1. Hebrews 10:1-10 – God’s Will, Your Sanctification

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ the Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 2 Jun 2019

    1. Intro:

    1. A. The Law as Shadow

      1. v.1 For it is a shadow of the good things that are going to happen which the law has, not the shape itself of the matters, and [at] no time is it able to perfect those who approach with the same sacrifices which they are offering in perpetuity [year] after year.

      1. vs.2-4 Otherwise, wouldn’t they stop being offered, as a result of no one having a guilty-conscience from sins anymore, since the ministers had been cleansed once-for-all? 3 On the contrary, by means of them, remembrance of sins is what has been happening [year] after year, 4 for it is impossible for blood from bulls and from goats to take away sins.

    1. B. The Son as Shape

      1. vs.5-7 On account of this, when he entered into the world, He said, “You did not desire a sacrifice or an offering, but you fixed up a body for me. 6 You did not delight in whole-burnt-offerings and [offerings] for sin. 7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have arrived! In the volume of the book it has been written concerning me4… to do Your will, my God.’”

    1. Desire ἠθέλησας – this is what the will does, or, in the case of v.5, what God doesn’t want: You did not desire a sacrifice”

    1. Delight/take pleasure in/ εὐδόκησας– this is what a person enjoys, or in the case of v.6, what God doesn’t enjoy: You did not delight in offerings ...”

      1. vs.8-9 He said above that “you neither desired nor delighted in sacrifices and offerings and whole-burnt-offerings and those concerning sins,” which are be­ing offered according to8 the Law. 9 Then He said, “Look, I have arrived… to do your will.” He is annihilating the first9 in order that He may establish the second!

      1. v.10 Because of this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ singularly.

    1. Application

  1. If you are not experiencing a loving relationship with God, there is hope for you that you may be saved if He says salvation is His will. Will you believe what He says and trust Jesus Christ to save you and make you all-right? That’s the very thing God wants!

  2. For those who have taken that step, you’re not done yet. This passage tells us that not just salvation but also sanctification is God’s will. The full council of scripture tells us that there is an initial setting apart that makes us holy/sanctified, but there is also an ongoing, lifelong process of increasing in holiness, so don’t stop with the “fire-insurance” of salvation; God’s will is for you to grow more and more like Christ. Do you see evidence of this maturing in sanctification in your life? If not, what can you do to stimulate it?

  3. And, finally, if salvation and sanctification are what God wants, then He wants to use you to bring this good news to every family in every language.


    1. APPENDIX: Explanation of variant between Ps. 40 and Heb. 10

    2. What is probably most noticeable about this quote is that, in your Bible, Ps. 40:6 probably says, “but my ears you have pierced,” instead of, “but a body you have prepared for me.”

    3. The reason is that the two oldest-known texts of this verse, namely the Septuagint from around 200BC and the book of Hebrews from around 50AD, both read “sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me,”

    4. but there was immediate pushback from the Jewish community against such an obvious ref­erence to a human sacrifice of the Messiah in place of animal and grain offerings, especial­ly since this verse was being used by Christians (like the author of Hebrews) to convert people away from Judaism toward Christianity, so Jews like Aquila and Symmachus re-translated this Psalm into Greek between 100-300AD to read, “but my ears you have pierced/prepared.”

    5. Gentile Christians, like Augustine in the 300’s, didn’t buy this Jewish edition. They used Latin versions that followed the Greek with, “a body you prepared.”

    6. However, around the year 400AD, when Jerome made his Vulgate translation of the Bible into Latin, he, for reasons I don’t understand, temporarily abandoned his preference for the Greek Septuagint (which he said in his introduction was better than the Hebrew texts) and instead went with the reading of the Hebrew texts of his day for Psalm 40, bringing “my ears you have pierced” into the mainstream of Western Christianity for a thousand years.

    7. Later in the 1500’s and following, when other Western Christians, started translating the Old Testament from Hebrew manuscripts instead of from the Latin Vulgate, the tradition of “my ears you have pierced” was carried into the English Bibles. But the Hebrew manu­scripts they used were not very old (c. 1000AD), and they were developed by Jewish scribes who had a vested interest in avoiding the reading of “a body you prepared for me.”

    8. (Unfortunately, the Dead Sea Hebrew manuscripts from around 0AD, are missing all but the first verse of Ps. 40, so we don’t have older Hebrew manuscripts available for comparison.)

