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Commentaries,
Word Studies, Devotionals, Sermons, Illustrations
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Hebrews 9:13 For
if the
blood of
goats and
bulls and the
ashes of a
heifer
sprinkling
those who have
been
defiled
sanctify for
the
cleansing of
the
flesh, (NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
ei
gar
to
haima
tragon
kai
tauron
kai
spodos
damaleos
rantizousa
tous
kekoinomenous
agiazei
pros
ten
tes
sarkos
katharoteta,
Amplified: For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled
persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt
heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a
heifer could by sprinkling cleanse those that were unclean so that
their bodies became pure (Westminster
Press)
NLT: Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the
ashes of a young cow could cleanse people's bodies from ritual
defilement. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: And if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of
a burnt heifer were, when sprinkled on the unholy, sufficient to make
the body pure, then how much more will the blood of Christ himself,
who in his eternal spirit offered himself to God as the perfect
sacrifice, purify your souls from the deeds of death, that you may
serve the living God! (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: For if, as is the case, the blood of bulls and of
goats, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling those who are in a state
of [ceremonial] uncleanness, set that person apart with reference to
the purity of the flesh, (Erdmans)
Young's Literal: for if the blood of bulls, and goats, and
ashes of an heifer, sprinkling those defiled, doth sanctify to the
purifying of the flesh |
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FOR IF THE
BLOOD OF GOATS AND BULLS AND THE ASHES OF A HEIFER: ei gar to haima tragon kai tauron kai spodos damaleos:
(Leviticus
16:14,16) (Numbers
19:2-21)
Leviticus
16:14
"Moreover, he shall take some of
the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy
seat on the east side; also in front of the mercy seat he shall
sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times... 16 And he
shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the impurities of
the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions, in regard to
all their sins; and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which
abides with them in the midst of their impurities.
If here
is a so-called first-class conditional statement (see
note) and thus is assumed as true. The
divinely ordained OT ceremonial
rituals did indeed serve "for the (external) cleansing of the flesh" but
it was not sufficient or efficacious for (internal) cleansing of one's
conscience.
Not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain,
Could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away the stain.
Christ the heavenly Lamb takes all our sins away,
A sacrifice of nobler name and richer big than they.
--
Isaac Watts (Play
entire hymn)
Cole explains that...
This was a ritual for purification,
especially if someone had been defiled by touching a dead body. The
author argues from the lesser to the greater. If these rituals could
cleanse the flesh, “how much more will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God,
cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
Jesus Christ is the only one who could atone for man’s sin, because He
alone was a man without blemish in all that He did. Thus His blood can
act as the substitute for the penalty that we deserve. (Hebrews 9:1-14 God's Remedy for
Guilt)
AND THE
ASHES OF A HEIFER SPRINKLING THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN DEFILED: kai spodos
damaleos rantizousa (PAPFSN) tous
kekoinomenous (RPPMPA):
Sprinkling
(4472)
(rhantizo) was used in secular Greek to describe common
sprinkling in a non-religious sense but there were uses in which
sprinkling conveyed the idea of religious cleansing.
Robertson
explains that the ashes of the red heifer mingled with water...
were sprinkled on the contaminated
or defiled ones (see Numbers 19) as (in the same way and for much the
same purpose as) the blood of bulls and goats was offered for sins (on
the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16).
The picture of
sprinkling reflects Jewish ritual purification in which the Jews would
wash their hands before eating and then sprinkle themselves (rhantizo)
with water when they return from the market place. The sprinkling was
not upon objects bought in the market but persons who may have
contracted defilement in mixing with others.
Defiled (2840)
(koinoo from koinos = common, defiled, unclean, unholy,
profane, that which lies common or open to all) means to make common
or unclean, to profane, to pollute, to cause to become ritually
unacceptable.
Wuest
writes...
The writer in this verse speaks of
the unclean Israelite, the person who was rendered ceremonially
unclean by contact with a dead body, or by entering a house where a
corpse was lying, or by touching a bone or a tomb. If he should enter
the tabernacle while thus defiled, he was cut off from Israel.
