The Necessity Of Shed Blood [part 2] Series

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?

How much more shall the blood of Christ,

Since the blood of Jesus is infinitely more precious than the blood of an animal could possibly be. And if the blood of an animal had any effectiveness at all, even in removing ceremonial contaminations (sin), how much more is it reasonable to assume that the blood of the Son of God can remove the stain of sin from those who have faith in Him.

who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God,

The writer of Hebrews affirms that the Lord made a gift of his life. He “offered Himself” - that is, as a sacrifice. He did not offer a bullock or a goat, but he offered “himself.” The sacrifice of oneself is the highest offering which He can make; in this case it was the highest which the universe had to make. It was "through His most burning love, flowing from His eternal Spirit," that He offered Himself. The voluntary nature of the offering gives it special value. His divine Spirit (Rom. 1:4), in contrast to His "flesh," (Heb. 9:3); His Godhead (1 Ti. 3:16; 1 Pe. 3:18), "His inner personality,” which gave a free consent to the act, offered Himself. The animals offered had no spirit or will to consent in the act of sacrifice; they were offered according to the law; they had a life neither enduring, nor of any inherent effectiveness. but He from eternity, with His divine and everlasting Spirit, concurred with the Father's will of redemption by Him. His offering began on the altar of the cross and was completed in His entering the holiest place with His blood. The perpetuity and infiniteness of His divine Spirit (compare Heb. 7:16) gives eternal ("eternal redemption," Heb. 9:12, also compare Heb. 9:15) and infinite merit to His offering, so that not even the infinite justice of God has any exception to take against it.

“Who through the eternal Spirit” - This expression is exceedingly difficult and has given rise to a great variety of interpretation. - Some manuscripts instead of “eternal” here, read “holy,” making it refer directly to the Holy Spirit. These various readings, however, are not regarded as of sufficient authority to lead to a change in the text and are of importance only as showing that it was an early opinion that the Holy Spirit has referred to here.

“without spot” (or “fault”) - The animal victims had to be without outward blemish; Christ on the cross was a victim inwardly and essentially stainless (sinless) (1Pe 1:19). The animal that was offered in the Jewish sacrifices was to be without blemish (Lev. 1:10; Lev. 22:17-22). It was not to be lame, or blind, or diseased. The word which is used here and rendered “without spot” refers to this fact - that there was no defect or blemish. The idea is, that the Lord Jesus, the great sacrifice, was “perfect” (Heb.7:26).

An examination of these various opinions, it is difficult, if not impossible, to decide what is the true meaning of the passage amidst this diversity of opinion; but there are some reasons which seem to me to make it probable that the Holy Spirit is intended, and that the idea is, that Christ made his great sacrifice under “the extraordinary influences of that Eternal Spirit.” The reasons which lead me to this opinion, are the following:

(1) it is what would occur to the great mass of the readers of the New Testament. It is presumed that the great body of sober, plain, and intelligent readers of the Bible, on perusing the passage, suppose that it refers to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. There are few better and safer rules for the interpretation of a volume designed like the Bible for the mass of mankind, than to abide by the sense in which they understand it.

(2) this interpretation is one which is most naturally conveyed by the language of the original. The phrase “the spirit” - has so far a technical and established meaning in the New Testament as to denote the Holy Spirit, unless there is something in the connection which renders such an application improper. In this case there is nothing certainly which “necessarily” forbids such an application. The high names and Classical authority of those who have held this opinion, are a sufficient guarantee of this.

(3) this interpretation accords with the fact that the Lord Jesus is represented as having been eminently endowed with the influences of the Holy Spirit; compare notes on John 3:34. Though he was divine, yet he was also a man, and as such was under influences similar to those of other pious people. The Holy Spirit is the source and sustainer of all piety in the soul, and it is not improper to suppose that the man Christ Jesus was in a remarkable manner influenced by the Holy Spirit in his readiness to obey God and to suffer according to His will.