Hebrews 7:16

is made Lit., "is become."

after the law of a carnal commandment Rather, "in accordance with the law of a fleshen(i.e. earthly) commandment." Neither this writer, nor even St Paul, ever called or would have called the Law "carnal" (sarkikos), a term which St Paul implicitly disclaims when he says that the Law is "spiritual" (Romans 7:14); but to call it "fleshen" (sarkinos) is merely to say that it is hedged round with earthly limitations and relationships, and therefore unfit to be adapted to eternal conditions. Its ordinances indeed might be called "ordinances of the flesh" (Hebrews 9:10), because they had to do, almost exclusively, with externals. An attentive reader will see that even in the closest apparent resemblances to the language of St Paul there are differences in this Epistle. For instance his relative disparagement of the Law turns almost exclusively on the conditions of its hierarchy;and his use of the word "flesh" and "fleshen," refers not to sensual passions but to mortality and transience.

of an endless life Lit., "of an indissoluble life," the life of a tabernacle which "could not be dissolved." The word (akatalutos) is not found elsewhere in the N.T. The Priest of this new Law and Priesthood is "the Prince of Life" (Acts 3:15).