AFTER SAYING ABOVE SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS AND WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN THOU HAST NOT DESIRED NOR HAST THOU TAKEN PLEASURE IN THEM WHICH ARE OFFERED ACCORDING TO THE LAW: anoteron legon (PAPMSN) hoti thusias kai prosphoras kai holokautomata: peri hamartias ouk ethelesas (2SAAI) oude eudokesas (2SAAI) aitines kata nomon prospherontai,(3PPPI):

In Hebrews 10:8-9 the writer again quotes from Ps 40:6, 7, 8, but this time in a condensed form.

According to the Law - The writer describes God's displeasure over sacrifices but adds that they are according to the Law, just in case his Jewish audience might think he is referring to sacrifices such as the pagans who did not know God offered to dumb idols who are no gods. No, the writer is referring to the very sacrifices God Himself had ordained in the OT.

Stedman notes that...

That none of his readers should miss this important point the writer takes pains to indicate clearly, in Hebrews 10:8, 9, 10, the meaning of the quote from Psalm 40. He acknowledges that though God authorized the animal sacrifices of the past, He did not delight in them. Then he stresses the fact that Christ deliberately set Himself to do the will of the Father, though He knew it would lead to pain and separation. Intimations of Gethsemane are certainly present in these words, though it was on the Cross that they were fully carried out. Here the writer also declares that the death of Jesus, by fulfilling the will of the Father, completely replaces the provision of animal deaths which had provided some degree of forgiveness before. Finally, he announces the only possible conclusion: it is by the fulfillment of the will of God in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ (note the double name, only here in Hebrews) that we (all believers) have been made holy. The Greek expression for made holy indicates action with a lasting effect. We have been made holy by the death of Jesus, and we remain holy even though we struggle with daily weakness and sin. This should be borne in mind when we come to the statement in He 12:14 (see note), “without holiness no one will see the Lord.” It is a holiness obtained by faith, not by self-righteous effort, and it is not lost by momentary failure. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” (Ro 8:1-note). (Hebrews 10:1-39 Let Us Go On!)

THEN HE SAID, "BEHOLD, I HAVE COME TO DO THY WILL HE TAKES AWAY THE FIRST IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH THE SECOND: tote eireken (3SRAI): idou heko (1SPAI) tou poiesai (AAN) to thelema sou anairei (3SPAI) to proton  hina to deuteron stese (3SAAS): (He 9:11, 12, 13, 14) (He 7:18,19; 8:7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; 12:27,28)

Takes away (337) (anaireo from aná = an emphatic or up + hairéo = to take) means literally to take up or lift up or away. Figuratively, it means to take away violently and so to put to death, kill, slay, murder. In this verse anaireo means to do away with or remove the validation of something, specifically the first covenant or old covenant. The idea is to  invalidate it, the process of invalidation implying making something powerless or unacceptable by declaration of its logical or moral or legal unsoundness.

First (4413) (protos) is used in this context to refer to the first in time and/or first in a series. Sometimes protos implies superior, but in this context that is clearly not the meaning.

Second (1308) (deuteros) refers to the second in time or order and in context refers to the second or new covenant. The second is elsewhere described as the better covenant for it accomplishes for sinners what the first could never accomplish but only point us toward -- the need for a Savior.

What is the first? He is referring to the first covenant, not the Abrahamic but the Mosaic. As Paul taught in Romans, believers are now no longer under the Law but have been made to die to the Law and thus are released from the Law...

Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law (how?) through the body of Christ, (why?) that you might be joined to another, to Him Who was raised from the dead, (what is to be the result?) that we might bear fruit for God. (Why did we need to die to the Law?) 5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. 6 (What is the contrast of our life now compared with life under the Law?) But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. (See notes Romans 7:4; 7:5; 7:6)

This truth about the believer's new relationship with the Law does not mean we are lawless because in fact in the New Covenant the Law is actually written upon our hearts Jeremiah prophesying of this new covenant writing that...

"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jer 31:34; quoted in Heb 8:10 - See note)

The Old (First) Covenant was in a sense a covenant dealing with shadows, the substance of which was fulfilled in Christ in the New Covenant.  The first was thus like a 2,000 year "picture book" and we all know how children love to look at picture books when first learning!

><>><>><>

From F B Meyer, Our Daily Homily...He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second.