    9. Now, I am not trying to dismiss the “pierced ear” variant as heresy; I’m just trying to ex­plain the history behind why Ps. 40 reads differently from Heb. 10 in most English Bibles. God appears to have allowed both variants to stand among His people. But it’s the “body prepared” variant which calls for our attention now, because that’s what’s in Hebrews 10.

    10. Side-by-side Greek Text & English Versions of Heb. 10:1-10A

LXX

Greek NT

NAW

KJV

NKJV

NASB

NIV

ESV

N/A

1 Σκιὰν γὰρ ἔχων ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν πραγμάτων, κατ᾿ ἐνιαυτὸν ταῖς αὐταῖς θυσίαις ἃς προσφέρουσιν εἰς τὸ διηνεκὲςB, οὐδέποτε δύναται τοὺς προσερχομένους τελειῶσαι·

1 For it is a sha­dow of the good things that are going to happen which the law has, not the shape itself of the matters, and [at] no time is it able to perfect those who approach with the same sacrifices which they are offering in perpetuity [year] after year.

1 For the law having a sha­dow of X good things to come, and not the very image of the things, X can never with those X sacri­fices which they offered [year] by year continually make the com­ers thereunto perfect.

1 For the law, having a sha­dow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, X can never with these same sac­rifices, which they offer con­tinually [year] by year, make those who ap­proach perfect.

1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of X things, X can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continu­ally [year] by year, make perfect those who draw near.

1 X The law is [only] a sha­dow of the good things that are coming—not the re­alities themselves X X X. For this rea­son it can never, by the same sac­rifices X repeat­ed endlessly [year] after year, make perfect those who draw near [to worship

1 For since the law has [but] a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, X it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

N/A

2 ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἂν ἐπαύσαντο προσφερό­μεναι, διὰ τὸ μηδεμίαν ἔχειν ἔτι συνείδησιν ἁμαρτιῶν τοὺς λατρεύοντας, ἅπαξ κεκαθαρ[ισ]μένουςC·

2 Otherwise, wouldn’t they stop being of­fered, as a result of no one hav­ing a guilty-conscience from sins any­more, since the ministers had been cleansed once-for-all?

2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged X should have had no more conscience of sins.

2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, X would have had no more consciousness of sins.

2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be of­fered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, X would no longer have had consciousness of sins?

2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worship­ers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have X felt guilty for [their] sins.

2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the wor­shipers, having once been cleansed, would no long­er have any consciousness of sins?

N/A

3 ἀλλ᾿ ἐν αὐταῖς ἀνάμνησις ἁμαρτιῶν κατ᾿ ἐνιαυτόν·

3 On the con­trary, by means of them, remem­brance of sins is what has been happening [year] after year,

3 But in those sacrifices there is a rememb­rance again made of sins every year.

3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins [year] by year.

3 But X those [sacrifices] are an annual reminder of sins,

3 But in these [sacrifices] there is a reminder of sins every year.

N/A

4 ἀδύνατον γὰρ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων ἀφαιρεῖν ἁμαρτίας.

4 for it is impossible for blood from bulls and from goats to take away sins.

4 For it is not possible that [the] blood of bulls and of goats [should] take away sins.

4 For it is not possible that [the] blood of bulls and X goats [could] take away sins.

4 For it is impossible for [the] blood of bulls and X goats to take away sins.

4 because it is impossible for [the] blood of bulls and X goats to take away sins.

4 For it is impossible for [the] blood of bulls and X goats to take away sins.


Psalm 39:7
θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ
ἠθέλησας, σωμα [δὲ] κατηρτίσωD μοι·...

5 Διὸ εἰσερχόμενος εἰς τὸν κόσμον λέγει· θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν οὐκ ἠθέλησας, σῶμα δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι·

5 On account of this, when he entered into the world, He said, “You did not desire a sacri­fice or an offer­ing, but you fixed up a body for me.

5 Wherefore when he com­eth into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "SAC­RIFICE AND OFFERING YOU DID NOT DE­SIRE, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PRE­PARED FOR ME.

