their heart ,

And upon their mind will I write them; then saith He

17 And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no more offering for sin.

Heb. 10:15. marturei' de; hJmi'n kai; to; p. to; a{ .] Vulg. contestatur nos
(O.L. nobis ). And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us Christians and confirms our common faith. JHmi'n can also be taken as a dat. comm. ‘for us,’ ‘in our favour,’ in which case marturei' is used absolutely. The general sense is the same in both cases. The witness of the Holy Spirit in the promise of the New Covenant is added to the witness of Christ contained in the Psalm. The emphatic position of marturei' seems to mark the anxiety of the writer to convince his readers of the perfect validity of Christ's claim. The words of the Christ in the Psalm are supported by an independent divine testimony.

10:15-17. meta; to; eijrhkevnai ... kai; tw'n ...] It is difficult to determine the construction of the whole passage. Some have supposed that the writer uses levgei Kuvrio" as part of his own statement: ‘For after that he hath said...’ the Lord saith ‘I will give...and their sins ... will I remember no more.’ But the point of the apodosis lies in the declaration of the forgiveness of sins, and the force of this declaration is weakened by the addition of the two preceding lines, which describe the human conditions of the covenant that have been fulfilled by Christ. It is better therefore to suppose that the construction is broken, and that the apodosis begins with 10:17. ‘For after that He hath said...write them; then saith He, Their sins...’ So Primasius: In sequentibus verbis defectus est sententiae satis necessarius, quapropter dicatur ita: Postquam enim dixit Omnipotens Deus per prophetam...statim subintulit: Et peccatum eorum non


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