Hebrews 9:26 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hebrews 9:26
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
to render apparent (literally or figuratively) · verb — perfect passive indicative, 3rd person singular
to
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
away
ἀθέτησινathetēsin
G115
cancellation (literally or figuratively) · noun — accusative singular feminine
sin
ἁμαρτίαςhamartias
G266
a sin (properly abstract) · noun — genitive singular feminine
by
διὰdia
G1223
through (in very wide applications · preposition
sacrifice
θυσίαςthusias
G2378
sacrifice (the act or the victim · noun — genitive singular feminine
himself
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption fo…
1 Peter 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
Hebrews 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation…
Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but qu…
Hebrews 7:27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once…
Hebrews 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hebrews 9:23–end
In this last part of the chapter, the apostle goes on to tell us what the Holy Ghost has signified to us by the legal purifications of the patterns of the things in heaven, inferring thence the necessity of better sacrifices to consecrate the heavenly things themselves.
I. The necessity of purifying the patterns of the things in heaven, Heb 9:23. This necessity arises both from the divine appointment, which must always be obeyed, and from the reason of that appointment, which was to preserve a proper resemblance between the things typifying and the things typified. It is observable here that the sanctuary of God on earth is a pattern of heaven, and communion with God in his sanctuary is to h…
then--in that case.
must . . . have suffered--rather as Greek, "It would have been necessary for Him often to suffer." In order to "offer" (Heb 9:25), or present Himself often before God in the heavenly holiest place, like the legal high priests making fresh renewals of this high priestly function. He would have had, and would have often to suffer. His oblation of Himself before God was once for all (that is, the bringing in of His blood into the heavenly Holy of Holies), and therefore the preliminary suffering was once for all.
since the foundation of the world--The continued sins of men, from their first creation, would entail a continual suffering on earth, and consequent oblation of…
For then must he often have suffered - In the counsel of God, Christ was considered the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev 13:8, so that all believers before his advent were equally interested in his sacrificial death with those who have lived since his coming. Humanly speaking, the virtue of the annual atonement could not last long, and must be repeated; Christ's sacrifice is ever the same; his life's blood is still considered as in the act of being continually poured out. See Rev 5:6.
The end of the world - The conclusion of the Jewish dispensation, the Christian dispensation being that which shall continue till the end of time.
To put away sin - Εις αθετησιν ἁμαρτιας· To ab…
The Church Fathers
Therefore, by means of the wide licence of those days, materials for subsequent emendations were furnished beforehand, of which materials the Lord by His Gospel, and then the apostle in the last days of the (Jewish) age, either cut off the redundancies or regulated the disorders.
In this place he has also veiled over something. "But now once more in the end of the world." Why "at the end of the world"? After the many sins. If therefore, it had taken place at the beginning, then no one would have believed; and He must not die a second time, all would have been useless. But since later, there were many transgressions, with reason He then appeared: which he expresses in another place also, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. But now once in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Rom. v. 20.)
What is, "He hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself"? What is this "putting away"? it is making contemptible. For sin has no longer any boldness; for it is made of no effect in that when it ought to have demanded punishment, it did not demand it: that is, it suffered violence: when it expected to destroy all men, then it was itself destroyed. "He hath appeared by the sacrifice of Himself" (he says), that is, "He hath appeared," unto God, and drawn near unto Him. For do not think because the High Priest was wont to do this oftentimes in the year. So that henceforward this is done in vain, although it is done; for what need is there of medicines where there are no wounds? On this account He ordained offerings "continually," because of their want of power, and that a remembrance of sins might be made.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Altar — (Heb. mizbe’ah, from a word meaning “to slay”), any structure of earth (Ex. 20:24) or unwrought stone (20:25) on which sacrifices were offered. Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places…
High priest — Aaron was the first who was solemnly set apart to this office (Ex. 29:7; 30:23; Lev. 8:12). He wore a peculiar dress, which on his death passed to his successor in office (Ex. 29:29, 30). Besides…
Tabernacle — (1.) A house or dwelling-place (Job 5:24; 18:6, etc.). (2.) A portable shrine (comp. Acts 19:24) containing the image of Moloch (Amos 5:26; marg. and R.V., “Siccuth”). (3.) The human body (2 Cor.…
Atonement · .Ma — .Ma
Atonement, The · Made but once — Made but once
Christ, The High Priest · Offered himself a sacrifice — Offered himself a sacrifice
High Priest, The · Inferior to Christ in: Offering oftentimes the same sacrifices — Inferior to Christ in: Offering oftentimes the same sacrifices
Offerings · .A type of Christ — .A type of Christ
Types · OF THE SAVIOUR — OF THE SAVIOUR
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world,.... For if it was necessary that he should often offer up himself now, which is the same as to suffer, since the sacrifice of himself, the same was necessary before; seeing sin was in the world from the beginning, and the saints from the foundation of the world had their sins expiated by the sacrifice of Christ; but the truth is, Christ's sufferings were but once, though the virtue of them is always, both before and after; nor can he suffer more, or again, because of his power over death and the grave, and because he has effectually obtained what he suffered for:
but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to…
Hebrews 9:24-28
24. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
24. Neque enim in manufacta sancta ingressus est Christus, exempla verorum; sed in ipsum coelum, ut nunc appareat coram facie Dei pro nobis:
25. Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;
25. Neque ut saepe offerat seipsum, quemadmodum pontifex ingeditur in sancta quotannis cum sanguine aliena;
26. For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared…
If that had been necessary: The author makes an argument using reductio ad absurdum (reduction to absurdity), logically showing that Christ’s one-time sacrifice must be permanently effective. Since Christ himself is the sacrifice as well as the high priest, if his offering were made every year as with the earthly high priests, he would have to die again and again. But of course this is absurd; so, clearly, Christ died once for all time . . . to remove sin.