5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, "SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIR­ED, BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PRE­PARED FOR ME;

5 Therefore, when [Christ] came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;

5 Consequent­ly, when [Christ] came into the world, he said, "Sacrifice[s] and offering[s] you have not de­sired, but a body have you prepared for me;

LXX

Greek NT

NAW

KJV

NKJV

NASB

NIV

ESV

Psalm 39:7 ὁλοκαύτωμα
καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ
ᾔτησαςE

      1. Heb. 10:6 ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ εὐδόκησας·

6 You did not delight in whole-burnt-offerings and [offerings] for sin.

6 [In] burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

6 [IN] BURNT OFFERINGS AND [SACRIFICES] FOR SIN YOU HAD NO PLEASURE.

6 [IN] WHOLE BURNT OFFER­INGS & sacrifi­ces FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE.

6 [with] burnt offerings and X sin [offerings] you were not pleased.

6 [in] burnt offerings and X sin [offer­ings]you have taken no pleasure.

8 τότε εἶπον Ἰδοὺ ἥκω, ἐν κεφαλίδιF βιβ­λίου γέγραπται περὶ ἐμοῦ·9 τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημά σου, θεός μου, ἐβουλήθην...

7 τότε εἶπον· ἰδοὺ ἥκω, ἐν κεφαλίδι βιβλίου γέγραπται περὶ ἐμοῦ, τοῦ ποιῆσαι, ὁ Θεός, τὸ θέλημά σουG.

7 Then I said, ‘Look, I have arrived! In the volume of the book it has been written con­cerning me… to do Your will, my God.’”

7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

7 THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME — IN THE VOL­UME OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME— TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.' "

7 "THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME (IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME) TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'"

7 Then I said, 'Here [I am]—it is written about me in the scroll X X— I have come to do your will, O God.'"

7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, [as] it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"


8 ἀνώτερον λέγων ὅτι Θυσίας καὶ προσφορὰςH καὶ ὁλοκαυτώματα καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας οὐκ ἠθέλησας οὐδὲ εὐδόκησας, αἵτινες κατὰ [τὸνI] νόμον προσφέρονται,

8 He said above that “you neither desired nor delight­ed in sacrifices and offerings and whole-burnt-offerings and those concern­ing sins,” which are being of­fered according to the Law.

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;

8 Previously saying, "SACRI­FICE AND OFFERING X, BURNT OFFER­INGS, AND [OFFERINGS] FOR SIN YOU DID NOT DE­SIRE, NOR HAD PLEASURE IN THEM" (which are offered according to the law),

8 After saying above, "SACRI­FICES & OFFER­INGS & WHOLE BURNT OFFER­INGS AND sacri­fices FOR SIN YOU [HAVE] NOT DESIR­ED, NOR [HAVE] YOU TAKEN PLE­ASURE in them" (which are offered accord­ing to the Law),

8 First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings X, burnt offerings and X sin [offerings] you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (al­though the law [required] them to be made).

8 When he said above, "You [have] neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offer­ings and X sin [offerings]" (these are offer­ed according to the law),


9 τότε εἴρηκεν· ἰδοὺ ἥκω... τοῦ ποιῆσαι τὸ θέλημά σουJ. ἀναιρεῖ τὸ πρῶτον ἵνα τὸ δεύτερον στήσῃK.

9 Then He said, “Look, I have arrived… to accomplish your desire.” He is annihilating the first in order that He may estab­lish the second!

9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

9 then He said, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD." He takes away the first that He may establish the second.

9 then He said, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO YOUR WILL." He takes away the first in order to establish the second.

9 Then he said, "Here [I am], I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second.

9 then he add­ed, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to estab­lish the second.

N/A

10 ἐνL ᾧ θελήματι ἡγιασμένοι ἐσμὲνM διὰ τῆς προσφορᾶς τοῦ σώματος [τοῦN] ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐφάπαξ.

10 Because of His desire we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ singularly.

10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

10 [And] by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

10 [And] by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.


    1. 1Instances of mellw- in Hebrews: 1:14 “Don't they all exist to be attending spirits commissioned into service on behalf of those who are about to inherit salvation? … 2:5 For it was not to angels that He made accountable the world that is about to be... though now we're not yet seeing all things having been made accountable to Him… 6:5 and having tasted the good word of God and also of the powers of the impending eon... 9:11 But Christ, the high priest of the good things which are about to happen… 15 is the mediator of a new covenant, so that the ones who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 10:27 fiery zeal that is about to devour our adversaries 13:14 for we are not posses­sing here a city that remains but rather it is the one that is impending that we are eagerly-seeking...” (NAW)

