1._For the Law having a shadow, etc. _He has borrowed this similitude from the pictorial art; for a shadow here is in a sense different from what it has in Colossians 2:17; where he calls the ancient rites or ceremonies shadows, because they did not possess the real substance of what they represente... [ Continue Reading ]
3._A remembrance again, etc. _Though the Gospel is a message of reconciliation with God, yet it is necessary that we should daily remember our sins; but what the Apostle means is, that sins were brought to remembrance that guilt might be removed by the means of the sacrifice then offered. It is not,... [ Continue Reading ]
4._For it is not possible, etc. _He confirms the former sentiment with the same reason which he had adduced before, that the blood of beasts could not cleanse souls from sin. The Jews, indeed, had in this a symbol and a pledge of the real cleansing; but it was with reference to another, even as the... [ Continue Reading ]
5._Wherefore, when he cometh, etc. _This entering into the world was the manifestation of Christ in the flesh; for when he put on man’s nature that he might be a Redeemer to the world and appeared to men, he is said to have then come into the world, as elsewhere he is said to have descended from hea... [ Continue Reading ]
7._In the volume or chapter of the book, etc. Volume _is properly the meaning of the Hebrew word; for we know that books were formerly rolled up in the form of a cylinder. There is also nothing unreasonable in understanding _book _as meaning the Law, which prescribes to all God’s children the rule o... [ Continue Reading ]
9._He taketh away, etc. _See now why and for what purpose this passage was quoted, even that we may know that the full and perfect righteousness under the kingdom of Christ stands in no need of the sacrifices of the Law; for when they are removed, the will of God is set up as a perfect rule. It henc... [ Continue Reading ]
10._By the which will, etc. _After having accommodated to his subject David’s testimony, he now takes the occasion to turn some of the words to his own purpose, but more for the sake of ornament than of explanation. David professed, not so much in his own person as in that of Christ, that he was rea... [ Continue Reading ]
11._And every priest, etc. _Here is the conclusion of the whole argument, — that the practice of daily sacrificing is inconsistent with and wholly foreign to the priesthood of Christ; and that hence after his coming the Levitical priests whose custom and settled practice was daily to offer, were dep... [ Continue Reading ]
15._The Holy Ghost also is a witness, etc. _(168) This testimony from Jeremiah is not adduced the second time without reason or superfluously. He quoted it before for a different purpose, even to show that it was necessary for the Old Testament to be abrogated, because another, a new one, had been p... [ Continue Reading ]
19._Having therefore, brethren, etc. _He states the conclusion or the sum of his previous doctrine, to which he then fitly subjoins a serious exhortation, and denounces a severe threatening on those who had renounced the grace of Christ. Now, the sum of what he had said is, that all the ceremonies b... [ Continue Reading ]
20._Through the veil, etc. _As the veil covered the recesses of the sanctuary and yet afforded entrance there, so the divinity, though hid in the flesh of Christ, yet leads us even into heaven; nor can any one find God except he to whom the man Christ becomes the door and the way. Thus we are remind... [ Continue Reading ]
21._And having a high priest, etc. _Whatever he has previously said of the abrogation of the ancient priesthood, it behaves us now to bear in mind, for Christ could not be a priest without having the former priests divested of their office, as it was another order. He then intimates that all those t... [ Continue Reading ]
22._Let us draw near with a true heart, etc. _As he shows that in Christ and his sacrifice there is nothing but what is spiritual or heavenly, so he would have what we bring on our part to correspond. The Jews formerly cleansed themselves by various washings to prepare themselves for the service of... [ Continue Reading ]
23._Let us hold fast, etc. _As he exhorts here the Jews to persevere, he mentions hope rather than faith; for as hope is born of faith, so it is fed and sustained by it to the last. He requires also _profession _or confession, for it is not true faith except it shows itself before men. And he seems... [ Continue Reading ]
24._And let us consider one another, etc. _I doubt not but that he addresses the Jews especially in this exhortation. It is wellknown how great was the arrogance of that nation; being the posterity of Abraham, they boasted that they alone, to the exclusion of all others, had been chosen by the Lord... [ Continue Reading ]
