<- Previous   First   Next ->

communicate a vital force. It removes the defilement and the defiling power of ‘dead works,’ works which are done apart from Him who is ‘the life’ (comp. Heb. 6:1 note). These stain the conscience and communicate that pollution of death which outwardly ‘the water of separation’ was designed to remove. The Levitical ritual contemplated a death external to the man himself: here the effects of a death within him are taken away.

For kaqarivzein compare Acts 15:9; Eph. 5:26; Tit. 2:14; 1 John 1:7, 9; Heb. 10:2; Heb. 1:3 ( kaqarismo;n poihsavmeno" ).

Kaqarov" as distinguished from a{gio" marks what the object is itself (‘clean’ ceremonially or morally), while a{gio" marks its destination. th;n suneivdhsin ] Comp. Heb. 5:9 note. Chrysostom says on ‘dead works’: kalw'" ei\pen ajpo; nekrw'n e[rgwn, ei[ ti" ga;r h{yato tovte nekrou' ejmiaivneto : kai; ejntau'qa ei[ ti" a{yaito nekrou' e[rgou moluvnetai dia; th'" suneidhvsew" , and again ta; parj hJmi'n kai; zw'nta kai; ajlhqinav, ejkei'na de; ta; para; jIoudaivoi" kai; nekra; kai; yeudh' .
eij" to; latr. q. z. ] Purity is not the end but the means of the new life. The end of the restored fellowship is energetic service to Him Who alone lives and gives life. The thought of performing certain actions is replaced by that of fulfilling a personal relation.

This service is specifically the service of a sacred ministry of complete surrender ( latreuvein ). Compare Apoc. 22:3 oiJ dou'loi aujtou' latreuvsousin aujtw'/ , and contrast 1 Thess. 1:9 douleuvein q. z. kai; ajlhqinw'/ . Acts 20:19 douleuvwn tw'/ Kurivw/ . Rom. 14:18 douleuvwn tw'/ cristw'/ . 16:18 tw'/ Kurivw/ hJmw'n Cristw'/ ouj douleuvousin . Col. 3:24 tw'/ Kurivw/ Cristw'/ douleuvete .

For qeo;" zw'n see Heb. 3:12 note. ( b ) 9:15-22. From the thought of the efficacy of Christ's Blood as the means through which He entered into the Divine Presence and cleanses the individual conscience the writer of the Epistle goes on to shew that through the shedding of His Blood came the inauguration of a new Covenant. The idea of death gives validity to the compact which it seals (9:15-17); and the communication of the blood of the victim to those with whom God forms a covenant unites them to Him with a power of life, a principle which was recognised in the ritual ordinances of the Mosaic system (9:18-22).

9:15. kai; dia; t. ... mes. ej. ] And for this reason , even that the Blood of
Christ purifies the soul with a view to a divine service,
He is mediator of a new covenant ... Vulg. Et ideo novi testamenti mediator (O. L. arbiter ) est. The transition from the thought of the one all-efficacious atonement to that of the corresponding covenant is natural. The new internal and spiritual relation of man to God established by Christ involved of necessity a New Covenant. The Blood —the Life— of Christ, which was the source and support of the life, was the seal of the Covenant.

The words diaqhvkh" mesivth" go back to the prophetic promise Heb. 8:8, which found its fulfilment in Christ. The emphasis lies on the phrase new covenant and specially upon the word covenant. It is of interest to notice the variation of emphasis in 2 Cor. 3:6 diakovnou" kainh'" diaqhvkh" and here diaqhvkh" kainh'" mesivth" . For diaqhvkh compare Heb. 7:22; 7:6 note, and 12:24; and for mesivth" Heb. 8:6 note; 12:24; Gal. 3:19 f.; 1 Tim. 2:5. o{pw" qan. gen. ... th;n ejpagg. lavb. ...] that a death having taken place for
redemption from the transgressions that were under the first covenant they


<- Previous   First   Next ->