Heb 9:13-14, 10:22 | JFB | STEP | 13. if-- as we know is the case; so the Greek indicative means. Argument from the less to the greater. If the blood of mere brutes could purify in any, however small a degree, how much more shall inward purification, and complete and eternal salvation, be wrought by the blood of Christ, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead? ashes of an heifer-- ( ). The type is full of comfort for us. The water of separation, made of the ashes of the red heifer, was the provision for removing ceremonial defilement whenever incurred by contact with the dead. As she was slain without the camp, so Christ (compare ; , ). The ashes were laid by for constant use; so the continually cleansing effects of Christ's blood, once for all shed. In our wilderness journey we are continually contracting defilement by contact with the spiritually dead, and with dead works, and need therefore continual application to the antitypical life-giving cleansing blood of Christ, whereby we are afresh restored to peace and living communion with God in the heavenly holy place. the unclean-- Greek, "those defiled" on any particular occasion. purifying-- Greek, "purity." the flesh-- Their effect in themselves extended no further. The law had a carnal and a spiritual aspect; carnal, as an instrument of the Hebrew polity, God, their King, accepting, in minor offenses, expiatory victims instead of the sinner, otherwise doomed to death; spiritual, as the shadow of good things to come ( ). The spiritual Israelite derived, in partaking of these legal rights, spiritual blessings not flowing from them, but from the great antitype. Ceremonial sacrifices released from temporal penalties and ceremonial disqualifications; Christ's sacrifice releases from everlasting penalties ( ), and moral impurities on the conscience disqualifying from access to God ( ). The purification of the flesh (the mere outward man) was by "sprinkling"; the washing followed by inseparable connection ( ). So justification is followed by renewing.

‏ Hebrews 9:13-14

13. if--as we know is the case; so the Greek indicative means. Argument from the less to the greater. If the blood of mere brutes could purify in any, however small a degree, how much more shall inward purification, and complete and eternal salvation, be wrought by the blood of Christ, in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead?

ashes of an heifer--(Nu 19:16-18). The type is full of comfort for us. The water of separation, made of the ashes of the red heifer, was the provision for removing ceremonial defilement whenever incurred by contact with the dead. As she was slain without the camp, so Christ (compare He 13:11; Nu 19:3, 4). The ashes were laid by for constant use; so the continually cleansing effects of Christ's blood, once for all shed. In our wilderness journey we are continually contracting defilement by contact with the spiritually dead, and with dead works, and need therefore continual application to the antitypical life-giving cleansing blood of Christ, whereby we are afresh restored to peace and living communion with God in the heavenly holy place.

the unclean--Greek, "those defiled" on any particular occasion.

purifying--Greek, "purity."

the flesh--Their effect in themselves extended no further. The law had a carnal and a spiritual aspect; carnal, as an instrument of the Hebrew polity, God, their King, accepting, in minor offenses, expiatory victims instead of the sinner, otherwise doomed to death; spiritual, as the shadow of good things to come (He 10:1). The spiritual Israelite derived, in partaking of these legal rights, spiritual blessings not flowing from them, but from the great antitype. Ceremonial sacrifices released from temporal penalties and ceremonial disqualifications; Christ's sacrifice releases from everlasting penalties (He 9:12), and moral impurities on the conscience disqualifying from access to God (He 9:14). The purification of the flesh (the mere outward man) was by "sprinkling"; the washing followed by inseparable connection (Nu 19:19). So justification is followed by renewing.

14. offered himself--The voluntary nature of the offering gives it especial efficacy. He "through the eternal Spirit," that is, His divine Spirit (Ro 1:4, in contrast to His "flesh," He 9:3; His Godhead, 1Ti 3:16; 1Pe 3:18), "His inner personality" [Alford], which gave a free consent to the act, offered Himself. The animals offered had no spirit or will to consent in the act of sacrifice; they were offered according to the law; they had a life neither enduring, nor of any intrinsic efficacy. But He from eternity, with His divine and everlasting Spirit, concurred with the Father's will of redemption by Him. His offering began on the altar of the cross, and was completed in His entering the holiest place with His blood. The eternity and infinitude of His divine Spirit (compare He 7:16) gives eternal ("eternal redemption," He 9:12, also compare He 9:15) and infinite merit to His offering, so that not even the infinite justice of God has any exception to take against it. It was "through His most burning love, flowing from His eternal Spirit," that He offered Himself [Oecolampadius].

without spot--The animal victims had to be without outward blemish; Christ on the cross was a victim inwardly and essentially stainless (1Pe 1:19).

purge--purify from fear, guilt, alienation from Him, and selfishness, the source of dead works (He 9:22, 23).

your--The oldest manuscripts read "our." The Vulgate, however, supports English Version reading.

conscience--moral religious consciousness.

dead works--All works done in the natural state, which is a state of sin, are dead; for they come not from living faith in, and love to, "the living God" (He 11:6). As contact with a dead body defiled ceremonially (compare the allusion, "ashes of an heifer," He 9:13), so dead works defile the inner consciousness spiritually.

to serve--so as to serve. The ceremonially unclean could not serve God in the outward communion of His people; so the unrenewed cannot serve God in spiritual communion. Man's works before justification, however lifelike they look, are dead, and cannot therefore be accepted before the living God. To have offered a dead animal to God would have been an insult (compare Mal 1:8); much more for a man not justified by Christ's blood to offer dead works. But those purified by Christ's blood in living faith do serve (Ro 12:1), and shall more fully serve God (Re 22:3).

living God--therefore requiring living spiritual service (Joh 4:24).

‏ Hebrews 10:22

22. (He 4:16; 7:19.)

with a true heart--without hypocrisy; "in truth, and with a perfect heart"; a heart thoroughly imbued with "the truth" (He 10:26).

full assurance--(He 6:11); with no doubt as to our acceptance when coming to God by the blood of Christ. As "faith" occurs here, so "hope," and "love," He 10:23, 24.

sprinkled from--that is, sprinkled so as to be cleansed from.

evil conscience--a consciousness of guilt unatoned for, and uncleansed away (He 10:2; He 9:9). Both the hearts and the bodies are cleansed. The legal purifications were with blood of animal victims and with water, and could only cleanse the flesh (He 9:13, 21). Christ's blood purifies the heart and conscience. The Aaronic priest, in entering the holy place, washed with water (He 9:19) in the brazen laver. Believers, as priests to God, are once for all washed in BODY (as distinguished from "hearts") at baptism. As we have an immaterial, and a material nature, the cleansing of both is expressed by "hearts" and "body," the inner and the outer man; so the whole man, material and immaterial. The baptism of the body, however, is not the mere putting away of material filth, nor an act operating by intrinsic efficacy, but the sacramental seal, applied to the outer man, of a spiritual washing (1Pe 3:21). "Body" (not merely "flesh," the carnal part, as 2Co 7:1) includes the whole material man, which needs cleansing, as being redeemed, as well as the soul. The body, once polluted with sin, is washed, so as to be fitted like Christ's holy body, and by His body, to be spiritually a pure and living offering. On the "pure water," the symbol of consecration and sanctification, compare Joh 19:34; 1Co 6:11; 1Jo 5:6; Eze 36:25. The perfects "having ... hearts sprinkled ... body (the Greek is singular) washed," imply a continuing state produced by a once-for-all accomplished act, namely, our justification by faith through Christ's blood, and consecration to God, sealed sacramentally by the baptism of our body.