Reference: Hebrews, The Epistle To The
Fausets
Canonicity. - Clement of Rome (1st century A.D.) refers to it oftener than any other canonical New Testament book, adopting its words as on a level with the rest of the New Testament. As the writer of this epistle claims authority Clement virtually sanctions it, and this in the apostolic age. Westcott (Canon, 22) observes, it seems transfused into Clement's mind. Justin Martyr quotes its authority for applying the titles "apostle" and "angel" to the Son of God. Clement of Alexandria refers it to Paul, on the authority of Pantaenus of Alexandria (in the middle of the second century) saying that as Jesus is called the "apostle" to the Hebrew, Paul does not in it call himself so, being apostle to the Gentiles; also that Paul prudently omitted his name at the beginning, because the Hebrew were prejudiced against him; that it was originally written in Hebrew for the Hebrew, and that Luke translated it into Greek for the Greeks, whence the style resembles that of Acts.
He however quotes the Greek epistle as Paul's, so also Origen; but in his Homilies he regards the style as more Grecian than Paul's but the thoughts as his. "The ancients who handed down the tradition of its Pauline authorship must have had good reason for doing so, though God alone knows the certainty who was the actual writer," i.e. probably the transcriber or else interpreter of Paul's thoughts. The Peshito old Syriac version has it. Tertullian in the beginning of the third century, in the African church, ascribes it to Barnabas. Irenaeus in Eusebius quotes it. About the same time Caius the presbyter of Rome mentions only 13 epistles of Paul, whereas if epistle to Hebrew were included there would be 14.
The Canon fragment of Muratori omits it, in the beginning of the third century. (See CANON.) The Latin church did not recognize it as Paul's for a long time subsequently. So Victorinus, Novatian of Rome, and Cyprian of Carthage. But in the fourth century Hilary of Poitiers (A.D. 368), Lucifer of Cagliari (A.D. 371), Ambrose of Milan (A.D. 397), and other Latins quote it as Paul's; the fifth council of Carthage (A.D. 419) formally recognizes it among his 14 epistles.
Style. - The partial resemblance of Luke's style to it is probably due to his having been companion of Paul: "each imitated his teacher; Luke imitated Paul flowing along with more than river fullness; Mark imitated Peter who studied brevity" (Chrysostom). But more familiarity with Jewish feeling, and with the peculiarities of their schools, appears in this epistle than in Luke's writings. The Alexandrian phraseology does not prove Apollos' authorship (Alford's theory). The Alexandrian church would not have so undoubtingly asserted Paul's authorship if Apollos their own countryman had really been the author. Paul, from his education in Hebrew at Jerusalem, and in Hellenistic at Tarsus, was familiar with Philo's modes of thought. At Jerusalem there was an Alexandrian synagogue (Ac 6:9).
Paul knew well how to adapt himself to his readers; to the Greek Corinthians who idolized rhetoric his style is unadorned, that their attention might be fixed on the gospel alone; to the Hebrew who were in no such danger he writes to win them (1Co 9:20) in a style attractive to those imbued with Philo's Alexandrian conceptions and accustomed to the combination of Alexandrian Greek philosophy and ornament with Judaism. All the Old Testament quotations except two (Heb 10:30; 13:5) are from the Septuagint, which was framed at Alexandria. The interweaving of the Septuagint peculiarities into the argument proves that the Greek epistle is an original, not a translation. The Hebrew Old Testament would have been quoted, had the original epistle been Hebrew
Pauline authorship. - This is further favored by internal evidence. The superiority of Christianity to Judaism in that the reality exceeds the type is a favorite topic of Paul. Compare this epistle with 2Co 3:6-18; Ga 3:23-25; 4:1-9,21-31. Herein allegorical interpretation, which the Alexandrians strained unduly, is legitimately under divine guidance employed. The divine Son is represented as the image of God; compare Heb 1:3, etc., with Paul's undoubted epistles, Php 2:6; Col 1:15-20; His lowering Himself for man's sake (Heb 2:9) with 2Co 8:9; Php 2:7-8; His final exaltation (Heb 2:8; 10:13; 12:2) with 1Co 15:25-27; His "mediator" (unique to Paul) office (Heb 8:6) with Ga 3:19-20; His sacrifice for sin prefigured by the Jewish sacrifices (Hebrews 7-10) with Ro 3:22-26; 1Co 5:7. "God of peace" is a phrase unique to Paul (Heb 13:20 with Ro 15:33; 1Th 5:23).
