Heb 8:3. For every high-priest is ordained, &c. “For the special business of every high-priest, for which he is appointed and authorized of God, is to present oblations and sacrifices of atonement, which were to be slain andoffered before he carried their blood into the holy place, and in order to his doing so: it was therefore absolutely necessary that, to answer that character, this great gospel High-priest ( ) of whom we are speaking, should also have a sacrifice to offer, suitable to his dignity as God-Man, and to the glorious state and place of his present ministration; and that he should present it in the heavenly sanctuary before the throne of God, as the ancient typical high-priest did the blood of the legal sacrifices before the mercy-seat in the most holy place.”

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Heb 8:3 . Subsidiary remark in justification of the expression , Heb 8:2 . The , or the presenting of sacrifices, is just something essential in the fulfilment of the office of every high priest; a , or sacrificing priest, must thus Christ also be.

By the statement, Heb 8:3 , the argument itself is not interrupted. For enclosing the verse within a parenthesis, with Cameron, Stengel, and others, there exists therefore no reason.

] the explanatory namely .

On , comp. Heb 8:1 : , .

] sc . (Syriac, Beza, Piscator, Owen, Bengel, Bleek, de Wette, Hofmann, Komm . p. 306; Woerner), not (Vulgate, Luther, Calvin, Schlichting, Schulz, Bhme, Stuart, Kuinoel, Hofmann, Schriftbew . II. 1, 2 Aufl. p. 407; Riehm, Lehrbegr. des Hebrerbr . p. 505; Alford, Maier, Moll, Ewald, M‘Caul, al .). For the author knows only one single sacrificial act of Christ, an act performed once for all (not one continually repeated), as is evident partly from the parallel passages, Heb 7:27 , Heb 9:12 ; Heb 9:25 ; Heb 9:28 , Heb 10:10 ; Heb 10:12 ; Heb 10:14 , partly from the preterite in our passage.

, ] that also this (High Priest) should have somewhat that He might offer up . By the the author understands Christ’s own body, which He gave up to death as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sinful world. The indefinite mode of expression by , however, was chosen just because the reference to the sacrifice in this place was only an incidental one, and that which was intended could the less be misunderstood by the readers, in that immediately before, Heb 7:27 , it had been declared by means of in what the sacrifice of Christ consisted.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

(3) For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. (4) For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:

In the close of the first of these verses, I beg to observe, that there is no word in the original for what our translators have rendered man. And as the pronoun this might have been more properly connected with the word person, being more agreeable to the analogy of faith, I confess that I prefer it. The reading then will be, wherefore it is of necessity that this person have somewhat also to offer. And this is true. As man, considered without an eye to the Godhead, he had nothing equivalent to offer. And, as God, without respect to his manhood, he could not offer. But in the union of both, as one person, God and Man, oh! what an offering did he make, whereby he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified, Heb 10:10-14 .

I have so largely dwelt on the blessed features of the Lord Jesus in his priestly office, in the preceding Chapters of this Epistle, that it will be the less necessary to enlarge on them here. It is very true, indeed, God the Holy Ghost evidently takes pleasure in bringing them continually forward. And what that matchless Teacher delights in, we may well follow. And so I would indeed, if the limits of a Poor Man’s Commentary admitted it. But as this is not the case, I rather refer the Reader to what hath been offered upon Christ’s priesthood, and particularly in the fifth Chapter, than swell the present pages.

But one point must be noticed here, as not being noticed before, in relation to Christ’s priesthood, namely, when it is said, for if he were on earth, he should not be a priest. This is a subject very highly interesting to be considered, and which ought to be well understood. In the explaining of which, it will serve to throw no small light on it, if we look back and observe, how the Holy Ghost hath throughout scripture, shadowed forth Christ in the law. When the High Priest, on the Day of Atonement, had made the sacrifice for the sins of the people, he entered with the blood into the holy place, Lev 16:34Lev 16:34 . And this is explained to the Church of what God the Holy Ghost intended by it, Heb 9:6-12 and Commentary. Now, then, had the High Priest, when making the sacrifice, not gone into the holy place, the service would have been incomplete. Hence, in like manner, if Christ, to whom this whole service referred, remained on earth, after that he had made his soul an offering for sin, the presentation of it before God on the mercy-seat would not have been complete. It was one great part of his office to carry up his blood to the throne, (the propitiatory,) as a full and complete propitiation. Having paid the ransom of his Church by his blood, he virtually takes the price, the current coin of the merchant with him to heaven, and puts it down upon the mercy-seat. Here was, in tire fullest sense of the words, offering both gifts and the sacrifice for sin. And hence it is said, that the priests on earth serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.

