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i The first taken away.
i The second established.
h By the which will.
g Sanctified through one offering.
f The body of Jesus Christ.
B 11-13. f The priest standing.
g The repeated sacrifice.
h Never take away sins.
g Christ's one Sacrifice.
h For sins.
f He sat down.
A 14-18. a By one Offering.
b Perfected for ever.
c Them that are sanctified.
d Argument from remembrance of sins.
e Argument from cessation of offerings.
We have already had brought before us the solemn fact that `the law made nothing perfect', and this statement
was not allowed to remain merely as a general remark, it was particularized. The priesthood made nothing perfect;
the Tabernacle services made nothing perfect, and now we are to have the final argument to show that the sacrifices
of the law made nothing perfect. The teaching of this epistle is not a threefold negative, but is a glorious positive
that the one Offering of Christ did make perfect in its fullest sense. Chapter 10:1-18 is devoted to this theme.
`For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things' (10:1).
The Syriac version interprets this clause, `For the law, a shadow was in it, not the substance itself'. Just as in
Colossians 2:17 `the shadow' is in antithesis to the `body of Christ', so here the `shadow' is in contrast with the
`very image', the reality itself. That which cast its shadow in the law is the real thing. Every sacrifice offered upon
Israel's altar was a foreshadowing of the one and only acceptable Offering of Christ.
`Can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year' (10:1).
The inability of the sacrifices of the law is associated with their repetition, a feature which is enlarged upon in
the next verse. The feature that is most important in this verse and which shows up prominently in the structure, viz.
A b, is hidden in the A.V. word `continually'. The English reader sees in it but an extension of the words `year by
year'. The Greek reads eis to dienekes, `unto the unbroken continuance'. The phrase does not occur outside the
epistle to the Hebrews, and in that epistle it occurs four times:
`Abideth a priest continually' (7:3).
`They offered year by year continually' (10:1).
`One sacrifice for sins for ever' (10:12).
`For by one offering He hath perfected for ever' (10:14).
It will be seen that the phrase is used in connection with the vital theme of the epistle. The Melchisedec
Priesthood is `for unbroken continuance', unbroken by death, as was in the case with every other priest. In
connection with 10:1 a complete balance is discovered in verse 14, `perfected unto unbroken continuance'. Verse 1,
therefore, reads thus:
`For the law having a shadow of the good things about to be, not the very image of the things, can never with those
annual sacrifices which they offer, perfect unto unbroken continuance those who draw near'.
The English word `continually' bears two distinct meanings. (1) Frequently, repeatedly; (2) permanently. The
translation given in the A.V. of 10:1 uses the word `continually' in the sense of `repeatedly' year by year. This
rendering has only to be used in the other passages to demonstrate its unsuitability. `Christ abideth a Priest
repeatedly' is opposed to both sense and truth. `One sacrifice for sins repeatedly' has no meaning.