Ceremonial defilement was not in itself sin, but a type of sin. Hence
the blood of animals could cleanse away this defilement. It was only
the flesh of the person which was defiled by contact with the dead. It
was likewise only the flesh that was cleansed. Thus, defilement and
cleansing were both symbolic.
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans
or
Logos)
(Bolding added)
Moses
explains the
Red Heifer
in Numbers 19 writing that...
Nu 19:2-21 "This is the
statute of the law which the LORD has commanded, saying, 'Speak to the
sons of Israel that they bring you an unblemished
Red Heifer
in which is no defect, and on which a yoke has never been placed. 3
'And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, and it shall be brought
outside the camp and be slaughtered in his presence. 4 'Next Eleazar
the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and sprinkle
some of its blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times.
5 'Then the heifer shall be burned in his sight; its hide and its
flesh and its blood, with its refuse, shall be burned. 6 'And the
priest shall take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet material, and cast
it into the midst of the burning heifer.
7 'The priest shall then wash his
clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward come into the camp,
but the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 'The one who burns it
shall also wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water, and
shall be unclean until evening.
9 'Now a man who is clean shall
gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in
a clean place, and the congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep
it as water to remove impurity; it is purification from sin. 10 'And
the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and
be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the
sons of Israel and to the alien who sojourns among them.
11 'The one who touches the corpse
of any person shall be unclean for seven days. 12 'That one shall
purify himself from uncleanness with the water on the third day and on
the seventh day, and then he shall be clean; but if he does not purify
himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he shall not be
clean.
13 'Anyone who touches a corpse,
the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles
the tabernacle of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from
Israel. Because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he
shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still on him.
14 'This is the law when a man dies
in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the
tent shall be unclean for seven days. 15 'And every open vessel, which
has no covering tied down on it, shall be unclean. 16 'Also, anyone
who in the open field touches one who has been slain with a sword or
who has died naturally, or a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean
for seven days. 17 'Then for the unclean person they shall take some
of the ashes of the burnt purification from sin and flowing water
shall be added to them in a vessel. 18 'And a clean person shall take
hyssop and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all
the furnishings and on the persons who were there, and on the one who
touched the bone or the one slain or the one dying naturally or the
grave. 19 'Then the clean person shall sprinkle on the unclean on the
third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall
purify him from uncleanness, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe
himself in water and shall be clean by evening. 20 'But the man who is
unclean and does not purify himself from uncleanness, that person
shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has
defiled the sanctuary of the LORD; the water for impurity has not been
sprinkled on him, he is unclean.
21 'So it shall be a perpetual
statute for them. And he who sprinkles the water for impurity shall
wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be
unclean until evening.
The ashes were regarded as a concentration of the essential properties of
the sin-offering, and could be resorted to at all times with comparatively
little trouble and no loss of time. One red heifer availed for centuries.
Only six are said to have been required during the whole of Jewish history
because only a small quantity of the ashes was necessary to impart cleansing
to the water.
Here is an excerpt
from an
ISBE
Article giving more background
on the practice of sprinkling in the OT...
Sprinkling
(blood, water, oil) formed an
important--if not the essential--part of the act of sacrifice. A
consideration of the chief passages in the Old Testament will reveal
the prominence and the significance of sprinkling as a feature of the
sacrificial act. The significance of the sprinkling of blood is seen
in the account of the establishment of the covenant between Yahweh and
Israel (Ex 24:6-8). Half the blood was sprinkled on the altar as
representing the Deity, while the remainder was put into a basin and
then sprinkled on the people. This ceremony is a survival in a
modified form of the communal meal in which the tribal god and his
worshippers sat together and participated in the same food, and in
this way came to possess the same life. The two-fold sprinkling of
blood resulted in the establishment of an inviolable bond (Nu 18:17; 2
Ki 16:15).
In the account of the consecration
of Aaron and his sons (Ex 29:16,20,21) the blood of the ram of the
burnt offering was sprinkled on the altar, while the blood of the ram
of consecration was put on the altar and sprinkled on Aaron and his
sons and on their garments. Water of purifying was sprinkled on the
Levites at their ordination (Nu 8:7).