2 Leviticus 24:7 “Then you must put clarified frankincense on top of each arrangement, and instead of the bread it will be [used] for a memorial [LXX ἀνάμνησιν] burnt-offering for Yahweh." (NAW) The only other instances in the LXX are Num. 10:10, the blowing of trumpets to remind the people of holidays, and Num. 5:15 “then shall the man bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring his gift for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley-meal… it is a sacrifice of jealousy, a sacrifice of memorial, recalling sin to remembrance.” (Brenton)

3Chrysostom took this occasion to preach of the Lord’s Supper as “a remembrance of a Sacrifice” - so not the sacrifice itself, and John Calvin’s commentary gives further proofs against the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist being an actual repetition of the sacrifice of Christ. Chrysostom’s application was to “draw near” in Communion with a true heart more frequently.

4“[I] consider him as saying, that he deemed himself to be in the catalogue of those who render themselves obedient to God.” ~J.Calvin

5The Greek word in the Psalm (39:8 in LXX numbering) is different (ἥκω instead of εἰσερχόμενος), but the Hebrew ‎בָ֑אתִי underlying both could accurately be translated either way, and the author of Hebrews needed to put the verb into a present participial form to express this idea as a temporal clause. Liddell & Scott commented in their Greek lexicon that “...ἔρχομαι to come or go serves as pres[ent tense] to… ἥκω...”

6John 6:14; 11:27; Revelation 1:4,8; 4:8; 11:17

7Matt. 3:17 “...a voice out of the heavens saying, ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I delight.’” (NAW, cf. Mt. 17:5; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22; 2 Peter 1:17)

8Hebrews 7:15-16 “...a new priest of the order of Melchizedek 6 who came to be, not according to a law [κατὰ νόμον] of a command from flesh, but rather according to power from an indestructible life," … [but] 8:4 “...He'd never be a priest as long as there were those who offer these gifts according to the law [κατὰ νόμον], … [but] 10:8 ‘you neither desired nor delighted in sacrifices and offerings and whole-burnt-offerings and those concerning sins,’ which are being offered according to the Law [κατὰ νόμον]...” (NAW)

9Hebrews 8:6-8 “But actually He [Jesus] has turned out to have a more distinguished ministry, inasmuch as He is also the mediator of a better covenant which has been legally-instituted upon better promises. 7 For if that first one were problem-free, no occasion would have been sought for a second one, 8 yet when He identifies the problem He says to them, ‘Look, days are coming, the Lord says, when I will complete with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant...’” (NAW)

10Unlike the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament era, this only had to happen once: Heb. 7:26 “For such a high priest was appropriate to us, one who is godly, innocent, undefiled, having been set-apart from sinners and having been instated higher than the skies, 27 who does not have a need to offer up sacrifices [day] after day like those high priests, first for their own sins, then for those of the people, for He did this singularly, when he offered up Himself! ... 9:11 Christ, the high priest of the good things which are about to happen, having come along through the greater and more perfect tabernacle... 12 singularly entered into the holy places, and not by means of the blood of goats or calves but by means of His own blood, after having obtained eternal redemption." (NAW)

AThe Greek is the Majority text, edited by myself to follow the majority of the earliest-known manuscripts only when the early manuscript evidence is practically unanimous. My original document includes notes on the NKJV, NASB, NIV, & ESV English translations, but since they are all copyrighted, I cannot include them in my online document. Underlined words in English versions indicate a standalone difference from all other English translations of a certain word. Strikeout usually indicates that the English translation is, in my opinion, too far outside the range of meaning of the original Greek word. The addition of an X indicates a Greek word left untranslated – or a plural Greek word translated as an English singular. [Brackets] indicate words added in English not in the Greek. Key words are colored consistently across the chart to show correlations.

BThis phrase occurs only 4 times in the Greek Bible, all in Hebrews 7:3; 10:1, 12, 14.

CAll (5) known Greek manuscripts from before the 9th century read with the bracketed letters in the middle of the word, but the majority of those after the 9th century (and thus the Patriarchal Greek Orthodox editions and the Textus Receptus) read without the bracketed letters. The only difference appears to be whether the root word is kathairw or katharizw, which are basically synonyms sharing the same root, so there is no difference in meaning.

