Hebrews 9:23

ἀνάγκη οὖν τὰ μὲν ὑποδείγματα … “It was necessary, therefore, that the copies indeed of the heavenly things be cleansed with these, but the heavenlies themselves with better sacrifices than these.” ἀνάγκη οὖν, the οὖν carries to its consequence Hebrews 9:22; and the necessity arises from the injunction of the law there mentioned. τὰ μὲν ὑποδ. the μὲν … δὲ show that the second clause is that to which attention is to be given, the first clause introducing it. The statement is almost equivalent to “As it was necessary … so it was necessary” … The ὑποδείγ. are the tabernacle and its furnishings, in accordance with Hebrews 8:5; which see. τούτοις, viz., the things mentioned in Hebrews 9:19. αὐτὰ δὲ τὰ ἐπουράνια. If the copies were cleansed by material rites, realities being spiritual and eternal can only be cleansed by what is spiritual and eternal, cf. Hebrews 9:14. κρείττοσιν θυσίαις, the plural is suggested by τούτοις, and states an abstract inference. But do the “heavenlies” need cleansing? Bruce says, “I prefer to make no attempt to assign a theological meaning to the words. I would rather make them intelligible to my mind by thinking of the glory and honour accruing even to heaven by the entrance there of ‘the Lamb of God'. I believe there is more of poetry than of theology in the words. For the writer is a poet as well as a theologian, and on this account, theological pedants, however learned, can never succeed in interpreting satisfactorily this epistle”. But it is scarcely permissible to exclude at this point of the author's argument the theological inference that in some sense and in some relation the heavenlies need cleansing. The earthly tabernacle, as God's dwelling, might have been supposed to be hallowed by His presence and to need no cleansing, but being also His meeting-place with men it required to be cleansed. And so our heavenly relations with God, and all wherewith we seek to approach Him, need cleansing. In themselves things heavenly need no cleansing, but as entered upon by sinful men they need it. Our eternal relations with God require purification.