And, moreover, it must be further added, that Christ’s priesthood, which, after the order of Melchizedec, was an everlasting priesthood, could not have been accomplished had he remained on earth. For, in this case, how would he have entered into heaven as the forerunner of his people? How would he have gone as a public head, and been placed above all principality and power? How would he have taken possession of heaven in our name; and we, by faith, beholding ourselves now raised up together, and made to sit together with him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus? Eph 2:6 . Reader! do you not know what it is now, by faith, thus to realize and substantiate things that are far off, and bring them nigh? If your faith be the faith of God’s elect, the faith once delivered to the saints, you cannot but know it by this divine property, which the Holy Ghost hath marked it by; it is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the Elders obtained a good report, Heb 11:1-2 . True, indeed, you are not yet entered upon the heavenly country. But, like them, you have seen it afar off, and are persuaded of it, and have by faith embraced it. We see not yet (saith the Apostle,) all things put under Jesus. No! For he hath not yet made all his enemies his footstool. This will take place at the final retribution of all things, when he shall see the travail of his soul, and be satisfied, Isa 53:10 . But, in the mean time, we see him crowned with glory and honor; and ourselves, by faith, crowned with him, in the sure and certain expectation of it, when he will come to take us home to himself, that where he is, there we may be also, Joh 14:3 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.

Ver. 3. Somewhat also to offer ] To wit, his own body, “an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour,”Eph 5:2Eph 5:2 . By Mount Olivet stood the garden of Gethsemane, where Christ was taken and led into the city through the sheep gate to be offered up like an innocent sheep, on the altar of his cross, for the sins of his people.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

3 6 .] This heavenly office and work our High Priest must have, if He be veritably a High Priest .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

3 .] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices (see the very similar passage, ch. Heb 5:1 , and note there): whence it is necessary that this ( High Priest ) also have somewhat which he may offer (there is here considerable difficulty. For the Writer is evidently, from what follows, laying the stress on the heavenly of Christ: and this applies therefore to His work not on earth, but in heaven. If so, how comes it to be said that He has somewhat to offer in heaven, seeing that His offering, of Himself, was made once for all, in contradistinction to those of the Levitical priests which were being constantly offered? See especially ch. Heb 10:11-12 , which, on this view, brings the Writer here into direct contradiction to himself. In order to avoid this, Lnemann and Hofmann (Schriftb. ii. 1. 288) attempt to make the aor. retrospective: “it is necessary for Him to have (there, in heaven) somewhat (viz. His body) which he may have offered.” But surely this is a view of the aorist which cannot be admitted. In such sentences, the uses of the aor. and pres. seem to regard not the time, objectively, of the act expressed, but its nature, subjectively, as an act rapidly passing in each case, or enduring. The straightforward construction of our sentence makes it necessary that should refer to an act done in the state pointed out by the , however the nature of that act may be, in each case of its being done, such as to be accomplished at the moment, and not enduring onwards: which latter, expressed by , would certainly involve the contradiction above spoken of. Thus regarded then, what is it which our High Priest in heaven has to offer? In ch. Heb 5:7 , He is described as prayers and supplications in the days of His flesh: and it might be thought that His , ch. Heb 7:25 , might be here meant, the offering being those intercessions. But this would hardly satisfactorily give the , which as Delitzsch remarks, is too concrete for such an interpretation. It must be something with which and by virtue of which, and as offering and applying which, our High Priest enters and ministers in the Holy of Holies above. Now if we look to the analogy of ch. Heb 9:7 ; Heb 9:12 , we see, 1. that the high priest entered the holy place , . , 2. that Christ is entered into the of heaven , : see also ib. Heb 9:25 . This BLOOD of the one offering, Christ is represented as bearing into the Holy Place, and its application is ever set forth to us as a continuing and constantly repeated one. Thus this blood of sprinkling is regarded as being in heaven , ch. Heb 12:24 ; as being sprinkled on the believer as the end of his election , 1Pe 1:2 ; as cleansing us from all sin , 1Jn 1:7 ; as that wherein the saints wash their robes and make them white , Rev 7:14 . Still, as Delitzsch also remarks, this is not the place to enlarge on this matter, seeing that it is merely incidentally introduced here, the present object being to shew that it is in heaven, and not on earth, that our High Priest ministers. The Roman Catholic interpretation of this place, as represented by Corn. a-Lapide, is worth noticing, if only to remark how absolutely inconsistent it is with the argument of the Epistle: “Ergo Christus in clo suas hostias et munera offert, scilicet suum in cruce sacrificium, quod olim in monte Calvari obtulit, nunc quoque id ipsum per continuam commemorationem Patri in clo offert. Secundo, et proprie , Christus in clo offert sacrificia miss, qu toto orbe quotidie celebrantur; in his enim primus et primarius sacerdos qui consecrat, offert, et transubstantiationem peragit, est Christus.” Estius, more cautiously, “Probabile est apostolum loqui de ea oblatione qua se ipsum quondam in cruce passum et oblatum, continuo nunc reprsentat Patri in clis. Nam de altera (Christum, etsi in clo regnantem, offerre quotidie se ipsum adhuc in terris per ministros et vicarios suos sacerdotes) apostolus prorsus tacet, quia mysterium est, quod intelligendum relinquit fidelibus mysteriorum consciis.” This last would make a curious canon of interpretation).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Heb 8:3 . . “For every High Priest is appointed for the offering of gifts and sacrifices, and therefore it was necessary that this man also have something to offer”. That Christ is in heaven as a , as an active minister in holy things, is proved by the universal law, that every High Priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices. Christ is not idle in heaven, but being there as High Priest He must be offering something; what that is, He has told us in Heb 7:27 , but here no emphasis is on the what , but merely on the fact that He must be offering something, must be actively ministering in heaven as a . [Bruce therefore overlooks Heb 7:27 in his interpretation: “He is content for the present to throw out the remark: ‘This man must have something to offer,’ and to leave his readers for a while to puzzle over the question, What is it?”] With some have understood rather than “necesse fuit habere quod offerret” (Beza) followed by Westcott, etc., on the ground that the reference is to our Lord’s presentation to the Father of His finished sacrifice. But it is better to give the word a merely logical and subjective force; it is a necessary inference that this man, etc. Behind and beyond this lies no doubt the reference to Christ’s sacrifice. As the High Priest could not enter into the Holiest without the blood of the victim (Heb 9:7 ), so must Jesus accomplish His priestly office by offering His own blood (Heb 9:12 ). For the words of the former part of the verse see note on Heb 6:1 .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