So "distributed gifts of the Holy Spirit" (Heb 2:4) with (Greek) "divisions of gifts ... the same Spirit" (1Co 12:4); "righteousness by faith" (Heb 10:38; 11:7) with the same quotation (Hab 2:4); Ro 1:17; 4:22; 5:1; Ga 3:11; Php 3:9. "The word of God ... the sword of the Spirit" (Heb 4:12) with Eph 6:17. Inexperienced Christians are "children needing milk," i.e. elementary teaching; riper Christians, as full grown men, require strong meat (Heb 5:12-13; 6:1 with 1Co 3:1-2; 14:20; Ga 4:9; Eph 4:13). Believers have "boldness of access to God by Christ" (Heb 10:19 with Ro 5:2; Eph 2:18; 3:12). Afflictions are a fight (Heb 10:32 with Php 1:30; Col 2:1).
The Christian life is a race (Heb 12:1 with 1Co 9:24; Php 3:12-14). The Jewish ritual is a service (Heb 9:1-6 with Ro 9:4); a "bondage," as not freeing us from consciousness of sin and fear of death (Heb 2:15 with Ga 5:1). Paul's characteristic "going off at a word" into a long parenthesis, playing upon like sounding words, and repeating favorite words, quotations from the Old Testament linked by "and again" (Heb 1:5; 2:12-13, with Ro 15:9-12; 2:8 with 1Co 15:27; Eph 1:22; 6:24 with Ro 12:19).
Reception in the East before the West. - No Greek father ascribes the epistle to any but Paul, for it was to the Hebrew of Alexandria and Palestine it was mainly addressed; but in the western and Latin churches of N. Africa and Rome, which it did not reach for some time, it was long doubted owing to its anonymous form, not opening as other epistles though closing like them; its Jewish argument; and its less distinctively Pauline style. Insufficient evidence for it, not positive evidence against it, led these for the first three centuries not to accept it. The fall of Jerusalem previous to the full growth of Christianity in N. Africa curtailed: contact between its churches and those Jews to whom this epistle is undressed. The epistle was, owing to distance, little known to the Latin churches. Muratori's Canon does not notice it.
When in the fourth century at last they found it was received as Pauline and canonical (the Alexandrians only doubted its authorship, not its authority) on good grounds in the Greek churches, they universally accepted it. The churches of the East and Jerusalem their center, the quarter to which the epistle was first sent, received it as Paul's, according to Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem (A.D. 349). Jerome, though bringing from Rome the Latin prejudice against this epistle, aggravated by its apparent sanction of the Novatian heresy (Heb 6:4-6), was constrained by the almost unanimous testimony of the Greek churches from the first to receive it as Paul's; after him Rome corrected its past error of rejecting it. Augustine too held its canonicity. What gives especial weight to the testimony for it of the Alexandrian church is, that church was founded by Mark, who was with Paul at Rome in his first confinement, when probably this epistle was written (Col 4:10), and possibly bore it to Jerusalem where his mother resided, visiting Colosse on the way, and from Jerusalem to Alexandria.
Peter also (2Pe 3:15-16), the apostle of the circumcision, in addressing the Hebrew Christians of the dispersion in the East, says, "as our beloved brother Paul ... hath written unto you," i.e. to the Hebrew. By adding "as also in all his epistles" he distinguishes the epistle to the Hebrew from the rest; and by classing it with the "other Scriptures" he asserts at once its Pauline authorship and divine inspiration. A generous testimony of Christian love to one who formerly rebuked him (Ga 2:7-14).
The apostle of the circumcisio
See Verses Found in Dictionary
They would sell their lands and other property, and distribute the proceeds among all, just as any one from time had need.
Nor was there any one of them in want, for all who owned houses or lands would sell them and bring the price of the things that were sold, and lay it at the apostles' feet;
But certain men from the so-called "Synagogue of the Freedmen" and certain Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, Cilicians, and men from Roman Asia, started to dispute with Stephen,
So the disciples decided to send relief, every man according to his means, to the brothers in Judea.
With a stedfast gaze at the Sanhedrin, Paul said, "Brothers, I have lived with a good conscience before God to this day."
"Hence I too endeavor to have a conscience void of offense toward God and men alway.
FOR IN IT IS BEING REVEALED A RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH PROCEEDS FROM GOD, FROM FAITH UNTO FAITH; AS IT IS WRITTEN.
but anger and wrath upon those who are self-willed and disobey the truth, but obey unrighteousness.
