Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Hebrews 9:22

καὶ σχεδὸν ἐν αἵματι πάντα … “And one may almost say that according to the law all things are cleansed with blood, and without blood-shedding is no remission”. σχεδὸν qualifies the whole clause and not only πάντα. Whether it qualifies both clauses, as Bleek, Weiss and others suppose, is more doubtful. Westcott and Delitzsch confine its reference to the first clause. ἐν αἵματι “with blood” the usual instrumental ἐν. πάντα, all things, especially, of course, those that were used in God's worship or brought into His tabernacle. Water was used for cleansing from certain pollutions. κατὰ τὸν νόμον, it was not only a contrivance of man but the law of God which enacted that cleansing must be by blood. καὶ χωρὶς αἱματεκχυσίας, “without blood-shedding,” a word which occurs only here in Bibl. Greek. See Stephanus s.v. In all the instances cited in Stephanus it means the shedding of blood. Rendall, then, is quite wrong in maintaining (after Tholuck and De Wette) that it means, not the shedding but the outpouring of the blood at the foot of the altar. “The essential idea attached to the one act was destruction of life, of the other devotion of the same life to God. Hence the typical significance of the two acts was also quite distinct; outpouring of blood typified in fact, not physical death, but spiritual martyrdom by the surrender of a living will to God in perfect obedience even unto death”. Weiss is strictly accurate in his remark, “ αἱμ. kann ohne eine lokale Näherbestimmung nicht die Ausgiessung des Blutes am Altare bezeichnen”. The evidence is furnished by Bleek. The words, if not suggested by, inevitably recall our Lord's words (Matthew 26:28) τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ αἷμά μου τῆς διαθήκης τὸ περὶ πολλῶν ἐκχυννόμενον εἰς ἄφεσιν ἁμαρτιῶν. Cleansing was required of everything connected with God's worship, because it was stained through contact with men. And that this stain was guilt is implied in the use of ἄφεσις. It is by remission of sin the stain is removed. And according to the great law of Leviticus 17:11, this remission was attained by the shedding of blood τὸ γὰρ αἶμα ἀντὶ ψυχῆς ἐξιλάσεται. ἄφεσις is used absolutely only here and in Mark 3:29; elsewhere it is used with ἁμαρτιῶν or παραπτωμάτων. In Luke 4:18 it signifies “release”.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Hebrews 9:22

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