BY THIS WILL WE HAVE BEEN SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL: en o thelemati hegiasmenoi (RPPMPN) dia tes prosphoras tou somatos Iesou Christou ephapax: (Heb 2:11; 13:12; Zech 13:1; Jn 17:19; 19:34; 1Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; 1John 5:6) (He 10:5,12,14,20; 9:12,26,28)

Will (2307) (thelema from thelo = to will, the ending -ma signifying the result of something, in this case of God willing) in this case is God’s gracious disposition towards God hating sinners! His will is reflected in His electing and predestining sinners unto adoption as sons, not as a result of any merit in us nor as a result of anything outside of God Himself. This will in sanctifying us is a reflection of His own pure goodness, originating wholly in the freedom of His own thoughts and loving counsel. It is what God Himself does of His own good pleasure.

We have been sanctified (37) (hagiazo [word study] from hagios  = holy, set apart) conveys the idea of setting someone apart, in this case God's Spirit setting the sinner apart from the world, the flesh and the devil and unto God, to be His possession and His willing vessel. The perfect tense speaks of a past completed action (which took place at the moment of our salvation) with permanent or lasting effect (we are forever set apart). As an aside, the permanence of this tense undergirds the NT teaching that the believer once saved is eternally secure (but of course one must be absolutely certain that their salvation is genuine an important issue addressed by Peter - see note 2 Peter 1:10; 1:11).  Hagiazo in the perfect tense also speaks of what is often referred to as past tense salvation, a one time event, at which time the sinner is justified the moment they exercise faith in Christ. They will never need to be justified again. Their position in Christ is forever righteous and forever secure. 

In sum, in this verse the writer is describing positional sanctification or past tense salvation (see study of Three Tenses of Salvation). However past tense salvation indubitably leads to present tense salvation or progressive sanctification which the writer describes in Hebrews 10:14 (see note there) where he again uses the verb hagiazo, albeit this use being in the present tense which speaks of one's practice and not their position. In contrast to past tense salvation, present tense salvation is an ongoing process of daily being conformed to the image of God's Son. This process will continue for the rest of our lives.

F B Meyer () on the word "once"...

THERE is a word here which recurs, like a note on an organ beneath the tumult of majestic sound. Five times, at least, it rolls forth its thunder, pealing through all ages, echoing through all worlds, announcing the finality of an accomplished redemption to the whole universe of God "ONCE!" And there is another phrase which we must couple with it, spoken by the parched lips of the dying Saviour, yet with a loud voice, as though it were the cry of a conqueror: "When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, 'It is finished'; and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost." It is very seldom that man can look back on a finished life-work. The chisel drops from the paralyzed hand ere the statue is complete; the chilling fingers refuse to guide the pen along another line, though the book is so nearly done; the statesman must leave his plans and far-reaching schemes to be completed by another, perhaps his rival. But as from his cross Jesus Christ our Lord looked upon the work of redemption which he had undertaken, and in connection with which he had suffered even to the hiding of his Father's face, he could not discover one stitch, or stone, or particle deficient. For untold myriads for thee and me and all there was done that which never needed to be done again, but stood as an accomplished fact forevermore...

THE "ONCE" OF A FULFILLED PURPOSE - (Heb. 10:10). Space forbids our lingering longer. In our next chapter we may show how completely the purpose of God has been realized in Jesus, and, therefore, that there is no necessity for a repetition of his sacrificial work. The will or purpose of God for man's redemption asks for nothing more than that which is given it in the life and death of our Saviour. Nothing more is required for the glory of God, for the accomplishment of the divine counsels, or for the perfect deliverance and sanctification of those who believe.

Once for all, O sinner, receive it!
Once for all, O brother, believe it!
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall;
Christ has redeemed us, once for all

><>><>><>

One Sacrifice - Journalist Jill Neimark wrote an article titled "Shaman in Chicago" about her very unconventional uncle. A well-educated, prosperous commodities trader, he has become a high priest in the Ifa religion, which practices animal sacrifice as its highest act of worship. Formerly an atheist, he is now a convinced believer in a divine energy that he insists cannot be experienced in traditional religion.

Neimark thinks her uncle is an extreme example of those millions of questing Americans who crave a firsthand experience with dynamic supernaturalism. As one of Neimark's friends put it, "We want to dial God direct; we don't want to go through the operator." Or as Neimark says, we're "beating our own path to God."

We who know the truth, power, and joy of the gospel of Jesus Christ can be grateful for these truths: (1) There is no need for any further sacrifice, because Jesus offered Himself as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sin (Heb. 10:10). (2) There is no need for any other mediator between God and us, because Jesus, who is our mediator (1Ti 2:5), guarantees direct access to God. (3) There is no need to beat our own way to God, because Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life" (Jn. 14:6). --V C Grounds (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved)

The cross of Christ is all we need
To take our sins away;
He is our perfect sacrifice--
The life, the truth, the way. --Sper

Salvation is achieved by Christ's atonement, not by our attainment.