offer. See Heb 5:1.

this Man . . . also. Read “this High Priest also”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

3-6.] This heavenly office and work our High Priest must have, if He be veritably a High Priest.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Heb 8:3. , for) The reason why he called Him , Heb 8:2.-, necessary) viz. was; for the aorist follows, , should offer.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

The summary description of our high priest designed is carried on in this verse. And the apostle manifests, that as he wanted nothing which any other high priest had, that was necessary unto the discharge of his office, so he had it all in a more eminent manner than any other had.

Heb 8:3. .

. Syr., qui stat ut offerat, who standeth (that is, at the altar) that he may offer; rendering neutrally, the whole sense is imperfect, For every high priest who standeth (at the altar) that he may offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore, etc.

. Syr., , oblationem. Vulg., munera. Some rather use dona, and some donaria, sacred gifts.

. Syr.. . that is , sacrifices. Vulg., hostias; and the Rhemists, hosts; It may be to countenance their name of the host in the mass.

. Syr., , justum erat, aequum erat; it was just and equal. Vulg., necesse est, in the present tense; it is necessary. Beza, necesse fuit, it was necessary; properly: and so the Syriac renders the verb substantive understood in the original, or included in the infinitive mood following, in the preterimperfect tense.

, habere, hunt habere. Syr., huic ut esset ei; to this man that there should be to him, or with him.

. Vulg., aliquid quod offerat; something that he may offer. Syr., , something that he should offer. The Arabic adds, for himself, corruptly.

Heb 8:3. For every high priest is ordained [appointed] to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity [it was necessary] that this man [should] have somewhat also to offer. The connection of these words unto what was before asserted, which giveth us the design of the apostle in them, is expressed in the causal conjunction, , for. He both giveth a confirmation of what he had before affirmed, namely, that Christ was the minister of the true tabernacle, that is, of his body, and rendereth a reason why it should so be; and this he further confirms in the verses ensuing.

The reason he insists on is taken from the general nature of the office of every high priest That the LORD Christ is our high priest, he had sufficiently demonstrated and confirmed before; this, therefore, he now assumes as granted. And hereon what belongs unto him as such he further manifests, by showing what the nature of that office required, and what did necessarily belong unto every one that was partaker thereof.

