The old covenant prefigures the new
1 ① The religion of the Law is only a shadow of the good things to come; it has the patterns but not the realities. So, year after year, the same sacrifices are offered without bringing the worshipers to what is the end. 2If they had been cleansed once and for all, they would no longer have felt guilt and would have stopped offering the same sacrifices. 3But no, year after year their sacrifices witness to their sins 4and never will the blood of bulls and goats take away these sins. 5This is why on entering the world, Christ says: You did not desire sacrifice and offering; 6you were not pleased with burnt offerings and sin offerings. 7Then I said: “Here I am. It was written of me in the scroll. I will do your will, O God.” 8First he says: Sacrifice, offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire nor were you pleased with them– although they were required by the Law. 9Then he says: Here I am to do your will.
This is enough to nullify the first will and establish the new. 10Now, by this will of God, we are sanctified once and for all by the sacrifice of the body of Christ Jesus. 11So, whereas every priest stands daily by the altar offering repeatedly the same sacrifices that can never take away sins, 12Christ has offered for all times a single sacrifice for sins and has taken his seat at the right hand of God, 13waiting until God puts his enemies as a footstool under his feet. 14By a single sacrifice he has brought those who are sanctified to what is perfect forever.
15This also was testified by the Holy Spirit. For after having declared: 16This is the covenant that I will make with them in the days to come – says the Lord – I will put my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds. 17He says: Their sins and evil deeds I will remember no more. 18So, if sins are forgiven, there is no longer need of any sacrifice for sin.
Be confident in God
19 ② So, my friends, we are assured of entering the Sanctuary by the blood of Jesus 20who opened for us this new and living way passing through the curtain,that is, his body. 21Because we have a high priest in charge of the House of God, 22let us approach with a sincere heart, with full faith, interiorly cleansed from a bad conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23Let us hold fast to our hope without wavering, because he who promised is faithful. 24Let us consider how we may spur one another to love and good works. 25Do not abandon the assemblies as some of you do, but encourage one another, and all the more since the Day is drawing near.
26If we sin willfully after receiving knowledge of the truth, there is no longer sacrifice for sin, 27but only the fearful prospect of judgment and of fire which devours the rebellious. 28For whoever violated the law of Moses there is no mercy: is put to death by the testimony of two or three persons. 29What, then, do you think it will be for those who have despised the Son of God? How severely shall he be punished for having defiled the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified and for having insulted the Spirit given to them? 30For we know the One who says: Revenge is mine, I will repay.And also: The Lord will judge his people. 31What a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32Remember the first days when you were enlightened. You had to undergo a hard struggle in the face of suffering. 33Publicly you were exposed to humiliations and trials, and had to share the sufferings of others who were similarly treated. 34You showed solidarity with those in prison; you were dispossessed of your goods and accepted it gladly for you knew you were acquiring a much better and more durable possession. 35Do not now throw away your confidence that will be handsomely rewarded. 36Be patient in doing the will of God, and the promise will be yours: 37A little, a little longer– says Scripture – and he who is coming will come; he will not delay. 38My righteous one will live if he believes; but if he distrusts, I will no longer look kindly on him.
39We are not among those who withdraw and perish, but among those who believe and win personal salvation.