I mean a righteousness coming from God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, since all have sinned and lack the glory which comes from God; read more. but they are now being justified by his free grace through the deliverance that is in Christ Jesus. For God openly set him forth for himself as an offering of atonement through faith, by means of his blood, in order to show forth his righteousness??ince in his forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed??o show forth his righteousness, I say, at this present time; that he himself might be just, and yet the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
Since we stand justified as the result of faith, let us continue to enjoy the peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him also we have had our access into this grace in which we have taken our stand, and are exulting in hope of the glory of God.
For they are Israelites; to them belong the sonship, the Shekinah glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law; the service of the temple, and the promises;
Now if the first-fruits of the dough Abraham and the Patriarchs are holy, so also is the whole mass their descendants. And if the root of a tree Abraham is holy, so also are the branches his descendants. Supposing that some of the branches have been broken off, and you, although you were but a wild olive, have been grafted in among the branches and have become a partaker with them of the fatness of the olive tree, do not glory over the branches; read more. or if you are glorying, remember that it is not you who uphold the root, but the root which upholds you. "Branches have been broken off," you say, "that I might be grafted in." True, through their unbelief they were broken off, and by your faith you stand. Do not be puffed up, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Fix your gaze, therefore, on the goodness and the severity of God; towards those who fell, severity, but towards you, God's goodness, if you continue stedfast in his goodness; otherwise you, too, will be cut off. And they also those Jews, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in again; for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a mere wild olive tree, and have been grafted, contrary to nature, into a fruitful olive tree, how much more shall these, the natural branches, be regrafted into their own olive tree?
Let love be without insincerity. Abhor what is evil; wed yourselves to what is good.
Never revenge yourself, beloved, but leave the field clear for God's wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay," says the Lord.
But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, And make no provisions for your earthly nature And the gratification of its lusts.
and so that the Gentiles also should praise God for his mercy, as it is written, Therefore I will offer praise to thee among the Gentiles, And sing to thy name. Or again, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. read more. Or again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, And let all the people extol him. Or again, as Isaiah says. There shall be the root of Jesse, And he that arises to rule over the Gentiles; On him shall the Gentiles hope.
For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make an offering for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem.
The God of peace be with you all! Amen.
As for me, brothers, I could not talk to you as spiritual men, but as to creatures of flesh, mere babes in Christ. I fed you milk, not meat; for you were unable to bear it.
To the Jews I am become like a Jew, that I may win Jews; to those under the Law, like one under the Law, though I am not under the Law, myself;
Do you not know that in a foot-race, though all run, only one receives the prize? So run that you may win.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
Brothers, do not become children in understanding; be babes in malice, but in understanding become mature men.
For he must rule until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is Death. read more. For He hast put all things under his feet, but in that quotation All things are put under him, it is evident that God is excepted, who put all things under Him.
For He hast put all things under his feet, but in that quotation All things are put under him, it is evident that God is excepted, who put all things under Him.
The greeting of me, Paul, with my own hand. If any one does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord is coming. read more. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
It is he who has also made me sufficient as a minister of a new covenant; not of a letter but of a spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit makes alive. If, however, the administration of death, written with letters and engraved on stones, began in glory, so that the children of Israel could not gaze steadily on the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face?? glory even then fading??8 how much more shall the ministry of the Spirit abide in glory?
For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, far more is the ministry of righteousness radiant in glory. Indeed that which once was glorious has lost its glory, because of the glory which surpasses it. read more. For if that which was fading came in glory, far more will that which ever abides be glorious. Therefore, cherishing such a hope, I use great freedom of speech. I do not do as Moses did, who used to cover his face with a veil to keep the children of Israel from beholding the passing of a fading glory. Nay, their minds were made dull; for to this very day, at the public reading of the Old Testament, the same veil rests thereon, because it is not revealed to them that in Christ the veil is taken away. Yes, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts; but when their heart turns to our Lord the veil is stripped away. (The Lord means the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord abides there is freedom.) And we all, with unveiled faces, reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are ourselves continually being transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory, as by the Lord, the Spirit.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, how though he was rich, for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter has with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who has equipped Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised, equipped me also for the apostleship to the Gentiles), read more. and when they recognized the grace which had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, then thought to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and to me the right hand of fellowship. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the Jews. They stipulated only that we should remember the poor, which very thing indeed I was quite eager to do. But when Cephas came to Antioch I resisted him to his face, because he stood self-condemned. For until certain men came from James he used to eat with the Gentile Christians, but when they came, he began to draw back and to separate himself, because he was afraid of the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jewish Christians also dissimulated with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, in the presence of the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all. "If you, although you are a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you try to compel the Gentiles to become Jews?