There are therefore two things in the words:

1. A general assertion of the nature, duty, and office of every high priest.

2. A particular inference from thence, of what did necessarily belong unto the LORD Christ in the susception and discharge of this office.

In the first,

1. The universality of the expression is to be observed: , Every high priest. By the context, this universal is cast under a limitation with respect unto the law: Every high priest that is made or appointed by the law; for of those alone the apostle treateth.

There was, indeed, never any high priest accepted of God but those ordained by the law, yet was it necessary unto the apostle to make mention of the law also. And although they were many of them, yet were they all of the same order and office; and so were all alike authorized and obliged unto the same duties. Wherefore the apostle thus expresseth it by every high priest, to evidence that there lay no exception against his argument, seeing that, in the whole multitude of high priests, in their succession from first to last, there was no one but he was appointed unto this end, and had this duty incumbent on him. Yea, it is not one especial duty of their office, that might be omitted, which he insisteth on, but the general end for which they were ordained; as he expresseth it in the next word.

2. , is ordained; that is, appointed of God by the law. Of the sense of this word I have spoken before, as also of the thing intended. See Heb 5:1-2.

Obs. 1. Gods ordination or appointment gives rules, measures, and ends, unto all sacred offices and employments. Whoever undertakes any thing in religion or divine worship without it, besides it, beyond it, is a transgressor, and therein worshippeth God in vain. He whom God doth not ordain in his service, is an intruder; and that which he doth not appoint is a usurpation. Nor will he accept of any duties, but what he himself hath made so.

3. The principal end why the high priests were ordained of God is expressed; it was to offer gifts and sacrifices.

This appears in their original institution, Exodus 28, 29.

(1.) They were to offer. God appointed Aaron and his successors, on purpose to offer gifts and sacrifices for the whole people.

(2.) None but they were to offer; that is, none but the priests were to offer, none but they might approach unto God, to offer any thing sacredly unto him. The people might bring their offerings unto God; but they could not offer them on the altar. And some offerings, as those at the feast of expiation, were appropriated unto the high priests only. So is the case stated by Azariah, the high priest, 2Ch 26:18 :

Not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated;

Exo 30:7, Num 18:7. And God hereby taught the people that nothing should ever be accepted from them, but in and by the hand of the great high priest who was to come. And this is that which we are yet taught thereby. And whoever he be, if as great and prosperous as king Uzziah, who shall think to approach unto God immediately, without the interposition of this high priest, he is smitten with the plague of spiritual leprosy.

4. What they were to offer is also declared: gifts and sacrifices; , munera, donaria, dona. Sometimes all , the corbanim in general, are intended by this word; for all sacred offerings, of what sort soever, are so called at their first institution, Lev 1:2 : If any one among you bring his corban unto the LORD. And thereon the especial kinds of offerings and sacrifices are enumerated, which in general were all corbanim. So every thing that is brought unto the altar is called , Mat 5:23-24 : , When thou bringest thy gift; that is, , to offer gifts, sacred gifts of all sorts, especially sacrifices properly so called. Or, by the , minchoth, may be intended; as by the zebachim are. For these two contain the whole complex of sacred offering, For zebachim, or , are bloody sacrifices, sacrifices by immolation or killing, of what sort soever the matter of it was, or unto what especial end soever it was designed; and the minchoth were offerings of dead things, as of corn, oil, meats, and drinks. To offer all these was the office of the priesthood ordained. And we are taught thereby, that,

Obs. 2. There is no approach unto God without continual respect unto sacrifice and atonement. The principal end of sacrifices was to make atonement for sin. And so necessary was this to be done, that the office of the priesthood was appointed for it. Men do but dream of the pardon of sin, or acceptance with God, without atonement. This the apostle layeth down as that which was necessary for every high priest, by Gods institution. There never was any high priest, but his office and duty it was to offer gifts and sacrifices; for unto that end was he ordained of God.

Secondly, Hence he infers that it was necessary that this man should have somewhat to offer. For being a minister of the heavenly sanctuary, and the true tabernacle, a high priest he was. But this he could not be, unless he had somewhat to offer unto God. A priest that hath nothing to offer, that was not ordained unto that end, is indeed no priest at all.

And in this assumption of the apostle we may observe,

1. The note of inference, wherefore.

2. The designation of the person spoken of, this man.

3. The manner of the ascription made unto him, he must have.

4. The matter of it, somewhat to offer:

1. The note of inference is , wherefore. It is frequently used by the apostle in this epistle, when he proves his present assertions, from the old institutions of the law and their signification, Heb 2:17; Heb 3:1; Heb 9:18. And the whole force of this inference, especially that in this place, depends on this supposition, that all the old typical institutions did represent what was really to be accomplished in Christ; whence it was necessary that he should be what they did signify and represent. Hence it is often observed in the Gospel, that he did or suffered such things, or in such a manner, because things were so ordered under the law.