25._Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, etc. _This confirms the view that has been given. The composition of the Greek word ought to be noticed; for ἐπὶ signifies an addition; then ἐπισυναγωγὴ, assembling together, means a congregation increased by additions. The wall of partition ha... [ Continue Reading ]
26._For if we sin willfully, _or _voluntarily etc. _He shows how severe a vengeance of God awaits all those who fall away from the grace of Christ; for being without that one true salvation, they are now as it were given up to an inevitable destruction. With this testimony _Novatus _and his sect for... [ Continue Reading ]
27._But a certain fearful looking for, etc. _He means the torment of an evil conscience which the ungodly feel, who not only have no grace, but who also know that having tasted grace they have lost it forever through their own fault; such must not only be pricked and bitten, but also tormented and l... [ Continue Reading ]
28._He that despised, etc. _This is an argument from the less to the greater; for if it was a capital offense to violate the law of Moses, how much heavier punishment does the rejection of the gospel deserve, a sin which involves so many and so heinous impieties! This reasoning was indeed most fitte... [ Continue Reading ]
29._Who has trodden under foot the Son of God, etc. _There is this likeness between apostates under the Law and under the Gospel, that both perish without mercy; but the kind of death is different; for the Apostle denounces on the despisers of Christ not only the deaths of the body, but eternal perd... [ Continue Reading ]
30._For we know him that hath said, etc. _Both the passages are taken from Deuteronomy 32:35. But as Moses there promises that God would take vengeance for the wrongs done to his people, it seems that the words are improperly and constrainedly applied to the vengeance referred to here; for what does... [ Continue Reading ]
32._But call to remembrance, etc. _In order to stimulate them, and to rouse their alacrity to go forward, he reminds them of the evidences of piety which they had previously manifested; for it is a shameful thing to begin well, and to faint in the middle of our course, and still more shameful to ret... [ Continue Reading ]
33._Partly, whilst ye were made, etc. _We see who they were whom he addresses, even those whose faith had been proved by no common trials, and yet he refrains not from exhorting them to greater things. Let no man therefore deceive himself by self-flattery as though he had reached the goal, or had no... [ Continue Reading ]
34._And took joyfully, _(194) _etc. _There is no doubt but as they were men who had feelings, the loss of their goods caused them grief; but yet their sorrow was such as did not prevent the joy of which the Apostle speaks. As poverty is deemed an evil, the plunder of their goods considered in itself... [ Continue Reading ]
35._Cast not away, therefore, etc. _He shows what especially makes us strong to persevere, even the retaining of confidence; for when that is lost, we lose the recompense set before us. It hence appears that confidence is the foundation of a godly and holy life. By mentioning _reward, _he diminishes... [ Continue Reading ]
36._For ye have need of patience, etc. _He says that patience is necessary, not only because we have to endure to the end, but as Satan has innumerable arts by which he harasses us; and hence except we possess extraordinary patience, we shall a thousand times be broken down before we come to the hal... [ Continue Reading ]
37._For yet a little while, _or, _for yet a very little time, etc. _That it may not be grievous to us to endure, he reminds us that the time will not be long. There is indeed nothing that avails more to sustain our minds, should they at any time become faint, than the hope of a speedy and near termi... [ Continue Reading ]
38._Now the just, etc. _He means that patience is born of faith; and this is true, for we shall never be able to carry on our contests unless we are sustained by faith, even as, on the other hand, John truly declares, that our victory over the world is by faith. (1 John 5:4.) It is by faith that we... [ Continue Reading ]
39._But we are not of them which draw back, etc. _The Apostle made a free use of the Greek version, which was most suitable to the doctrine which he was discussing; and he now wisely applies it. He had before warned them, lest by forsaking the Church they should alienate themselves from the faith an... [ Continue Reading ]