Leviticus gives detailed
information in regard to sacrificial sprinkling. In the case of burnt
offering the blood was sprinkled round about upon the altar (Lev
1:5,11). The same practice obtained in the case of peace offerings,
whether ox, lamb or goat (Lev 3:2,8,13). When a sin offering for sins
inadvertently committed was made, the priest dipped his fingers in the
blood and sprinkled it seven times before Yahweh, before the veil of
the Holy Place (Lev 4:6). Elsewhere (Lev 16:11,15) we read that Aaron
took the blood of the sin offering and sprinkled it with his finger
upon the mercy-seat, eastward, 7 times (see also Nu 19:4).
Sprinkling constituted part of the
process of purification. But it is obvious that the sprinkling, even
in this case, was a religious act, and not part of the actual physical
cleaning. A simple kind of sprinkler was made by fastening a bunch of
hyssop to a cedar rod by a piece of scarlet thread or wool and then
the patient was besprinkled 7 times (Lev 14:7), while oil was
sprinkled with the finger, also 7 times, before Yahweh (Lev 14:16; see
also Ex 12:22; Nu 19:18; Ps 51:7). The house in which the leper lived
was disinfected in the same thorough manner (Lev 16:51).
In the case of persons who had
contracted uncleanness through contact with a corpse, sprinkling with
the "water of separation" was part of the process of cleansing. The
water of separation consisted of the ashes of a red heifer (slain for
the purpose) mixed with running water (Nu 19). A sprinkler was used as
in the case of the leper (Nu 19:18). The final sprinkling--on the 7th
day--was followed by a bath (Nu 19:19). The "tent" in which the corpse
lay, together with all the contents, were thoroughly disinfected.
SANCTIFY FOR THE CLEANSING OF THE FLESH: hagiazei (3SPAI) pros ten tes
sarkos katharothta: (Numbers
8:7;
19:12;
2 Chronicles 30:19;
Psalms 51:7;
Acts 15:9;
1 Peter 1:22)
Sanctify (37)
(hagiazo from hagios = set apart from) means to set apart from
profane things.
Cleansing (2514)
(katharotes from katharos = pure) describes cleanness or
purification. This ritual was a symbolic (and external) way of showing one
was cleansed from sin.
Wuest writes
that...
The unclean Israelite was, therefore,
"out of bounds," so to speak, so far as participation in the tabernacle
service of Israel was concerned, and also his service to God. When he
fulfilled the Levitical ritual that had to do with his position and his
restoration to a participation in the worship of Israel, he was sanctified,
that is, set apart for God again.
In other words, he was cleaned up
on the outside, but even that was only symbolic (not to mention imperfect
and temporary). The writer's argument that is continued in verse 14 is that
our Great High Priest in contrast to the ashes of a red heifer, effected
internal cleansing (the conscience). Christ does much more than
externally cleanse the old man for His blood paves the way for the birth of
a brand new man. Paul wrote...
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is
a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2Cor 5:17)
Peter speaks of
the purification made possible by the blood of Christ...
Since you have in obedience to the truth
purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one
another from the heart, 23 for you have been born again not of seed which is
perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of
God. (see note
1 Peter 1:22;
23)
There is a well known
story of an evangelist named Alexander Wooten who related a story from the days when he held tent meetings. On
one occasion after a series of meetings was over, he was pulling up his
tent stakes when a young man approached him and asked what he had to do to be
saved. The evangelist answered responded, “Sorry, it’s too late" which
caused the young man to cry out "Oh no! Do you mean it’s too late because the services are over?”
The evangelist explained that it was "too late" because it had already been done.
In other words as he explained "Everything that could be done for your salvation has already been done.”
After explaining Christ’s finished work to the young man, he led him to
saving faith. Our salvation is based on the covenant whose redeeming work is finished-on a
sacrifice that has been offered once and for all, that is complete and
perfect and eternal. (Quoted
by Warren Wiersbe in his comments on Dead John 19:28–30)
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Hebrews 9:14 how
much
more will the
blood of
Christ,
who
through the
eternal
Spirit
offered
Himself
without
blemish to
God,
cleanse your
conscience from
dead
works to
serve the
living
God (NASB:
Lockman) |
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Greek:
poso
mallon
to
aima
tou
Christou,
os
dia
pneumatos
aioniou
eauton
prosenegken
amomon
to
theo,
kathariei
ten
suneidesin
emon
apo
nekron
ergon
eis
to
latreuein
theo
zonti.
