(avg. read time: 7–14 mins.)
9:1 Now even the first covenant had regulations/ordinances for worship and an earthly sanctuary/holy place.
9:2 For a tabernacle/tent was constructed/furnished, the first one, in which there was the lampstand, the table, and the bread of presence [presentation], which is called the Holy Place,
9:3 but behind the second curtain/veil was a tabernacle/tent called the Holy of Holies,
9:4 having a golden altar of incense [hapax] and the ark of the covenant, which had been covered entirely in gold, in which there was a golden jar [hapax] containing manna and the budded rod of Aaron as well as the tablets of the covenant,
9:5 then above this was the cherubim of glory overshadowing [hapax] the mercy seat, about which we are not now able to speak in detail.
9:6 Now such preparations having been made thus, in the first tabernacle/tent through which the priests continually enter in order to accomplish the duties,
9:7 but into the second only the high priest enters once a year, not without blood, who offers on behalf of himself and the people who committed sin unintentionally/in ignorance [hapax],
9:8 by this the Holy Spirit makes clear that he had not yet revealed the way into the sanctuary while the first tent still has standing/exists,
9:9 this is an analogous symbol [parable] of the time that has arrived, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that are not able to complete the conscience of the one who worships,
9:10 but only concern food and drink and different washings, fleshly regulations/ordinances until the time when reformation/the new order [hapax] is established/set up.
9:11 But when Christ arrived as high priest of the good things that have come to be through the greater and more complete tabernacle/tent not made by human hands—which is to say that this one is not of this creation—
9:12 not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood he entered once and for all into the sanctuary/Holy Place, thereby obtaining everlasting redemption.
9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls along with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer [hapax] sanctifies/purifies the ones who had been defiled for the purification [hapax] of their flesh,
9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who offered himself without blemish through the Holy Spirit to God, purify/cleanse our conscience from works of death in order to serve/worship the living God.
9:15 And for this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who have been called should receive the promise of a holy inheritance because a death has taken place for redemption of transgressions under the first covenant.
9:16 For where there is a covenant/will, it is a necessity for the death of the one who makes the covenant/will to be brought forth,
9:17 for only with death is a covenant/will [made] valid, since it is not yet in force while the one who made the covenant/will lives.
9:18 Because not even the first covenant had been inaugurated [only in Hebrews] without blood,
9:19 for after/when every commandment according to the law was spoken by Moses to all the people, taking the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop and sprinkled both the scroll and all the people,
9:20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you,”
9:21 and likewise he sprinkled the tabernacle/tent and all the vessels of the ministry with the blood.
9:22 Indeed, almost everything was purified/cleansed with blood according to the law, and without shedding of blood [hapax] there can be no forgiveness.
9:23 Therefore there was a necessity that the pattern/sketch of the heavenly things to be purified/cleansed by these rites/things, but the heavenly things with greater sacrifices than these [things].
9:24 For it was not into the sanctuary made by human hands that Christ entered, the model [antitype] of the true things, but into heaven itself, now appearing in the presence of God on our behalf,
9:25 not in order that he should offer himself many times, even as the high priest enters into the sanctuary each year/yearly by the blood of another,
9:26 since then he would need to suffer many times from the foundation of the world, but now he has appeared once at the completion/consummation [denouement] of the ages for the removal [only in Hebrews] of sin by his sacrifice.
9:27 And just as it is appointed for humans to die once, and after that the judgment,
9:28 thus also Christ, having been offered in order to bear/carry the sins of the many, will appear/be seen a second time, not for sin, but for the salvation of the ones who eagerly wait for him.
The ninth chapter proceeds with a description of the tabernacle and the items within it. Of course, this description goes beyond the original construction and furnishing of the tabernacle in Exodus to include Aaron’s rod that budded in Num 17 when his claim on the priesthood was challenged. The author also emphasizes the distinction of the Holy Place—where the priests continually enter to accomplish their duties—and the Most Holy Place—where only the high priest enters once a year with the blood of a sacrifice offered on behalf of himself and the people who committed sin in ignorance or without intention. Such rituals were indirect revelations by the Holy Spirit that he had not yet revealed the way into the heavenly sanctuary while the first one still had standing. Rather, the rituals were an analogous symbol or sketch (παραβολή) of the eschatological time that has now arrived (v. 9). While this term is used often in the Gospels in reference to the stories that Jesus told that served as analogies through which he provided teaching, Hebrews is the only text in the NT that uses the term in this more prophetic/typological sense. In this sense, though the παραβολή is only an outline of the reality it signifies, much like a clay model or an architectural blueprint, it contains important connections of continuity with the analogous signified reality that make it able to communicate that reality in a partial way. In this case, the rites in question foreshadowed the time that has arrived, the climactic, eschatological time in which the new covenant has been inaugurated, the consciences of the worshippers have been completed by being purified, and the complete forgiveness of sins has been instituted through the supreme blood sacrifice.
Indeed, Heb 9:11–28 offers the most extensive statement about the blood of Jesus in the NT according to the rubric of the atonement system in the old covenant. His coming as the high priest of the good things that have come to be (or, according to the textual variant, the good things that are “about to be” in reference to promises that have yet to come to pass) is initially referenced in the aorist tense as a statement about his earthly coming (since the text references his “arrival” or “becoming present”). Yet, at the same time, it is said that he entered the greater and more complete/perfect tabernacle that is not part of this creation (cf. Wisdom 9:8). His entrance into the sanctuary of the more complete/perfect tabernacle had to be by the same means as entrance into the sanctuary on the Day of Atonement: blood. That is to say, the outpouring of blood to enter the sanctuary signifies the pouring out of life that is the proper consequence of our sinfulness, but that by that same means of life given in death, God provides deliverance and forgiveness. This was signified temporarily in the old covenant, but it has become a lasting reality in the new covenant as Jesus gave up his life in the crucifixion in order for God to renew him again in resurrection, thereby forging a path through his flesh and blood for others to follow from mortality, through death and burial, and out the other side into resurrected new life.