And it is manifest that by the Law no man is justified in the sight of God. because The just shall live by faith,
To what purpose, then, was the Law? It was imposed later for the sake of transgressions, until the "Offspring" should come to whom the promise had been made. It was arranged through angels by the hand of a mediator. (Now a mediator implies more than one person, but God is only one.)
Before the Faith came we were perpetual prisoners under the Law, in preparation for the destined faith about to be revealed. So the Law has been our tutor-slave our pedagogue to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith; read more. but now that the Faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor-slave.
What I mean is this. As long as the heir is a child, he differs in no respect from a slave, though he be the owner of the whole inheritance; but is under the control of guardians and trustees, until the time appointed by his father. read more. So we Jews also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the empty externalities of the world. But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem from captivity those under law, in order that we might receive our sonship. And because you are sons, God sent forth the spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Dear, dear Father!" So each one of you is no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir, too, through God's grace. But once, when you Gentiles had no knowledge of God, you were slaves to gods which have no real being. Now, however, when you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you are beginning to turn back to those weak and beggarly externalities, eager to be in bondage to them again?
Now, however, when you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you are beginning to turn back to those weak and beggarly externalities, eager to be in bondage to them again?
Tell me, you who wish to be subject to the Law, why do you not listen to the Law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman; read more. but while the son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, the son by the free woman was born in fulfilment of a promise. Now all this is an allegory, for these women are the two covenants; one from Mount Sinai, which is Hagar bearing children into bondage (for the word Hagar stands for Mt. Sinai in Arabia and represents the present Jerusalem who with her children is in bondage.) But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written, Rejoice, O thou barren one who dost never bear, Break forth in joy, thou that dost not travail; For the children of the desolate woman are many. Yea, more than hers who has a husband. But you, brothers, are like Isaac, children of the promise; but just as in old times the son born by the flesh used to persecute the son born by the power of the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? Send away the slave-woman and her son; for the slave's son shall not be heir along with the son of the free woman. So, brothers, we are the children of no slave woman, but of free woman. For freedom did not Christ set us free;
stand firm then, and do not be again entangled in a yoke of bondage.
God has put all things under Christ's feet, and placed him as Head over all in the church,
because it is through him that we both have access in one spirit to the Father.
In him we have this fearless confidence and boldness of access through our faith in him.
Take likewise the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
May grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity.
while you wage the same conflict which you once saw in me, and now hear that I maintain.
who, though from the beginning he had the nature of God, did not reckon equality with God something to be forcibly retained, but emptied himself of his glory by taking the form of a slave, when he was born in the likeness of men. read more. More than this, after he had shone himself in human form, he humbled himself in his obedience even to death; yes, and to death on a cross.
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew sprung from the Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;
and be found in him; not having my own righteousness of the Law, but that alone which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which comes from God, founded upon faith.
I do not say that I have already won, or am already perfect, but I am passing on to lay hold on the prize for which also Christ has laid hold of me. Brothers, I do not regard myself to have yet laid hold of it; but this one thing I do, forgetting what is behind me, but straining every nerve toward that which lies ahead, read more. I am ever pressing on toward the goal, for the prize of God's heavenward call in Christ Jesus.
I ask that you may give thanks to the Father who has made us fit to receive our share of the heritage of the saints in the light.
He is a visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him was the universe created, things in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen, thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; by him and for him all have been created; read more. and HE IS before all, and in him all things subsist. He is the head of his Body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, in order that in all things he may become preeminent. For in him all the divine fulness chose to dwell; and by him it chose to reconcile all things alike on earth or in heaven to himself; making peace by him, through the blood of his cross.
For I would have you know how great a contest I am waging for you and the brethren in Laodicea, and for all who have never seen my face.
Be unwearied in prayer, and keep awake in it when giving thanks.
Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, salutes you, and Marcus, the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, make him welcome), and Jesus surnamed Justas.
I, Paul, add this farewell in my own handwriting. Do not forget these chains of mine. Grace be with you.
I, Paul, add this greeting in my own handwriting, which is my token in every letter. Thus I write??18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
but manifested in his own time; that word of his in proclaiming which I have been entrusted by command of God our Saviour.
He being an emanation of God's glory and stamp of his substance, and upholding the universe by the utterances of his power, after by himself making purification of our sins, has taken his seat on the right hand of the Majesty on High.
For to what angel did God ever say, Thou art my son; this day have I become thy Father? and again, I will be a father to him, and he shall be to me a son?