- Heb 10,1 These paragraphs (10:1-8) say that we passed from a religion where everything is a continual beginning again to a new state where we are in the definitive now. Here we have an aspect of the Christian faith which is not easy to accept. Are we alone holding the definitive truth in the midst of so many religions in which all presume to have the truth? Are we in a definitive situation when every day we fall into the same sins? Are we the definitive people of God when the Christian witness in the world is so far from convincing? No one will answer our doubts on this point: our only hope is to personally enter more deeply into the Christian experience. If they had been cleansed once and for all (v. 2). If they multiplied sacrifices for pardon, it proves that no one would have freed them of sin. As for ourselves, do we not often receive the sacrament of pardon? How then can we affirm that Christ's sacrifice has freed us? The sacraments we receive - and the pardon we receive in the Church - are never more than the application at the present moment of that which has been done once and for all. For a baptized person, there is no further rite, commitment, new baptism (baptism with a lot of water, baptism in the spirit...) which can give more. All has been given in Jesus. John does not hesitate to say that whoever is in Christ does not sin (Jn 3:6): he does not commit a sin that leads to death (1 Jn 5:17). Only sins that cause a total rupture with Christ can bring us back to our former state of death. Although it is certain that confession is of great help to overcome sin, let us not think a Christian continually passes from mortal sin to grace by confessing, sinning again, and confessing again. Heb 10,19 The paragraph 19-39 draws the conclusion to what has just been said: if we have entered the definitive now, beware of the real sin which would be to lose hope. True sin is to lose the taste for what we have already partly shared. The only remedy is to advance. Remember the word of St. Gregory: We desire the pleasures of the world when we do not possess them, when we have them we tire of them; as long as we have not discovered spiritual joy we do not desire it, but we desire it in the same degree that we possess it. Do not abandon the assemblies (v. 25). When our hope is sick, we find reasons for not attending our Sunday celebration or the assembly of the community to which we belong. If it becomes general, the Christian community falls apart. As for ourselves who are not angels, are we going to live Christ if we have no community? In vain shall we be present with those who do not share our faith in every kind of excellent activity; we will lack what is essential: to be among them as witnesses to what they do not know. A little longer (v. 37). This is taken from Habakkuk 2:3 and refers to the judgment of God which is approaching. The author of the letter may have wished to allude to the crisis which, very soon, was going to destroy the Jewish nation.
- Heb 10,1 These paragraphs (10:1-8) say that we passed from a religion where everything is a continual beginning again to a new state where we are in the definitive now. Here we have an aspect of the Christian faith which is not easy to accept. Are we alone holding the definitive truth in the midst of so many religions in which all presume to have the truth? Are we in a definitive situation when every day we fall into the same sins? Are we the definitive people of God when the Christian witness in the world is so far from convincing? No one will answer our doubts on this point: our only hope is to personally enter more deeply into the Christian experience. If they had been cleansed once and for all (v. 2). If they multiplied sacrifices for pardon, it proves that no one would have freed them of sin. As for ourselves, do we not often receive the sacrament of pardon? How then can we affirm that Christ's sacrifice has freed us? The sacraments we receive - and the pardon we receive in the Church - are never more than the application at the present moment of that which has been done once and for all. For a baptized person, there is no further rite, commitment, new baptism (baptism with a lot of water, baptism in the spirit...) which can give more. All has been given in Jesus. John does not hesitate to say that whoever is in Christ does not sin (Jn 3:6): he does not commit a sin that leads to death (1 Jn 5:17). Only sins that cause a total rupture with Christ can bring us back to our former state of death. Although it is certain that confession is of great help to overcome sin, let us not think a Christian continually passes from mortal sin to grace by confessing, sinning again, and confessing again. Heb 10,19 The paragraph 19-39 draws the conclusion to what has just been said: if we have entered the definitive now, beware of the real sin which would be to lose hope. True sin is to lose the taste for what we have already partly shared. The only remedy is to advance. Remember the word of St. Gregory: We desire the pleasures of the world when we do not possess them, when we have them we tire of them; as long as we have not discovered spiritual joy we do not desire it, but we desire it in the same degree that we possess it. Do not abandon the assemblies (v. 25). When our hope is sick, we find reasons for not attending our Sunday celebration or the assembly of the community to which we belong. If it becomes general, the Christian community falls apart. As for ourselves who are not angels, are we going to live Christ if we have no community? In vain shall we be present with those who do not share our faith in every kind of excellent activity; we will lack what is essential: to be among them as witnesses to what they do not know. A little longer (v. 37). This is taken from Habakkuk 2:3 and refers to the judgment of God which is approaching. The author of the letter may have wished to allude to the crisis which, very soon, was going to destroy the Jewish nation.