Amplified: How much more surely shall the blood of
Christ, Who by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent
divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to
God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances
to serve the [ever] living God?
(Amplified
Bible - Lockman)
Barclay: how much more will the blood of Christ who, through
the eternal Spirit offered himself spotless to God, cleanse your
conscience so that you will be able to leave the deeds that make for
death in order to become the servants of the living God? (Westminster
Press)
NLT: Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify
our hearts from deeds that lead to death so that we can worship the
living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered
himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. (NLT
- Tyndale House)
Phillips: then how much more will the blood of Christ himself,
who in his eternal spirit offered himself to God as the perfect
sacrifice, purify your souls from the deeds of death, that you may
serve the living God! (Phillips:
Touchstone)
Wuest: how much more shall the blood of the Messiah, who by
virtue of the intermediate instrumentality of [His] eternal spirit
[His divine essence as deity, thus by His own volition as a member of
the Godhead] offered himself spotless to God, purge our conscience
from dead works to the serving of the living God. (Erdmans)
Young's Literal: how much more shall the blood of the Christ
(who through the age-during Spirit did offer himself unblemished to
God) purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? |
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HOW MUCH MORE WILL THE BLOOD OF CHRIST
WHO THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT OFFERED HIMSELF WITHOUT BLEMISH TO GOD: poso mallon to
haima tou Christou hos dia pneumatos aioniou prosenegken (3SAAI)
amomon to theo: (Deuteronomy
31:27;
2 Samuel 4:11;
Job 15:16;
Matthew 7:11;
Luke 12:24,28;
Romans 11:12,24)
(12;
1 Peter 1:19;
1 John 1:7;
Revelation 1:5) (Isaiah
42:1;
61:1;
Matthew 12:28;
Luke 4:18;
John 3:34;
Acts 1:2;
10:38;
Romans 1:4;
1 Peter 3:18)
(Deuteronomy
33:27;
Isaiah 57:15;
Jeremiah 10:10;
Romans 1:20;
1 Timothy 1:17) (Hebrews
9:7;
7:27;
Matthew 20:28;
Ephesians 2:5;
5:2;
Titus 2:14;
1 Peter 2:24;
3:18)
(Leviticus
22:20;
Numbers 19:2-21;
28:3,9,11;
Deuteronomy 15:21;
17:1;
Isaiah 53:9;
Daniel 9:24-26;
2 Corinthians 5:21;
1 Peter 1:19;
2:22;
1 John 3:5)
(9;
1:3;
10:2,22)
Observe the three
members of the Trinity in this passage -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- is
involved. (Note: Although not everyone [eg, A T Robertson] agrees the
"Eternal Spirit" is a reference to the Holy Spirit.)
How much more -
Than the OT purification rituals which did in fact cleanse externally. The
blood of Christ effects much more than this OT ritual for it results
in internal cleansing of sin.
Robertson
explains how much more writing that it is...
Instrumental case, "by how much more," by
the measure of the superiority of Christ's blood to that of goats and bulls
and the ashes of a heifer.
Wuest adds
that...
The writer now makes a comparison between
the efficacy of the blood of animals and that of the blood of Messiah. The
former could cleanse ceremonial defilement, but the latter can cleanse from
actual sin. And the reason why the blood of Messiah is so much more
efficacious is stated by the writer in the words "Who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God."
(Wuest,
K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Eerdmans
or
Logos)
Blood of Christ -
Andrew Murray in The Holiest of All comments on the blood of Christ writing
that...
The one element that gives the blood its value is, the holy obedience of
which its outpouring was the proof; the blood of Christ who offered Himself
without spot unto God. He came to live the life of man, such as God had
meant Him to be, in creating Him. He gave up His will to God, He pleased not
Himself but sought only God's pleasure, He yielded His whole life that God
might reveal Himself in it as He pleased: He offered Himself unto God. He
took and filled the place the creature was meant to fill. And
that without spot. His self-sacrifice was complete and perfect, and His
blood, even as the blood of a man, was, in God's sight, inexpressibly
precious. It was the embodiment of a perfect obedience.