2. The designation of the person is expressed: , this man; he of whom we speak, this high priest of the new testament; whom he had before described, and specified by his name, Jesus; and by his dignity, the Son of God: that this man, this Jesus, the high priest of the new testament.

3. The subject being stated, that which he affirms thereof is, that he, this priest, must have somewhat to offer. And this was of necessity that so it should be. For whatever otherwise this glorious person were, or might be, yet a high priest he could not be, unless he had somewhat to offer; for to offer gifts and sacrifices is the sole end of that office. This necessity, then, was absolute. For without this no office of priesthood could be discharged, and consequently no atonement be made, nor could we be brought unto God. And it is said that it was thus necessary , that he should have. And it is not possession only that is intended, but possession with respect unto use. He was so to have somewhat to offer, as to offer it accordingly. For it would not avail the church to have a high priest that should have somewhat to offer, if it were not actually offered. Wherefore respect is had both unto the meetness of Christ unto his office and his faithfulness therein. He had what to offer, and he did offer it.

4. The matter of his offering is expressed: , somewhat to offer; that is, in sacrifice unto God. The apostle expresseth it indefinitely, : but what it is which he was to have, he doth riot as yet declare. He was not engaged further by his present argument. But he elsewhere declares expressly what this was that he had to offer, what was the matter of his sacrifice, and what it was necessary that it should be. And this was himself, his whole human nature, soul and body.

It may be it will be said, that it doth not necessarily follow, that if he have somewhat to offer, it must be himself; for he might offer somewhat else out of the flocks and herds, as they did of old. Nor, indeed, doth the apostle intend directly to prove it in this place, namely, that it must be himself which he must offer. But it doth necessarily follow from the arguments before insisted on, Hebrews 7; for whatever else God had appointed or approved of to be offered in sacrifice, he had ordained the Levitical priesthood to offer, and appropriated the offering of it unto them; so as no such sacrifice could ever be offered by any who was not of the seed of Aaron. Whereas, therefore, our high priest was not of the tribe of Levi, but of Judah, it is evident that he could not offer any of the things which were appropriated unto their ministry and service. And hence our apostle in the next verse affirms directly, that if he were on the earth, that is, to officiate in his office with the things of the earth, after the manner of other priests, he could not be so much as a priest at all; seeing all such services were appropriated unto and performed by the priests of another order. Again; if he might have done so, and accordingly had done so, our apostle manifests that his priesthood must have been ineffectual as unto the proper ends of it. For the law could make nothing perfect; not only because of the infirmity and imperfection of its priests, but also because of the insufficiency of its sacrifices unto the great ends of expiating sin, by whomsoever they were offered. For it is impossible, as he declares, that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins, or purge the conscience of the sinner, Heb 10:1-4, etc. Wherefore, as it was necessary that he should have somewhat to offer, so it was necessary that this somewhat should be himself, and nothing else.

Something must yet be added as unto the rendering of the words themselves, which influenceth their proper sense. , necessary, of necessity, must have the verb substantive added, to determine its signification. Erasmus adds est, it is necessary; and we render it, it is of necessity. Beza supplies fuit, as doth the Syriac interpreter , fuit, erat; it was necessary. And so he renders by quod offerret, which he should offer; in both respecting the time past. Others render it by quod offerat, which he may offer; with respect unto the time present or to come. And Beza gives this account of his translation, namely, that the apostle having respect unto the sacrifice of Christ, which was past, affirms that it was necessary that he should have somewhat that he might offer; and not that it is necessary that he should have somewhat to offer. And although I will not deny but that the Lord, by reason of the perpetual efficacy of his oblation, and the representation of it in his intercession, may be said to offer himself, yet his sacrifice and oblation of himself were properly on the earth, as I have fully proved elsewhere. This text being urged by Grotius with respect unto the offering and sacrifice of Christ, Crellius replies, Concludit scriptor divinus ex eo quod Christus sit sacerdos, necesse esse ut habeat quod offerat; non, ut loquitur Grotius, necesse fuisse ut haberet quod offerret, quasi de re praeterita loquatur, Respons. ad cap. 10. But, as Beza very well observes, the apostle had before mentioned the one offering of Christ as already perfected and completed, Heb 7:27. He cannot, therefore, speak of it now but as that which was past; and here he only shows how necessary it was that he should have himself to offer, and so to offer himself, as he had done. And from these words we may observe,

