Part Two: The Superiority of Christ's Work (4:14-10:18)
Heb 4:14
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.Heb 4:15
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.Heb 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.Heb 5:1
For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:Heb 5:2
Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.Heb 5:3
And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.Heb 5:4
And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.Heb 5:5
So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.Heb 5:6
As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.Heb 5:7
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;Heb 5:8
Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;Heb 5:9
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;Heb 5:10
Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.Heb 5:11
Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.Heb 5:12
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.Heb 5:13
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.Heb 5:14
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.Heb 6:1
Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,Heb 6:2
Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.Heb 6:3
And this will we do, if God permit.Heb 6:4
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,Heb 6:5
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,Heb 6:6
If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.Heb 6:7
For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:Heb 6:8
But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.Heb 6:9
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.Heb 6:10
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.Heb 6:11
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:Heb 6:12
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.Heb 6:13
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,Heb 6:14
Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.Heb 6:15
And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.Heb 6:16
For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.Heb 6:17
Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:Heb 6:18
That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:Heb 6:19
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;Heb 6:20
Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.Heb 7:1
For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;Heb 7:2
To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;Heb 7:3
Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.Heb 7:4
Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.Heb 7:5
And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:Heb 7:6
But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.Heb 7:7
And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.Heb 7:8
And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receiveth them, of whom it is witnessed that he liveth.Heb 7:9
And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.Heb 7:10
For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.Heb 7:11
If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?Heb 7:12
For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.Heb 7:13
For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.Heb 7:14
For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.Heb 7:15
And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,Heb 7:16
Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.Heb 7:17
For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.Heb 7:18
For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.Heb 7:19
For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.Heb 7:20
And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:Heb 7:21
(For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)Heb 7:22
By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.Heb 7:23
And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:Heb 7:24
But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.Heb 7:25
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.Heb 7:26
For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;Heb 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, when he offered up himself.Heb 7:28
For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.Heb 8:1
Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;Heb 8:2
A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.Heb 8:3
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.Heb 8:4
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:Heb 8:5
Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.Heb 8:6
But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.Heb 8:7
For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.Heb 8:8
For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:Heb 8:9
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.Heb 8:10
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:Heb 8:11
And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.Heb 8:12
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.Heb 8:13
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.Heb 9:1
Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.Heb 9:2
For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.Heb 9:3
And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;Heb 9:4
Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;Heb 9:5
And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.Heb 9:6
Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.Heb 9:7
But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:Heb 9:8
The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:Heb 9:9
Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;Heb 9:10
Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.Heb 9:11
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;Heb 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 for us.Heb 9:13
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:Heb 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 works to serve the living God?Heb 9:15
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.Heb 9:16
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.Heb 9:17
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.Heb 9:18
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.Heb 9:19
For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,Heb 9:20
Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.Heb 9:21
Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.Heb 9:22
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.Heb 9:23
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.Heb 9:24
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:Heb 9:25
Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;Heb 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.Heb 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:Heb 9:28
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.Heb 10:1
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.Heb 10:2
For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.Heb 10:3
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.Heb 10:4
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.Heb 10:5
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:Heb 10:6
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.Heb 10:7
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.Heb 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;Heb 10:9
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.Heb 10:10
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.Heb 10:11
And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:Heb 10:12
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;Heb 10:13
From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.Heb 10:14
For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.Heb 10:15
Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,Heb 10:16
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;Heb 10:17
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.Heb 10:18
Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.