DThis is the reading of the Chester-Beatty Papyrus, Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, etc. The Jewish tradition of “my ear you have pierced” (preserved in the Masoretic text of this psalm) was around at least as early as the 2nd century AD (Aquila:    Symmachus   , Theodotian & E & some LXX manuscripts combined the two with “I will prepare my ear.”) Rahlf’s 1935 edition of the LXX reads ὠτία δὲ κατηρτίσω μοι, so perhaps there were variants even within the LXX tradition. This would still point to our author referring to the Greek rather than to the Hebrew text of this Psalm. Other uses of this verb “prepared/fixed up/renewed/perfected” are to be found in Matt. 4:21; 21:16; Mk. 1:19; Lk. 6:40; Rom. 9:22; 1 Cor. 1:10; 2 Cor. 13:11; Gal. 6:1; 1 Thess. 3:10; Heb. 11:3; 13:21; 1 Pet. 5:10, so the word is by no means foreign to Scripture, whereas “pierced” + “ears” occurs nowhere else in scripture.

ERahlf’s edition of the LXX and the Vaticanus manuscript are agreed on this verb from aitew, “ask,” which is closer to the Hebrew Masoretic text of this verse: שָׁאָֽלְתָּ. Perhaps the Apostle chose a more-volitional verb which still carries the basic idea in order to further bring out the emphasis on the will of God being served in this.

FCf. Aquila ( =upper parts?), Symmachus (=common of the boundaries???), and E ( = edge?) This range of possible interpretation of the Hebrew word in the Psalm into Greek, also points to the probabil­ity that the author of Hebrews was looking at the Septuagint Greek rather than the Masoretic Hebrew text of this Psalm.

GAlthough the same words and meanings are kept, it is curious that the Greek text here switches the order of the words for “your will” and “my God.”

HAll (5) of the oldest-known Greek manuscripts (from before the 9th Century AD) read plural, as do all the Latin manuscripts, but almost all Greek manuscripts from the 9th Century forward read singular, matching the original Psalm and the quote of it three verses previous (thus the reading Θυσίαν καὶ προσφορὰν in the Textus Receptus and Greek Patriarchal editions and the singular reading in the English KJV). A switch to the plural is curious, but the author is clearly giving a looser summary of the Psalm rather than a rigid quote here. Perhaps the switch to the plural here is part of the strategy of piling up words to convey the idea of a vast plurality of sacrifices. The idea is not essentially different, just more exaggerated with the plurals.

IAll (5) of the oldest-known Greek manuscripts (from before the 6th Century AD) – plus quite a few others through the subsequent centuries – read without the definite article, but “the” is in the majority of manuscripts as well as in the traditional Greek editions (T.R., 1904 Patriarchal, Modern Greek Orthodox). It makes no difference in meaning.

JNone of the 6 manuscripts dated before the 9th century have “O God” here. There is already an elipsis in this quote from the Psalm, the fuller quote having already just been lined out, so there is no problem in there being another elipsis here, just as there is no problem in the fuller quote being rendered in the traditional Greek editions and the KJV. The majority of the older Latin, Syriac, and Ethopian translations, go with the shorter wording.

KAlthough the subjunctive verb is the clear majority text of both the oldest Greek manuscripts and the traditional Byzantine Greek manuscripts, the modern English versions nevertheless followed a half-dozen Greek manuscripts copied between the 9th and 13th centuries which render the verb as an infinitive.

LDespite the consensus of English translators on the instrumental meaning of this preposition, Hanna supported the causal meaning, as did the SIL team which tagged the GNT in 2017 with Louw & Nida semantic domains (L&N# 89.26 “cause or reason, with focus upon instrumentality”). I think it works to separate the actual instrumentality of the offer­ing of Christ from the divine plan of salvation which instituted the offering, and it emphasizes the sovereignty of God in salvation.

MMost of the post-8th-Century Greek manuscripts add a nominative masculine plural definite article which would effect­ively turn the participle “having been sanctified” into a substantive predicate nominative (“We are those who have been sanctified”). It’s in only one of the editions of the Textus Receptus and not in any of the pre-8th-Century Greek manuscripts or Greek Orthodox or UBS editions or English versions. Without the definite article, we have a perfect periphrastic, which is usually understood in the perfect tense, according to Wallace’s Greek Grammar.

NOnly two known Greek manuscripts contain this definite article, but one of them is the oldest-known (Chester-Beatty Papyrus). The traditional Greek Orthodox editions and Textus Receptus all picked up on it. Fortunately it makes no difference in meaning since Jesus Christ is already definite as a proper noun.

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