Hebrews 10 is the tenth chapter of the

Epistle to the Hebrews The Epistle to the Hebrews ( grc, Πρὸς Ἑβραίους, Pros Hebraious, to the Hebrews) is one of the books of the New Testament. The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. Most ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...

of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. The author is anonymous, although the internal reference to "our brother Timothy" ( Hebrews 13:23) causes a traditional attribution to

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

, but this attribution has been disputed since the second century and there is no decisive evidence for the authorship. This chapter contains the exposition about Christ's effective sacrifice and the exhortation to continue in faithfulness and expectancy.

Text

The original text was written in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

. This chapter is divided into 39 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: * Papyrus 46 (175–225; only missing verses 21 & 31) * Papyrus 13 (225-250; extant verses 8-22, 29-39) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(325-350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus ( Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscript ...

(330-360) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(400-440) * Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; extant verses 1-23) *

Codex Freerianus Codex Freerianus, designated by I or 016 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1041 ( von Soden), also called the ''Washington Manuscript of the Pauline Epistles'', is a 5th-century manuscript in an uncial hand on vellum in Greek. It is named afte ...

(~450; extant verses 5-8,16-18,26-29,35-38) * Codex Claromontanus (~550) *

Codex Coislinianus Codex Coislinianus designated by Hp or 015 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1022 ( Soden), was named also as ''Codex Euthalianus''. It is a Greek uncial manuscript of the Pauline epistles, dated palaeographically to the 6th century. The t ...

(~550; extant verses 1–7, 32–38) * Papyrus 79 (7th century; extant verses 10-12, 28-30)

Old Testament references

Psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

* : Jeremiah 31:33 * : Jeremiah 31:34 * : ;

a * Hebrews 10:38:

The True Sacrifice (10:1–10)

Attridge sees the final stage of

Jeremiah 31 Jeremiah 31 is the thirty-first chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is numbered as Jeremiah 38 in the Septuagint. The book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah ...

exposition to indicate that "Christ inaugurated the new and interior covenant by an act of conformity to God's will".

Verse 4

:''For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.'' This is one of the four things to be 'impossible' according to this epistle ( Hebrews 6:4; 6:18; 10:4; 11:6).

Verse 5

:''That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, :''You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer''

Verse 10

:''By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.'' It is the will of God that the believers be sanctified (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:3) and Christ's act of obedience made God's will his own, because Christ's death conformed to God's will (Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:5–11; 1 Peter 3:17) and Christ's obedience—attested in the Gethsemane story (Matthew 26:42; Luke 22:42) and the fourth gospel (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38–40; 19:30—is decisive for establishing the new covenant. It is the first time in the epistle that the composite name 'Jesus Christ' appears (cf. Hebrews 13:8).

Summation (10:11–18)

This section weaves together the themes of the previous few chapters.

Verse 14

:''For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.'' *"By one offering": By his one sacrifice

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

did what the law of Moses, and all its sacrifices, could not do (). *"Those who are being sanctified" by God the Father () and set apart by him in internal election. Gill, John
''Exposition of the Entire Bible'' - Hebrews 10:14
/ref>

Hold Fast to Faith (10:19–24)

This part contains an exhortation to live as members of the "new covenant" which stresses faith (verse 22), hope (verse 23) and love (verse 24), a traditional triad also seen in .

Warning and Encouragement (10:24–39)

Verses 26-31 reference the unforgivable sin according to theologians, such as John Wesley. The encouragement in verse 32-29 balances the threat or warning in verses 24-31.

Verse 37

:''"For yet a little while,'' :''And He who is coming will come and will not tarry."'' This verse combines the quote 'a little while' from with the quote 'will not tarry' from Habakkuk 2:3 in its Greek form, rendering it as a prediction of one 'who is coming' that points to the imminence of Christ's second coming. *"Tarry": Delay.

Verse 38

:''"Now the just shall live by faith;'' : ''But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."'' Cited from the

LXX The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

version of Habakkuk 2:4 which reads: :''If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him, but the righteous one will live by faith.'' Here "he shrinks back" is not applied to the "coming one" but to "those who await God's deliverance."

also cites Habakkuk 2:4 in Galatians 3:11 and Romans 1:17 to contrast "faith" and "works of the law".

Verse 39

:''But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.'' *Cross reference:

Luke 17 Luke 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the teachings of Jesus Christ and the healing of ten lepers. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradi ...

Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905)
''Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers''. Hebrews 10.
London : Cassell and Company, Limited, 905-1906Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019. *"Perdition": or "destruction".Note on Hebrews 10:39 in NKJV This verse contrasts the result of two opposite lines of action: , ''eis apōleian'' ("to perdition/destruction") or , ''eis peripoiēsin psychēs'', ("to the gaining of the soul"; cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:9: , ''eis peripoiēsin sōtērias'', "to obtain salvation").Meyer, Heinrich August Wilhelm (1880)
''Commentary on the New Testament.'' Hebrews 10
Translation by Peter Christie from Meyer's sixth edition. Accessed February 14, 2019.

References

Bibliography

* * *

External links

* King James Bible - Wikisource
English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Multiple bible versions at ''Bible Gateway''
(NKJV, NIV, NRSV etc.) {{Epistle to the Hebrews 10