Hebrews 9:9 - Exposition

Which ( ἥτις , with its usual force) is a parable for the time present ( i.e. present as regarded from the standpoint of the old dispensation. The A.V., translating "then present," and using past tenses throughout, though departing from literalism, still gives, we conceive, the idea correctly); according to which (referring to "parable," if we adopt the best-supported reading, καθ ἥν . The Textus Receptus, followed by the A.V., has καθ ὅν , referring to "the time") are offered both gifts and sacrifices (cf. Hebrews 9:1 ), which cannot, as pertaining to the conscience, make him that doth the service (or, "the worshipper," the idea not being confined to the officiating priest; cf. Hebrews 10:2 , where τοὺς λατρεύοντας is translated "the worshippers") perfect. The emphatic expression here is κατὰ συνείδησιν . The gifts and sacrifices of the Law availed in themselves only for external ceremonial purification; they did not reach, however typical, the sphere of man's inner consciousness; they could not bring about that sense of spiritual accord with God which is spoken of in Jeremiah 31:1-40 . as marking the new covenant (see below, Jeremiah 31:13 , Jeremiah 31:14 ).