...It was the Word that became flesh, the Eternal Son of God who was made
man. It was the life of God that dwelt in Him. That life gave His blood,
each drop of it, an infinite value. The blood of a man is of more worth than
that of a sheep. The blood of a king or a great general is counted of more
value than hundreds of common soldiers. The blood of the Son of God!, it is
in vain the mind seeks for some expression of its value; all we can say is,
it is His own blood, the precious blood of the Son of God!
It was...(the) infinite worth of the blood that gave it such mighty power,
first, in opening the grave, and then in opening heaven. It was this gave it
the victory over all the powers of death and hell beneath, and gave Him the
victor's place on high on the throne of God. And now, when that blood, from
out of the heavenly sanctuary, is sprinkled on the conscience by the
heavenly High Priest--how much more--with what an infinitely effectual
cleansing, must not our conscience be cleansed. (The Holiest of All)
(Bolding added)
Spurgeon
in his sermon (1
Peter 1:19 The Precious Blood of Christ)
on the precious blood of Christ writes that
in Hebrews 9:14 Christ sanctified the people by His own blood. Certain it
is, that the same blood which justifies by taking away sin, does in its
after-action act upon the new nature and lead it onward to subdue sin and to
follow out the commands of God. There is no motive for holiness so great as
that which streams from the veins of Jesus. If you want to know why you
should be obedient to God's will, my brethren, go and look upon Him who
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, and the love of Christ will
constrain you, because you will thus judge, "That if one died for all, then
were all dead: and that he died for all, that we which live might not
henceforth live unto ourselves, but unto him that died for us and rose
again."
Spurgeon
(Hebrews 9:19-20 The Blood of the Testament
-3293)
writes...
I
do not think anyone ever knows the preciousness of the blood of Christ,
till he has had a full sight and sense of his sin, his uncleanness, and his
ill-desert. Is there, any such thing as truly coming to the cross of Christ
until you first of all have seen what your sin really deserves? A little
light into that dark cellar, sir; a little light into that hole within the
soul, a little light cast into that infernal den of your humanity, and you
will soon discern what sin is, and, seeing it, you would discover that there
was no hope of being washed from it except by a sacrifice far greater than
you could ever render. Then the atonement of Christ would become fair and
lustrous in your eyes, and you would rejoice with joy unspeakable in that
boundless love which led the Savior to give himself a ransom for us, "the
Just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." May the Lord teach us,
thundering at us, if need be, what sin means. May he teach it to us so that
the lesson shall be burned into our souls, and we shall never forget it! I
could fain wish that you were all burden-carriers till you grew weary. I
could fain wish that you all laboured after eternal life until your strength
failed, and that you might then rejoice in him who has finished the work,
and who promises to be to you All-in-all when you believe in him, and trust
in him with your whole heart.
Eternal (166)
(aionios from
aion)
means perpetual eternal, everlasting, without beginning or end (as of God),
that which is always. Eternal is a key word
Hebrews: blood of eternal covenant (see
note Hebrews
13:20).
He offered Himself through His eternal spirit (see note
Hebrews 9:14)
and has become the Author/Source of eternal salvation (see note
Hebrews 5:9).
He has obtained eternal redemption (see note
Hebrews 9:12)
and enables men to receive of the eternal inheritance (see notes
Hebrews 9:15;
13:20).
John MacArthur
writes that
Jesus did everything He did on earth in obedience to the Father through the
Spirit. Even in His supreme sacrifice He through the eternal Spirit offered
Himself without blemish to God. In doing so, He provided the cleansing of
our consciences from dead works to serve the living God. He frees our
consciences from guilt, a joy and a blessing that no Old Testament saint
ever had or could have had. In Christ we can “draw near with a sincere heart
in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil
conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22).
(MacArthur,
John: Hebrews. Moody Press
or
Logos)
Cole writes
that...