Obs. 3. That there was no salvation to be had for us, no, not by Jesus Christ himself, without his sacrifice and oblation. It was of necessity that he should have somewhat to offer, as well as those priests had of old according to the law. Some would have it that the Lord Christ is our Savior because he declared unto us the way of salvation, and gave us an example of the way whereby we may attain it, in his own personal obedience. But whence, then, was it of necessity that he must have somewhat to offer unto God as our priest; that is, for us? For this belongeth neither unto his doctrine nor example. And it was necessary that he should have somewhat to offer, in answer unto those sacrifices of old which were offered for the expiation of sin. Nor could our salvation be otherwise effected, by any other acts or duties of our high priest; for the church could not be saved without taking away the guilt of sin. And the whole design of the priests and sacrifices of old, was to teach and instruct the church how alone this might be performed. And this was only by making atonement for it by sacrifice; wherein the beast sacrificed did suffer in the room of the sinner, and did by Gods institution bear his iniquity. And this our apostle hath respect unto, and the realizing of all those typical representations in Christ; without which his whole discourse is useless and vain. Wherefore there was no other way for our salvation, but by a real propitiation or atonement made for our sins. And whosoever looketh for it otherwise but in the faith and virtue thereof, will be deceived.

Obs. 4. As God designed unto the Lord Christ the work which he had to do, so he provided for him, and furnished him with whatever was necessary thereunto. Somewhat he must have to offer. And this could not be any thing which was the matter of the sacrifices of the priests of old. For all those sacrifices were appropriated unto the discharge of the priesthood; and besides, they were none of them able to effect that which he was designed to do. Wherefore a body did God prepare for him, as is declared at large, Heb 10:1-8, etc.

Obs. 5. The Lord Christ being to save the church in the way of office, he was not to be spared in any thing necessary thereunto. And in conformity unto him,

Obs. 6. Whatever state or condition we are called unto, what is necessary unto that state is indispensably required of us. So are holiness and obedience required unto a state of reconciliation and peace with God.

Fuente: An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews

serve, Heb 5:1, Heb 7:27

have: Heb 9:14, Heb 10:9-12, Joh 6:51, Eph 5:2, Tit 2:14

Reciprocal: Lev 6:20 – the offering Zec 6:12 – behold Gal 3:25 – we Heb 2:9 – Jesus Heb 10:5 – but

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Heb 8:3. Every high priest refers to those under the Old Testament line. Thayer defines ordained, “To appoint one to administer an office.” Gifts and sacrifices were in the same general class, but the first refers especially to articles that were not intended to be used as victims on the altar. This man means Christ who was called upon to make a somewhat offering. That is, Christ offered many contributions to the New Testament service, and then made the “supreme sacrifice” of himself on the cross just before ascending from earth to his Father in Heaven.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Heb 8:3-6. Fora new proof is now given that Christ is in the heavenly sanctuary. There is no priest without sacrificial functions (Heb 8:3); and if Christ were here on earth He would not be a priest at all (Heb 8:4), there being already those who offer the gifts and do temple service for what is a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. Christs office, therefore, must be discharged elsewhere, as it really is. And the dignity of His office is measured by the superiority of the covenant to which He belongs. The following verbal explanations are important.

Heb 8:3. Ordained is simply appointed. This man is rather this high priest. Heb 8:4. For is by reading now, and marks the continuance of the statement, not a reason. Heb 8:5. Who means those namely who, and calls attention to the description. Heb 8:5. Serve describes always in N. T. the service of God. It occurs in Luke eight times, in St. Pauls acknowledged Epistles four times, and this Epistle six times. What is a copy; the word means either a model, the archetype which is to be followed (Heb 4:11), or it is (as here and in Heb 9:23) an after-copy made from an original: And shadow of the heavenly things: the shadow cast by a solid body or a mere outline that gives an idea of the form only without revealing the true substance. This language is clearly depreciatory, not because the writer questions the Divine origin of the things he speaks of, but because the true priest having come, the glory of the legal priesthood and of the tabernacle sinks to its proper level as the mere shadow or outline of the great reality.