Of course, to enter the more perfect sanctuary, it would not do to have only the blood of bulls and goats, which provide only temporary cleanness. But Jesus’s blood had obtained everlasting redemption, which is not only a perfect admission price for entrance into the sanctuary, but a means of purchasing entrance for others into the presence of God (since it had been indicated already in Hebrews that Jesus was without sin and thus did not need redemption [4:15; 9:14]). Indeed, this point of purchase for others becomes explicit in 10:19–25. Furthermore, the purification provided by his blood is not only an outward cleanness, but a complete one that in turn delivers from acts of death into the service of the living God. It is both a salvation from and a salvation for.
As in the Eucharistic texts, the author links Jesus to the hope of the new covenant and with it the promised everlasting inheritance. This covenant is of course superior to the old and so is its mediator, a claim the author has already established with the earlier comparisons to Moses. In this context, the superiority of Jesus works itself out in that he, as mediator/broker, provides everlasting redemption even for sins committed under the law of the old covenant. Thus, we see a reference to the new exodus (particularly with the redemption language) in the same breath as the new covenant (an interpretation receiving further corroboration from the mention of everlasting inheritance), as is confirmed in the earlier use of Jer 31 in ch. 8.
Before I proceed to the rest of the chapter, I want to focus on the Trinitarian dynamic of v. 14. Here the author speaks about the blood of Christ, who offers himself without blemish through the Holy Spirit to God the Father. We see here one of the roots of the later doctrine of perichoresis and unity of action in the Trinity. While the roles the members of the Trinity play in any given action may be differentiated to some extent, the fact remains that there is no action of God in which all three persons of the Trinity are not acting in unity; they are all involved in every aspect of every action, albeit in extents and roles that are not always strictly the same. The same is true here in the work that brings reconciliation through purification and forgiveness of sins. In this one action, Christ effects reconciliation by offering himself to God through the Holy Spirit on behalf of others who were created to bear the image of God but cannot do so as a vocation because of their sinfulness. The Holy Spirit—the same Spirit who unites Christ with Christians and makes the latter like the former—effects reconciliation in linking the work of the Son and the Father, which he does by being united with Jesus in his sacrifice and being the one through whom this sacrifice is presented to God. God the Father effects reconciliation from beginning to end by dictating this work as the way of salvation to set the world aright, sending Jesus and the Holy Spirit to make it happen, and receiving the sacrifice of Jesus as that which satisfies his will and propitiates his wrath toward sin by purifying his image-bearers.
The author then switches gears to discuss the necessity of shedding blood for the enactment of the covenant, this time using the common term for “covenant”—διαθήκη—in the sense of “will” or “testament”, though with overtones relevant for “covenant” in general. One cannot put a will into effect until the death of the maker. The old covenant was in effect before the death of Moses, but required vicarious death through sacrifice. The blood, signifying the will itself, thus had to be sprinkled—along with a mixture of other elements such as water and hyssop—upon the elements and participants of the covenant to indicate acceptance of the enforcement of the will. Hence, Moses sprinkled blood on the scroll of the law, the people who were to keep it, the tabernacle at the center of their worship, and the vessels used in the ceremonies there. The author comes to the conclusion that almost all things were cleansed through blood in the old covenant and that ultimately without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness under the old or the new covenants. Since the old covenant was the model for the deeper reality of the new covenant, it was properly a necessity under the old covenant as well as under the new one that life was given through the giving of life. Only through such death could life come. There is no resurrection unto everlasting life that releases everlasting life unto others without the prior death.
The last three verses of this chapter in particular provide a powerful rhetorical punch to the end of this sub-unit before 10:1–18. Verse 26 features two vivid contrasts. One is between suffering many times—as would have been necessary if Jesus had to make many sacrifices like the high priests of the old covenant—and his one appearance that was necessary given the magnitude of his sacrifice. Likewise, while sacrifices had to be done on a regular basis for the removal of sins in the old covenant, Jesus’s sacrifice was done once because it was effective once and for all for the removal of sins. The other is between the foundation of the world and the completion/consummation of the ages (i.e., it is a contrast between protology and eschatology). As I noted in my article, this text supports my earlier proposed reading of 1:2, since it uses a different word for “world” than for “age” in this case. In any case, the differentiation is not simply made between “world” and “age” but also between the foundation/creation and the eschatological completion or “coming together”, which I have noted previously is similar in meaning to “denouement”, although here it is in the form of a noun rather than a verb.
Verses 27 and 28 then establish an analogy between the fate of humans and the purpose of Jesus. Humans die once and afterwards will face the final judgment. Jesus shares in this fate, but in a way appropriate for the one who is the embodiment of the union of God and human. He has died once to bear the sins of the many and now he will appear a second time at the eschaton for the salvation of those who eagerly wait for him. That is, he will consummate the conquest of sin by consummating the conquest of death for others that he accomplished in his first coming. Furthermore, the term referring to his appearance (ὀφθήσεται) may well be a simple reference to Jesus’s appearance, but it was also a term used for Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances, in which the double sense of the passive (as well as middle) form of this verb came to the fore (i.e., Jesus appeared to the disciples and was seen by them; cf. Matt 28:7, 10; Mark 16:7; Luke 24:34; Acts 9:17; 13:31; 26:16; 1 Cor 15:5–8).