Scholars debate whether “eternal Spirit”
refers to the Holy Spirit or to Jesus’ eternal divine spirit (there were no
capital letters in the original Greek). We cannot be dogmatic on this. If it
refers to the Holy Spirit, then it means that Jesus relied on the Holy
Spirit when He went to the cross, which is certainly true. If it refers to
Jesus’ eternal divine nature, the emphasis would be on the fact that Jesus’
sacrifice was uniquely efficacious to redeem His people, be-cause He is not
only a man, but also is eternal God (7:3, 16). The point is, “the difference
between the Levitical offerings and Christ’s self-offering was infinite
rather than relative” (P. Hughes, p. 360). This infinitely efficacious
sacrifice satisfied God in a way that the blood of bulls and goats never
could. Through Christ’s blood, we can have a clean conscience. (Hebrews 9:1-14 God's Remedy for
Guilt)
Offered Himself
- This emphasizes once again the voluntary character of Christ's
death. He was not coerced but gave Himself willingly for us because He loved
us and did not want us to suffer eternal separation from the Father.
Jeffrey Ebert
has the following illustration...
When I was 5 years old, before
factory-installed seat belts and automobile air bags, my family was driving
home at night on a two-lane country road. I was sitting on my mother's lap
when another car, driven by a drunk driver, swerved into our lane and hit us
head-on. I don't have any memory of the collision. I do recall the fear and
confusion I felt as I saw myself literally covered with blood from head to
toe. Then I learned that the blood wasn't mine at all, but my
mother's. In that split second when the two headlights glared into her eyes,
she instinctively pulled me closer to her chest and curled her body around
mine. It was her body that slammed against the dashboard, her head that
shattered the windshield. She took the impact of the collision so that I
wouldn't have to. It took extensive surgery for my mother to recover from
her injuries. In a similar, but infinitely more significant way, Jesus
Christ took the impact for our sin, and his blood now permanently covers our
lives. (Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching. Baker)
CLEANSE YOUR CONSCIENCE FROM DEAD WORKS: kathariei (3SFAI) ten suneidesin hemon
apo nekron ergon: (Hebrews 9:9,
9:14,
10:22,
13:18) (see
note
Hebrews 6:1)
Cleanse
(2511)
(katharizo
from katharos = pure, clean, without stain or spot; English words -
catharsis = emotional or physical purging, cathartic = substance used
to induce a purging, Cathar = member of a medieval sect which sought the
purging of evil from its members) means to make clean by taking away an
undesirable part. To cleanse from filth or impurity.
Click here
(and
here) for more background on
the important Biblical concept of clean and cleansing.
In secular Greek
katharizo occurs in inscriptions for ceremonial cleansing.
This word group conveys the idea of
physical, religious, and moral cleanness or purity in such senses as clean,
free from stains or shame, and free from adulteration.
Katharizo
refers to cleansing from ritual contamination or impurity as in Acts
10:15...
And again a voice came to him a
second time, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider
unholy."
Katharizo
was used of cleansing lepers from ceremonial uncleanness...
And behold, a leper ( see
Leviticus 13) came to Him (Jesus), and bowed down to Him, saying,
"Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean
(katharizo)." And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying,
"I am willing; be
cleansed (katharizo -
aorist imperative)"
And immediately his leprosy was cleansed (katharizo).
(Matthew 8:2-3)
When sinners by
grace through faith in Christ are regenerated by God's Spirit, a
glorious aspect of that regeneration is that we are given a clean
conscience. Unfortunately, we still live in bodies of sin and walk
in a sinful world and inevitably our consciences become "contaminated"
by the sins we commit in thought, word and deed. And yet the same
blood of Christ that provided for our entry into so great a
salvation, is ever available (and necessary) for the maintenance of
such a great salvation. John alludes to our continual need of
cleansing from sin and a guilty conscience writing...
6 If we
say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we
lie and do not practice the truth (truth is not just something taught
but is something we should do!);
7 but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son
cleanses (katharizo) us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins (identify them specifically, agreeing with
God as to their specific sinful character, and repenting or changing
our mind about them and viewing as God does), He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to < | | |