That this is its true character is now proved from Exodus, Even as Moses is admonished of God (not was, the present tense shows that the admonition still stands in Scripture and may be used to explain the nature of the tabernacle), when about to make (literally, to finish, i.e to take in hand and complete) the tabernacle, for (not part of the quotation, but a proof of the assertion just made), see, saith he . . . the pattern showed to thee in the mount. These words may mean either the reality, the veritable heavenly things which are the original of the earthly resemblances, or a plan of the tabernacle itself which had the spiritual meaning here given to them. As Moses, however, could hardly have seen Christs priest-hood and offering as actual facts, it must have been the symbolical, the parabolical (Heb 9:9) representation of them in the form of the earthly tabernacle. Anyhow, the priesthood and offering of Christ belong to the heavenly state.

Heb 8:6. But nowas the case is; not the temporal now, but the logical now so common in this Epistle, Heb 9:26, Heb 11:16, Heb 11:8, Heb 12:26, and in Pauls writingshath he obtained a more excellent ministry (see Heb 8:2); by how much he is the mediator of a better covenant also. Jesus is surety (Heb 7:22) and mediator, both; and herein He has qualities which Aaron never had. He is Moses and Aaron (Mediator and Priest), and the ratifying, the sealing blood of the victim all in one.

Which (i.e better in this that it) was a law-based constitution, like the first, but resting upon better promises, as the following quotations prove. A law-based and a law-enacted constitution (as the Greek implies) is the very character Paul gives to the Gospel. It is the law of faith, the law of spiritual life in Jesus Christ, the law of righteousness, Rom 3:27; Rom 8:2; Rom 9:31.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

That the Lord Jesus Christ is our great High Priest under the gospel, the apostle had sufficiently demonstrated and confirmed before.

Observe here, How he next declares what is the nature, duty and office of Christ as our High Priest; namely, to offer gifts and sacrifice. A priest that has nothing to offer is no priest at all, Christ therefore offered as well as other high priests; but what! Bullocks and rams? In no wise: he offered himself his whole human nature, soul and body. As to the typical sacrifices he did not, could not offer them, were he upon earth, because he was not of the tribe of Levi, whose proper office it was to meddle with those offerings; therefore leaving the shadow to them, he offered the substance, himself; that is, his own body, signified by those shadows.

Learn hence, That there was not salvation to be had for us, no, not by Jesus Christ himself, without his sacrifice and oblation; It was of necessity that he should have somewhat to offer, as well as those priests had of old, according to the law. No salvation without atonement for sin but by sacrifice; no sacrifice sufficient for atonement but the death of Christ; and whoever looks for salvation otherwise than in the faith and virtue of that sacrifice, will be disappointed and deceived. But although applicaiton of its efficacy to the souls of belivers is made by Christ now in heaven; without which, neither their access to God nor their peace with God could be maintained, Heb 8:3-4.

In the fifth verse, , the apostle asserts, that the Levitical priests here below did perform those administrations which were but shadows of heavenly things above. Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.

Where to serve, is to officiate as priests, in offering gifts and sacrifices: But this their service was not spiritual and heavenly, but carnal and earthly: Yet a shadow and imitation of heavenly things.

Learn hence, That God alone limits the signification and us of all his own institutions. The ministry of the priests of old was only in and about earthly things, not having a resemblance and shadow of heavenly things. We must not take any thing out of God’s insitutions which he has put in them, nor must we put more in them than God has furnished them withal. To expect that from any ordinance or institution of God which he never intended or designed, is to make an idol of the ordinance, and the way to render it useless, yea, pernicious and perilous to us; to put that into an ordinance which God never put into it, and to expect more from an ordinance, than God ever promised, is to overthrow it.

-“As Moses admonished of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle. for See, (saith he), that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount.”

The words imply, that divine institution is the only pure rule of religious worship: Moses did nothing of his own head when he built the tabernacle, but had his directions in every thing from God. If persons will carve out the worship of God according to their own fancies, they may please themselves perhaps, but they never can please their Maker; for nothing is pleasing to God, as to the substance of religious worship, but what is of his own prescribing; consequently all that theatrical pomp which is found in the church of Rome, and makes the worship of God a dead thing, is a mere fornication in religion, and an abomination in the sight of God.

