Hebrews 9:11-12 - Exposition

But Christ having come ( παραγενόμενος , cf. Matthew 3:1 ; Luke 12:51 ) a High Priest (or, as High Priest ) of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation ( κτίσεως ) , nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all ( ἐφάπαξ ) into the holy place, having obtained ( εὑράμενος , not necessarily antecedent to εἰσῆλθεν ) eternal redemption. On the futurity expressed (here and Hebrews 10:1 ) by "the good things to come " (the reading μελλόντων being preferred to γενομένων ), see under Hebrews 1:1 ( ἐπ ἐσχάτου τῶν ἡμερῶν τούτων ) and Hebrews 2:5 ( τὴν οἰκουμένεν τὴς μέλλουσαν ). Here, certainly, the period of the earthly tabernacle having been the temporal standpoint in all the preceding verses, futurity with regard to it may, without difficulty, be understood; and hence "the good things" may still be regarded as such as have already come in Christ. On the other hand, there is no difficulty in regarding them as still future. For the full and final result of even Christ's perfected high priesthood is not yet come. But what is "the greater and more perfect tabernacle," through which he entered the heavenly holy of holies? It seems evidently, in the first place, to be connected with εἰσῆλθεν , being regarded as the antitype of that " first tabernacle" through which the high priests on earth had passed in order to enter within the veil; διὰ having here a local, not an instrumental, sense. The instrumental sense of the same preposition in the next clause ( διὰ τοῦ ἰδίου αἵματος ) is not against this view. In English, "through his own blood he entered through the tabernacle" presents no difficulty, though "through" is used in two different senses. But what is exactly meant by the tabernacle through which Christ has passed? Bearing in mind what was said under Hebrews 8:2 of the prophetic visions of a heavenly temple—corresponding to the earthly one—and that the epithet ἀχειροποίητος is applied also (verse 24) by implication to the counterpart of the holy of holies, and also the expression ( Hebrews 4:14 ), "having passed through the heavens ( διεληλυθόντα τοὺς οὑρανοὺς )," we may regard it as denoting the heavenly region beyond this visible sphere of things ( οὐ ταύτης τῆσ ̓τίσεως ), intervening between the latter and the immediate presence, or "face," of God. Thus "through the greater and more perfect tabernacle" of this verse answers to "having passed through the heavens" of Hebrews 4:14 ; and "entered once for all into the holy place" of Hebrews 4:12 to "entered into heaven itself" (the very heaven) of verse 24. Thus also the symbolical acts of the Day of Atonement are successively, and in due order, fulfilled. As the high priest first sacrificed the sin offering outside the tabernacle, and then passed through the holy to the holy of holies, so Christ first offered himself in this mundane sphere of things, and then passed through the heavens to the heaven of heavens. Delitzsch, taking this view, offers a still more definite explanation; thus: "The former ( τὰ ἅγια ) is that eternal heaven of God himself ( αὐτὸς ὁ οὐρανὸς ) which is his own self-manifested eternal glory ( John 17:5 ), and existed before all worlds; the latter ( ἡ σκηνή ) is the heaven of the blessed, in which he shines upon his creatures in 'the light of love'—'the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven' of Revelation 15:5 , which the apocalyptic seer beheld filled with incense-smoke from 'the glory of God, and from his power.'" There are other views of what is meant by "the greater and more perfect tabernacle." The most notable, as being that of Chrysostom and the Fathers generally, is that it means Christ's human nature, which he assumed before passing to the throne of the Majesty on high. This view is suggested by his having himself spoken of the temple of his body ( John 2:21 ), and calling it, if the "false witnesses" at his trial reported him truly, ἀχειροποίητον ( Mark 14:58 ); by the expression ( John 1:14 ), "The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled ( ἐσκήνωσεν ) among us;" by St. Paul's speaking of the human body as a tabernacle ( 2 Corinthians 5:1 , 2 Corinthians 5:4 ); and by Hebrews 10:19 , Hebrews 10:20 , where the "veil" through which we have "a new and living way into the holy place through the blood of Jesus" is said to be his flesh. There is thus abundant ground for thinking of Christ's body as signified by a tabernacle; and the expression in Hebrews 10:19 , Hebrews 10:20 goes some way to countenance such an interpretation here. The objection to it is that it seems neither suggested by the context nor conformable to the type of the high priest on the Day of Atonement. For, if the human body of Christ assumed at his birth is meant, he entered into that before, not after, his atoning sacrifice; and if, with Hofmann, we think rather of his glorified body, in what sense in accordance with the type can it be said that he entered through it? We should rather say that he ascended with it to the right hand of God. The further points of contrast between Christ's entrance and that of the earthly high priests are: