Old Covenant Ministry
1 Now the first covenant also had regulations for ministry and an earthly sanctuary. 2 For a tabernacle was set up, and in the first room, which is called the holy place, were the lampstand, the table, and the presentation loaves. r 3 Behind the second curtain was a tent called the most holy place. s 4 It had the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on all sides, in which was a gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. t 5 The cherubim of glory were above the ark overshadowing the mercy seat. It is not possible to speak about these things in detail right now. u
6 With these things prepared like this, the priests enter the first room repeatedly, performing their ministry. v 7 But the high priest alone enters the second room, and he does that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. w 8 The Holy Spirit was making it clear that the way into the most holy place had not yet been disclosed while the first tabernacle was still standing. x 9 This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper’s conscience. y 10 They are physical regulations and only deal with food, drink, and various washings imposed until the time of the new order. z
New Covenant Ministry
11 But Christ has appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come. In the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands (that is, not of this creation a ), 12 he entered the most holy place once for all time, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. b 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a young cow, sprinkling those who are defiled, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, c 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit d offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God? e
15 Therefore, he is the mediator f of a new covenant, ,g so that those who are called might receive the promise h of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. i 16 Where a will exists, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will is valid only when people die, since it is never in effect while the one who made it is living. 18 That is why even the first covenant was inaugurated with blood. 19 For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people, j 20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant that God has ordained for you. ,k 21 In the same way, he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the articles of worship with blood. l 22 According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. m
23 Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves to be purified with better sacrifices than these. n 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us. o 25 He did not do this to offer himself many times, as the high priest enters the sanctuary yearly with the blood of another. p 26 Otherwise, he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, q for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself. r 27 And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment s— 28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, t will appear a second time, u not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. v
9:1–5. The tabernacle and its ritual frame the discussion in 9:1–10. The author continues to demonstrate that the Levitical institutions are ineffective to deal with sin and that forgiveness can be found only in Christ. Returning to the argument of 8:1–5, the author describes the earthly sanctuary and its furniture. The focus here on the tabernacle (9:2), not the similar plan of the temple, is perhaps because of the readers’ fascination with the wilderness period of Israel’s history. The altar of incense (9:4) appears to have been located in the holy place (Ex 30:6; Lv 16:12, 18), not the most holy place. The wording here recalls that of 1 Kg 6:22 and perhaps is intended to suggest the intimate connection between this altar and the ark of the covenant in the priestly ritual (9:4–5).
9:6–10. The activity of the priests and of the high priest on the Day of Atonement is described in 9:6–10 but now in the present tense, furnishing an argument that Hebrews was written before the destruction of the temple and the cessation of its ritual in AD 70 and serving as a reminder that Jewish Christians were still participating without prejudice in that ritual (Ac 21:20–26). The fact that the divinely appointed order so severely restricted access to the most holy place (9:6–7) was an enacted lesson that the true, decisive ransom, of which the Levitical sacrifices were but a figure, had not yet been paid and that those sacrifices could not remove guilt (9:8–9). Under discussion is the single question of what sacrifice is the basis of salvation—the Levitical sacrifice or the sacrifice of Christ. The author is belittling his readers’ view of the Levitical rites, separated as they were from Christ and from living faith, as mere externalities and, what is more, only temporary (9:10).
9:11–12. The next major subsection (9:11–10:18) focuses on the sufficiency of the redemption obtained by Jesus Christ. The imagery continues to be that of the Day of Atonement, but Christ’s offering of himself is a transaction that transcends the earthly sphere and the potentialities of mere humans and their rituals. Though he died on a cross near Jerusalem (13:12), his sacrifice is thought of as being offered in heaven (9:11). Offering himself once and for all, Christ thus secured eternal redemption for his people (9:12). Having obtained this redemption, he entered heaven and sat down there to represent his people to God as their great high priest and to await the consummation (9:24, 28; 10:12–13).
9:13–14. The Levitical sacrifices and other rituals did avail to remove ceremonial defilement (for the ritual of sprinkling water containing the ashes of a heifer in 9:13, see Nm 19). But the sacrifice of the incarnate Son of God, infinite in his perfection as a substitute for his guilty people (Heb 2:9–10), actually satisfied the demands of God’s justice on their behalf and turned away his holy wrath from them (1:3; 2:17; 9:27, 28); it thus provided the removal of sin and guilt and established a living communion with God. “Eternal Spirit” (9:14) likely refers to the divine enablement of the Third Person of the Godhead, by which Jesus performed his mission (Is 42:1; Mk 1:10).
9:15. The eternally effective sacrifice of himself constituted Christ the mediator, or better, guarantor of the new covenant—that is, of the eternal salvation that the gospel promises, which faith embraces, but the fulfillment of which awaits the consummation (7:22). “The transgressions committed under the first covenant” are the sins connected with that covenant—that is, Israel’s broken relationship with God, namely, unbelief and disobedience (3:18–19; 4:1, 6), which are conceived to be the fundamental sins and root of every actual transgression. Christ’s dying for these old covenant sins guarantees the inheritance of this community of second-generation Christians (9:14; “our consciences”). “Those who are called” is intended to include the entire company of the elect (cf. 2:9–10; 9:28). The sins for which Christ suffered punishment in his people’s place are the sins that prevented Israel (and anyone) from sharing in the eternal inheritance. By the payment of his own life, Christ has delivered those whom God is calling to salvation from the guilt and the power of unbelief and disobedience, which alienate them from God.
9:16–22. The mention of inheritance in verse 15 perhaps prompted the author to draw an illustration from everyday life, made easier by the fact that diathēkē, which ordinarily means “covenant” in biblical Greek, commonly meant “last will and testament” in the Greek of the author’s day (see the CSB footnote to 9:15). Of course, a will takes effect only after the death of the testator (9:16–17). The new covenant (i.e., the living relationship that God has established with the called and the promise of eternal life) is made effectual by Christ’s death, a principle illustrated in the inauguration of the covenant at Sinai with blood (9:18–21).
9:23–28. Recapitulating 7:27–28; 8:1–5; and 9:1–14, the author distinguishes the earthly ceremonies and sanctuary from the sacrifice of the Son and the spiritual and heavenly sphere of his priestly work (9:23–24). The principle of true salvation is not the oft-repeated Levitical rituals but the once-for-all, eternally effective self-sacrifice of Christ, sufficient to cover all the sins of all the called for all time (9:25–26).