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The three items of this verse characterize the whole section of 7: 19 - 9: 8:--
(1). The failure of the law.
(2). The better hope, wherewith is connected better promises and a better covenant.
(3). Access to God. Positively stated to be through Christ (7: 25).
Denied throughout the typical dispensation (9: 8).
Heb. 7: 19 - 9: 8.
A | 7: 19-21. | a | The law perfected no one.
b | The oath and the priesthood.
B | 7: 22. "By so much." Jesus the surety of a better covenant.
C | 7: 23-27. | c | Salvation to the uttermost.
d | He needeth not to offer for His own sins.
A | 7: 28. | a | The law ordains infirm men.
b | The oath ordains the Son ("consecrated" = Gk. "perfected").
NOTE:--8: 1-5 is parenthetical reference to true tabernacle and ministry.
B | 8: 6-13. "By how much." Mediator of the better covenant.
NOTE:--9: 1-6 is parenthetical reference to typical tabernacle and ministry.
C | 9: 7, 8. |
d | The high priest offered for himself as well as the people.
c | The way into the holiest not made manifest.
The three items indicated in verse 19 are seen under the three letters "A", "B" & "C".
Access to God is a privilege beyond human computation, and this was not possible
under the Levitical priesthood or the law, by reason of the weakness of the system arising
out of the flesh. Throughout the dispensation of the law is the "fear of death" (which
Heb. 2: i5 declared held the O.T. saints in bondage), and the crying need for a priest who
stood in the power of an endless life, in other words the risen Son of God.
The superinduction of the better hope.
Let us now give attention to verse 19. If it says the law perfected nothing, it leads on
to say that something else did. The second part of the verse is elliptical. Something is
omitted which we must supply in order to get the sense. A closely parallel passage is that
of Rom. 8: 3:--
"For what the law could not do . . . . . God (did) by sending His Son."
is the sequel, but the word "did" has to be supplied.
There are some who understand Heb. 7: 19 to mean this:--
"The law perfected nothing, but it was the bringing in of a better hope through which
we draw nigh unto God."
This is true. The law contained type and shadow that ever pointed on to Christ. It did
not reach the end itself, but it did bring in the better hope that attained unto it. This
however, while being true, is not the teaching of the verse before us, so far as we