Hebrews 10:1-3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Hebrews 10:1-6

Here the apostle, by the direction of the Spirit of God, sets himself to lay low the Levitical dispensation; for though it was of divine appointment, and very excellent and useful in its time and place, yet, when it was set up in competition with Christ, to whom it was only designed to lead the people, it was very proper and necessary to show the weakness and imperfection of it, which the apostle does effectually, from several arguments. As, I. That the law had a shadow, and but a shadow, of... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Hebrews 10:1-10

10:1-10 Because the law is only a pale shadow of the blessings which are to come and not a real image of these things, it can never really fit for the fellowship of God those who seek to draw near to his presence with the sacrifices which have to be brought year by year and which go on for ever. For if these sacrifices could achieve that, would they not have stopped being brought because the worshipper had been once and for all brought into a state of purity and no longer had any... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 10:1

For the law having a shadow of good things to come ,.... By which is meant not the moral law, for that is not a shadow of future blessings, but a system of precepts; the things it commands are not figuratively, but really good and honest; and are not obscure, but plain and easy to be understood; nor are they fleeting and passing away, as a shadow, but lasting and durable: but the ceremonial law is intended; this was a "shadow", a figure, a representation of something true, real, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 10:2

For then would they not have ceased to be offered ,.... The Complutensian edition, and the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versions, leave out the word "not"; and the sense requires it should be omitted, for the meaning is, that if perfection had been by the legal sacrifices, they would have ceased to have been offered; for if the former ones had made perfect, there would have been no need of others, or of the repetition of the same; but because they did not make perfect, therefore they were yearly... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Hebrews 10:3

But in those sacrifices ,.... The Arabic version reads, "but in it"; that is, in the law; but the Syriac version reads, and supplies, as we do, בדבחא בהון , "in those sacrifices", which were offered every year on the day of atonement: there is a remembrance of sins made again every year ; of all the sins that were committed the year past, and even of those that were expiated typically by the daily sacrifice, and others that had been offered; which proves the imperfection and... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 10:1

The law, having a shadow of good things to come - A shadow, σκια , signifies, Literally, the shade cast from a body of any kind, interposed between the place on which the shadow is projected, and the sun or light; the rays of the light not shining on that place, because intercepted by the opacity of the body, through which they cannot pass. It signifies, technically, a sketch, rude plan, or imperfect draught of a building, landscape, man, beast, etc. It signifies, metaphorically,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 10:2

Would they not have ceased to be offered? - Had they made an effectual reconciliation for the sins of the world, and contained in their once offering a plenitude of permanent merit, they would have ceased to be offered, at least in reference to any individual who had once offered them; because, in such a case, his conscience would be satisfied that its guilt had been taken away. But no Jew pretended to believe that even the annual atonement cancelled his sin before God; yet he continued to... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 10:1

Verse 1 1.For the Law having a shadow, etc. He has borrowed this similitude from the pictorial art; for a shadow here is in a sense different from what it has in Colossians 2:17; where he calls the ancient rites or ceremonies shadows, because they did not possess the real substance of what they represented. But he now says that they were like rude lineaments, which shadow forth the perfect picture; for painters, before they introduce the living colors by the pencil, are wont to mark out the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Hebrews 10:3

Verse 3 3.A remembrance again, etc. Though the Gospel is a message of reconciliation with God, yet it is necessary that we should daily remember our sins; but what the Apostle means is, that sins were brought to remembrance that guilt might be removed by the means of the sacrifice then offered. It is not, then, any kind of remembrance that is here meant, but that which might lead to such a confession of guilt before God, as rendered a sacrifice necessary for its removal. Such is the sacrifice... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Hebrews 10:1

For the Law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make the comers thereunto perfect . The Law is said here to exhibit a shadow ( σκιὰν ) of the good things to come ( τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν ), viz. of the "good things" of which Christ is come as "High Priest" ( Hebrews 9:11 ), belonging to the μέλλων αἰών ( Hebrews 6:5 ), μέλλουσα οἰκουμένη ... read more

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