God himself corroborating their testimony by signs and wonders and a variety of miraculous powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit imparted in accordance with his own will.
Thou hast put all things under his feet. For this putting all things under man means leaving nothing not subject to him. But we do not yet see all things subject to him. What we do see is Jesus, who was made for a time a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor, because of the suffering of death, in order that through God's grace he might taste death for every man.
I will proclaim thy name to my brothers; In the midst of the Church I will hymn thy praises. And again, I myself will put my trust in God. And again, Lo, I and the children God has given me.
And might deliver those who through fear of death had been subject to life-long bondage.
And so it was necessary that he should in all points be made like his brothers, so that he might become a compassionate and faithful high priest, in all that relates to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
And this too, although you ought by this time to be teaching others, you are still needing some one to teach you the very rudiments of divine revelation. You need milk, not solid food. For every one who feeds on milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness. He is still an infant.
So let us get beyond the teaching of the elementary doctrines of Christ, and let us be borne along toward what is mature. Let us not be continually laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works,
For in the case of those who have been once for all enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the Future Age, read more. and then fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance. For they repeatedly crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and expose him to an open shame.
but if it produces thorns and thistles, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and its end will be to be burned.
but if it produces thorns and thistles, it is considered worthless, and is in danger of being cursed, and its end will be to be burned.
For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you showed for his cause, in sending help to your fellow Christians, as you are still doing.
It was this Melchizedek, King of Salem and Priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; and it was to him that Abraham apportioned a tithe of all the spoil. He was first, as his name signifies, King of righteousness, and then King of Salem, that is, King of Peace; read more. without father or mother, without lineage, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest in perpetuity. But observe how great this man was, to whom even Abraham, the Patriarch, gave a tenth part of the spoils. Now those of the sons of Levi who are appointed to the priesthood, are authorized by the Law to take tithes of the people, that is, of their brothers, and that too, although these are descended from Abraham. But this man who had no Levitical genealogy actually took tithes of Abraham, and blessed him to whom the promises belong. Now it is beyond all controversy that the inferior is always blessed by the superior. Again it is mortal men who receive tithes in the one case; while in the other it is he of whom it is attested, "He lives." And even Levi, who is the receiver of tithes, so to speak, paid tithes through Abraham; for Levi was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met Abraham.
Now were he on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are here those who present the gifts according to the Law??5 those priests who serve a mere outline and shadow of the heavenly reality, just as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to build the Tabernacle. "See", he says, "that you make everything on the pattern showed you on the mountain."
But Jesus has obtained a better ministry, by so much as he is also Mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted upon better promises.
By calling the covenant "new," He has made the first one obsolete; and whatever is becoming obsolete and aged, is near to vanishing.
Now even the first covenant had its ordinances of public worship, and its sanctuary, a material one. For a tent was built, the outer one called the Holy Place, in which were the lamp and the table and the loaves of the Presence; read more. and behind the second veil was the tent called the Holy of Holies. In it was the golden altar of incense, and also the Ark of the Covenant covered all over with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; while above it, overshadowing the mercy-seat, were the cherubim of glory. But I must not speak about these in detail. Such then were the arrangements. Into the outer tent the priests enter continually in the performance of their duties;
Such then were the arrangements. Into the outer tent the priests enter continually in the performance of their duties; but into the inner tent the high priest only goes alone, once a year, and that not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the ignorances of the people.
For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleansing of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through his eternal spirit offered himself free from blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works unto the service of an ever-living God! read more. And because of this he is the Mediator of a new testament, in order that, since a death has taken place to atone for offenses committed under the first testament, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, there must also be brought forward in evidence the death of the testator. For a testament is only of force in case of the dead, being never valid so long as the testator lives. Accordingly we find that not without blood was the first testament enacted. For after every commandment according to the law had been spoken by Moses to the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. saying, This is the blood of that testament which God commanded in regard to you. Moreover the tabernacle and all the vessels of service he sprinkled likewise, and indeed, according to the Law, almost everything is purified by blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. While, then, it was necessary that the copies of the heavenly things should be cleansed by such sacrifices, the heavenly things themselves required nobler sacrifices than these. For it was not into a Sanctuary made by hands, a mere type of the reality, that Christ entered, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the very presence of God on our behalf. Nor did he enter to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest entered into the sanctuary, year after year, with blood that was not his own; (for in that case he would have needed to suffer repeatedly, ever since the foundation of the world;)but now, once for all, at the end of the ages, he has appeared to abolish sin, but the offering of himself. And since it is appointed to men once to die, and after that the judgment; so also the Christ, after being once for all offered to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, without sin, to those who wait for him for salvation.
