Hebrews 10:8
Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
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EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)
(8) Above when he said.—Better, Whereas he saith above; or, as we might express it, “Saying at the outset,” “Setting out with saying.” In the following words the best MSS. have the plural, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and (sacrifices) for sin.” The change from singular to plural is in harmony with the thought of Hebrews 10:1-4, the repetition of sacrifices.

Which are offered by the law.—Rather, such as are offered according to law. The change from “the law” to “law” seems intentional, as if the writer had in thought the contrast between any external law of ritual and a principle of inward obedience.

10:1-10 The apostle having shown that the tabernacle, and ordinances of the covenant of Sinai, were only emblems and types of the gospel, concludes that the sacrifices the high priests offered continually, could not make the worshippers perfect, with respect to pardon, and the purifying of their consciences. But when God manifested in the flesh, became the sacrifice, and his death upon the accursed tree the ransom, then the Sufferer being of infinite worth, his free-will sufferings were of infinite value. The atoning sacrifice must be one capable of consenting, and must of his own will place himself in the sinner's stead: Christ did so. The fountain of all that Christ has done for his people, is the sovereign will and grace of God. The righteousness brought in, and the sacrifice once offered by Christ, are of eternal power, and his salvation shall never be done away. They are of power to make all the comers thereunto perfect; they derive from the atoning blood, strength and motives for obedience, and inward comfort.Above when he said - That is, the Messiah. The word "above" refers here to the former part of the quotation. That is, "having in the former part of what was quoted said that God did not require sacrifices, in the latter part he says that he came to do the will of God in the place of them."

Sacrifice and offering, and burnt-offerings ... - These words are not all used in the Psalm from which the apostle quotes, but the idea is, that the specification there included all kinds of offerings. The apostle dwells upon it because it was important to show that the same remark applied to all the sacrifices which could be offered by man. When the Redeemer made the observation about the inefficacy of sacrifices, he meant that there was none of them which would be sufficient to take away sin.

8. he—Christ.

Sacrifice, &c.—The oldest manuscripts read, "Sacrifices and offerings" (plural). This verse combines the two clauses previously quoted distinctly, Heb 10:5, 6, in contrast to the sacrifice of Christ with which God was well pleased.

In this verse the apostle repeats the whole testimony, produced out of the Psalm, only with a specification in a parenthesis,

which are offered by the law, viz. such sacrifices, against which the apostle argueth, which could not purge away sin, nor procure righteousness, nor make no more conscience of sins. He observes from the Psalm, that the will of God was plainly signified by his Spirit to David under the law, about the nature, state, and design of his institution of sacrifices, that they were typical of, and leading to, a better sacrifice than themselves; and that for their own sake only they were no way acceptable to God, and so rejected by him.

Above when he said, .... In the afore cited place, Psalm 40:7

Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin thou wouldst not, neither hadst pleasure therein; this is a recapitulation of what is before said; and all kind of sacrifices are mentioned, to show that they are all imperfect, and insufficient, and are abolished; and the abrogation of them is expressed in the strongest terms, as that God would not have them, and that he took no pleasure in them:

which are offered by the law; according as that directs and enjoins: this clause is added, to distinguish these sacrifices from spiritual ones, under the Gospel dispensation, and which are well pleasing to God; and to prevent an objection against the abolition of them, taken from hence, that they are according to the law; and yet, notwithstanding this, God will not have them, nor accept of them.

Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Hebrews 10:8-10. Contrasting of the two main elements in the citation just adduced, and emphasizing of the fact that the one element, upon which God lays no stress, is represented by Judaism; the other, to which value is attached in God’s sight, is represented by Christianity.

ἀνώτερον] above, in the opening words of the declaration.

λέγων] sc. ὁ Χριστός. The participle present, in place of which Schlichting, Grotius, Bleek, de Wette expect that of the aorist, is employed here, even as λέγει, Hebrews 10:5, because the utterance, as being recorded in Scripture, is one still enduring. Only the author makes manifest, by the fact that he writes λέγων, not εἰπών or λέξας, that less importance is to be attached to the indication as to the relation of time, in which the two statements are placed to each other, than to the contrasting of these two statements themselves; thus: while He saith above, etc., He has then said, etc.

ὅτι] recitative particle, as Hebrews 7:17, Hebrews 11:18.

θυσίας καὶ προσφοράς] The plural appropriately serves for the generalization of the utterance.