All their human inventions are intolerable presumptions. And as Moses was bound to give directions according to the pattern given him, so the priests, in their administrations, were bound to follow Moses’ directions. Yet after all, the things which Moses was concerned about, were carnal things; the tabernacle was earthly, the offerings carnal, yet shadows of better things, even of heavenly; for the sanctuary was a shadow of a heavenly sanctuary; the priest of a better priest; the service, of a far better service: This seems to be the intention of our apostle.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Heb 8:3-4. For every high-priest, &c. As if the apostle had said, And it appears that Christ is a minister, or priest, of the true tabernacle, because he offers sacrifice, which none but the priests might do. Wherefore Greek, , whence; the whole force of this inference depends on this supposition that all the old typical institutions did represent what was really to be accomplished in Christ; it is of necessity that this man have somewhat to offer For whatever otherwise this glorious person might be, yet a high-priest he could not be, unless he had in his possession somewhat to offer in sacrifice to God, and that was his whole human nature, soul and body. For, or, rather, but, if he were on earth If his priesthood terminated here; he should, or, rather, could, not be a priest Consistently with the Jewish institutions; seeing that there are priests, other priests, that offer according to the law To whom alone this office is allotted. As if he had said, It appears further that Christ was a minister of the heavenly sanctuary, and was to execute his office in heaven; 1st, Because he did not execute it on earth. For though his priesthood may be considered as being in some sense begun on earth, by his offering the sacrifice of himself upon the cross, yet the continuance and consummation of all is in heaven, by his representing there the merit of his sacrifice, and his making continual intercession. 2d, Because there was a priesthood settled on earth already, and there could not be two orders of priesthood divinely appointed officiating on earth together.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Verse 3

This man; Jesus.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

8:3 {4} For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore [it is] of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.

(4) He brings a reason why it must be that Christ should have a body (which he calls a tabernacle which the Lord built, and not man) that is, that he might have that to offer: for otherwise he could not be an High Priest. The body is both the tabernacle and the sacrifice.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Heb 8:4 sounds as though the Jewish priests were presenting offerings in Herod’s Temple when the writer wrote. This understanding of the text has led some students of the book to date its writing before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in A.D. 70. However it is more likely that we should take these present tenses as timeless. [Note: See Lane, p. lxiii.] The writer was describing what had been done in Judaism as though it was still going on, for the sake of vividness (cf. Heb 7:27-28; Heb 9:7-8; Heb 9:25; Heb 10:1-3; Heb 10:8; Heb 13:10-11). Nevertheless it seems likely that the epistle does indeed date from before A.D. 70. [Note: See my discussion of the date in the introduction section of these notes.]

God had explained the fact that the tabernacle was a prototype of another temple, the heavenly one, to Moses when God gave him the directions for the construction of the tabernacle (Exo 25:40; cf. Rev 4:5-6; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 8:3-5; Rev 11:19; Rev 21:22). Moses may have received a vision of God’s heavenly dwelling place then (cf. 1Ch 28:19).

"Probably the conception of the tabhanith, the ’model’ (Exo 25:9), also goes back ultimately to the idea that the earthly sanctuary is the counterpart of the heavenly dwelling of a deity [in ancient Near Eastern thought]." [Note: Frank M. Cross, "The Tabernacle," Biblical Archaeologist 10:3 (September 1947):62. Cf. G. Ernest Wright, "The Significance of the Temple in the Ancient Near East. Part III: The Temple in Palestine-Syria," Biblical Archaeologist 7:4 (December 1944):66.]

The writer’s point was that Jesus’ priesthood was not an earthly priesthood but one that operated in the realm of heaven. Jesus could have functioned as a priest on earth after the order of Melchizedek, but His real priestly ministry of sacrifice and intercession began when He entered heaven. Jesus interceded for others during His earthly ministry (e.g., Luk 22:32; John 17), but His ministry as our king-priest began with His ascension.

"The contrast developed is not simply between an earthly copy and a heavenly archetype but between a historical situation in the past and one that succeeded it in time. During the former situation, marked by the ministry of the Levitical priests, there was no entrance into the real, heavenly presence of God; full entrance into the eternal presence of God was made possible only with the life and redemptive accomplishment of Jesus." [Note: Lane, p. 207.]

"In Heb 8:1-5 the primitive Christian confession of Jesus as the one who has taken his seat at God’s right hand is reinterpreted in the light of the theme of heavenly sanctuary and liturgy. The development of this theme, which dominates the argument in Heb 8:1 to Heb 9:28, is clearly the central and most distinctive aspect of the writer’s interpretation of the saving work of Christ. . . . By means of a typological interpretation of the OT, the writer asserts that Christ has achieved what the sacrificial action of the high priest on the great Day of Atonement only foreshadowed. His entrance into the heavenly sanctuary, which is the true tabernacle where he has unrestricted access to the eternal presence of God, demonstrates the eschatological superiority of his priestly service to the ministry of the Levitical high priests. The priestly ministry of Christ in the celestial sanctuary is of capital importance in the thought of Hebrews." [Note: Ibid., p. 210.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)