Hebrews 9:14 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

Hebrews 9:14

12 Not ^awith the blood of goats and calves, but ^bwith His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place ^conce for all, ^dhaving obtained eternal redemption.

13 For if ^athe blood of bulls and goats and ^bthe ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean,¹ sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,

14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without¹ spot to God, ^acleanse your conscience from ^bdead works ^cto serve the living God?

15 And for this reason ^aHe is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that ^bthose who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

The Mediator’s Death Necessary

16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

17 For ^aa testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.

18 ^aTherefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.

19 For when Moses had spoken every¹ precept to all the people according to the law, ^ahe took the blood of calves and goats, ^bwith water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,

20 saying, ^a“This is the ^bblood of the covenant which God has commanded you.”

21 Then likewise ^ahe sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry.

22 And according to the law almost all things are¹ purified with blood, and ^awithout shedding of blood there is no² remission.

Greatness of Christ’s Sacrifice

23 Therefore it was necessary that ^athe copies of the things in the heavens should be¹ purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

24 For ^aChrist has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are¹ copies of ^bthe true, but into heaven itself, now ^cto appear in the presence of God for us;

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Hebrews 9:14

offered himself—The voluntary nature of the offering gives it especial efficacy. He "through the eternal Spirit," that is, His divine Spirit (Romans 1:4, in contrast to His "flesh," Hebrews 9:3; His Godhead, I Timothy 3:16; I Peter 3:18), "His inner personality" [ALFORD], which gave a free consent to the act, offered Himself. The animals offered had no spirit or will to consent in the act of sacrifice; they were offered according to the law; they had a life neither enduring, nor of any intrinsic efficacy. But He from eternity, with His divine and everlasting Spirit, concurred with the Father's will of redemption by Him. His offering began on the altar of the cross, and was completed in His entering the holiest place with His blood. The eternity and infinitude of His divine Spirit (compare Hebrews 7:16) gives eternal ("eternal redemption," Hebrews 9:12, also compare Hebrews 9:15) and infinite merit to His offering, so that not even the infinite justice of God has any exception to take against it. It was "through His most burning love, flowing from His eternal Spirit," that He offered Himself [OECOLAMPADIUS].

without spot—The animal victims had to be without outward blemish; Christ on the cross was a victim inwardly and essentially stainless (I Peter 1:19).

purge—purify from fear, guilt, alienation from Him, and selfishness, the source of dead works (Hebrews 9:22-23).

your—The oldest manuscripts read "our." The Vulgate, however, supports English Version reading.

conscience—moral religious consciousness.

dead works—All works done in the natural state, which is a state of sin, are dead; for they come not from living faith in, and love to, "the living God" (Hebrews 11:6). As contact with a dead body defiled ceremonially (compare the allusion, "ashes of an heifer," Hebrews 9:13), so dead works defile the inner consciousness spiritually.

to serve—so as to serve. The ceremonially unclean could not serve God in the outward communion of His people; so the unrenewed cannot serve God in spiritual communion. Man's works before justification, however lifelike they look, are dead, and cannot therefore be accepted before the living God. To have offered a dead animal to God would have been an insult (compare Malachi 1:8); much more for a man not justified by Christ's blood to offer dead works. But those purified by Christ's blood in living faith do serve (Romans 12:1), and shall more fully serve God (Revelation 22:3).

living God—therefore requiring living spiritual service (John 4:24).

Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Hebrews 9:14:

Leviticus 4:35
Joshua 20:6
Isaiah 52:15
Jeremiah 30:21
Jeremiah 33:8
Ezekiel 36:25
Haggai 2:14
Zechariah 13:1
Matthew 5:8
John 14:30-31
1 Timothy 1:5
Hebrews 7:16
Hebrews 9:9
Hebrews 9:10
Hebrews 9:13
Hebrews 9:24
Hebrews 9:28
Hebrews 10:4
Hebrews 12:24
1 John 1:9
Revelation 7:14
Revelation 21:3

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The Mediator’s Death Necessary

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