αἵτινες κατὰ νόμον προσφέρονται] as those things which are presented by virtue of legal precept. Suggestive reference to the imperfection and ineffectiveness of Judaism, since this makes salvation dependent precisely upon those ordinances of external sacrifice which God willed not, and in which He has no pleasure. The words are no parenthetic clause, as is still maintained by Bleek and Kurtz, but an addition essential to the argument of the writer, which does not interrupt the construction. They form the application, thus emphatically appended, of the first half of the thought in the Scripture citation, to Judaism, to which the parallel is formed in Hebrews 10:10 by the application of the second half to Christianity.

αἵτινες] refers back to the whole of the preceding substantives.

Hebrews 10:8. The significance of the quotation is now explained. “He takes the first away, that he may establish the second.” He declares the incompetence of the O.T. sacrifices to satisfy the will of God, in order that he may make room for that sacrifice which is permanently to satisfy God. Ἀνώτερον, “Higher up,” here meaning “in the former part of the quotation,” corresponding to and contrasted with τότε in Hebrews 10:9. λέγων, i.e., Christ, the subject of εἴρηκεν and ἀναιρεῖ. This is necessitated by λέγει in Hebrews 10:3. Yet it is not Christ directly, but the mind of Christ uttered by God in Scripture. εἴρηκεν, perfect, as expressing that which permanently fulfils the will of God. ἀναιρεῖν is used in classic Greek of the destruction or abolition or repeal of laws, governments, customs, etc.

8. which are offered by the law] Rather, “according to the Law.” A whole argument is condensed into these words, which the context would enable readers to develop for themselves.

Hebrews 10:8-9. Ἀνώτερον λέγωντότε εἴρηκεν, Above, when He said—then said He) Paul urges the order of the words of the psalm which depends on the particle, אז, τότε, then, showing that it falls on that very time when the prophet sang the psalm in the character of Christ, and on that very point of time when, immediately after the words, θυσίαν, κ.τ.λ., sacrifice, etc., placed ἀνώτερον, above, in the psalm, there sprang up the words, ἰδοὺ, ἥκω, lo! I come. Therefore אז is altogether demonstrative of the present (comp. אז, τότε, then, Psalm 69:5), with an antithesis between the things concerned, from which the wisdom of the apostle infers the first and second, אז, (Hebrews 10:9); comp.μετὰ, after, ch. Hebrews 7:28, note. Let this אז be the terminus (the point of boundary between the Old and New Testament). Paul also puts, in the first place, the general word of the LXX., εἶπον, then one more significant, εἴρηκεν; whence it is evident, that λέγων, saying, is of the imperfect tense [when He said, or was saying]. But observe how great authority the Psalms possess. The oath of Jehovah was given at the very time when Psalms 110 was written. The solemn invitation was issued to the people when Psalms 95 was written; ch. Hebrews 4:7; Hebrews 7:28, note. The declaration of the Son was made when Psalms 2 was written; Acts 13:33, note. So, the Messiah promised to GOD that He would do His will, at the time when Psalms 40 was written. This handwriting, which David executed, is opposed to the law written by Moses; Hebrews 10:8, at the end. Wherefore Christ always appealed with the greatest force to the Scriptures, and especially at the beginning of His passion.—κατὰ τὸν νόμον, according to the law) The strong argument by which that very point which is asserted in Hebrews 10:1 is proved from the psalm.

Verses 8-10. - Saying above that Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (such as are offered according to the Law); then hath he said, Lo, I come to do thy will; i.e. he has made this second assertion while making the first also. The purpose of thus putting it is to show the connection between the two assertions; that fulfillment of God's will is spoken of as a substitute for sacrifices, whose inutility in themselves had been declared. Yes; he taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. In the which will (the Divine will, willing our redemption through Christ, and perfectly fulfilled by him) we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. For the sense to be attached to the verb ἁγιάζω see under Hebrews 2:11. It is not our progressive sanctification by the Holy Ghost that is intended, but the hallowing effected for us once for all, as denoted by the perfect participle ἡγιασμένοι. The remainder of this concluding summary (vers. 11-19) serves to weave together the various threads of the foregoing argument and emphasize the result. Hebrews 10:8Above when he said (ἀνώτερον λέγων)

Lit. saying above. Introducing a partial repetition of the quotation.

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