For the Law, being only a shadow of the good things to come, and not their very substance, its priests cannot with the same sacrifice which year after year they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshippers having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sin. read more. But on the other hand, in these sacrifices sins are called to memory, year after year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. It is for this reason that the Christ, on coming into the world, declared. Sacrifice and offerings thou dost not desire, But a body didst thou prepare for me; In whole burnt offerings and sin offerings Thou hast taken no pleasure. Then I said, "I am come??n the roll of the book it is written of me??o do thy will, O God." First when it is said, Thou hast no longing for, thou takest no delight in Sacrifices and offerings, or whole burnt offerings and sin offerings, (offerings regularly made under the law), and then it is added, Lo, I come to do thy will, he does away with the first, in order that he may establish the second. And it is by this will that we have been sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For while every priest stands, day after day, at his ministrations, and many times repeats the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, this Priest, after offering one Sacrifice for sins, sat down forever on God's right hand; henceforth waiting until his enemies be put as the footstool of his feet.
henceforth waiting until his enemies be put as the footstool of his feet. For by one single offering he has perfected forever those whom he is sanctifying. read more. And the Holy Spirit also gives his testimony, when he said: "This is the covenant I will make with them After those days," says the Lord. "I will set my laws upon their hearts, And I will inscribe them on their minds." Then he adds, And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. But when these have been remitted, there is no more any offering for sin. Since, then, we have a cheerful confidence, brothers, to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Since, then, we have a cheerful confidence, brothers, to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled from and evil conscience, and our bodies bathed in pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope, unwavering (for He is faithful who promised);
not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the custom of some, but exhorting one another; all the more as you behold the Day drawing near.
For we know Him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people.
But ever call to mind the former days, in which, after having been enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings;
For you did sympathize with the prisoners, and you did take joyfully the confiscation of your goods; conscious that you had for yourselves greater, even lasting possessions.
For you did sympathize with the prisoners, and you did take joyfully the confiscation of your goods; conscious that you had for yourselves greater, even lasting possessions.
For yet a very, very little while, and then The Coming One will have come, without delay. But it is by faith that my Righteous One will live, And if he draws back, my soul takes no pleasure in him.
By faith Noah, warned of God of things not yet seen, reverently gave heed, and built an ark for the saving of his house; by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is of faith.
Seeing then that we are encircled with this great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin that clings about us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured a cross, despising shame, and has now taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
For you are not come to a palpable and enkindled fire, nor to gloom and darkness and tempest and the blare of a trumpet and an audible voice. Those who heard that voice entreated that no word more should be spoken to them. read more. For they could not endure that which was enjoined, Even if a wild beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned to death; and so terrible was the scene that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and tremble. On the contrary you are come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable hosts of angels, to the festal assemblage and church of the firstborn, registered in heaven, to a Judge who is God of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
That phrase, "Once again," signifies the removal of the things which can be shaken, created things, in order that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Remember those who are in prison, as if you were fellow prisoners; remember too, those who are being ill-treated, since you too, are in the body.
Let your life be untainted by love of money; be content with such things as you have; for God himself has said, I will never leave thee; I will never forsake thee.
Let your life be untainted by love of money; be content with such things as you have; for God himself has said, I will never leave thee; I will never forsake thee.
Remember your leaders, the men who spoke the message of God to you; consider the issue of their lives, and imitate their faith.
Remember your leaders, the men who spoke the message of God to you; consider the issue of their lives, and imitate their faith.
We Christians have an altar from which those have no right to eat who minister in the Tabernacle.
and so Jesus suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. Let us then go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. read more. For we have not here an abiding city, but we are earnestly seeking the city that is to be.
Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who must give account; that they may do thus with joy and not with lamentation, for this would be unprofitable to you.
I the more earnestly ask for your prayers, that I may be the more speedily restored to you. Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of an eternal covenant,
But I entreat you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. You know that our brother Timothy has been set free. If he comes soon, I will see him with you. read more. Salute all your leaders and the saints. The brothers from Italy send you greeting.
Salute all your leaders and the saints. The brothers from Italy send you greeting.
Regard our Lord's longsuffering as salvation; even as our dear brother Paul also wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him. It is the same in all his letters when he speaks of these things. There are indeed some things in his letters hard to understand, which the ignorant and the shifty wrest, as also they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.