Hebrews 10 is the tenth chapter of the

Epistle to the Hebrews The Epistle 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 of the Ancient Greek manuscripts, the Old Syriac Peshitto and ...

in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. The author is anonymous, although the internal reference to "our brother

Timothy Timothy is a masculine name. It comes from the Greek language, Greek name (Timotheus (disambiguation), Timόtheos) meaning "honouring God", "in God's honour", or "honoured by God". Timothy (and its variations) is a common name in several countries ...

" ( Hebrews 13:23) causes a traditional attribution to

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

, 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 (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

. This chapter is divided into 39 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: *

Papyrus 46 Papyrus 46, also known as ''P. Chester Beatty II'', is an early Greek New Testament manuscript written on papyrus, and is one of the manuscripts comprising the Chester Beatty Papyri. It is designated by the siglum in the Gregory-Aland numberi ...

(175–225; only missing verses 21 & 31) *

Papyrus 13 Papyrus 13, designated by siglum 𝔓13 or P13 in the Gregory-Aland numbering, is a fragmentary manuscript of the New Testament in Greek. It was copied on papyrus in the 3rd century at approximately 225-250 CE.Philip W Comfort and David P Barret ...

(225-250; extant verses 8-22, 29-39) *

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...

(325-350) *

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...

(330-360) *

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

(400-440) *

Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (Paris, National Library of France, Greek 9) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. It is designated by the siglum C or 04 in the Biblical manuscript#Gregory-Aland, Gregory-Aland numbering of New ...

(~450; extant verses 1-23) *Codex Freerianus (~450; extant verses 5-8,16-18,26-29,35-38) *Codex Claromontanus (~550) *Codex Coislinianus (~550; extant verses 1–7, 32–38) *Papyrus 79 (7th century; extant verses 10-12, 28-30)

Old Testament references

*: Psalm 40, Psalm * : Jeremiah 31:33 * : Jeremiah 31:34 * : ; Psalm 135, Psalm a * #Verse 38, Hebrews 10:38:

New Testament references

* :

The True Sacrifice (10:1–10)

Harold W. Attridge, Attridge sees the final stage of Jeremiah 31 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; Hebrews 6:18, 6:18; #Verse 4, 10:4; Hebrews 11:6, 11:6).

Verse 5

:''That is why, when Christ[a] 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, Jesus Christ 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.John Gill (theologian), 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 Septuagint, LXX 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 17Charles Ellicott, Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905)
''Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers''. Hebrews 10.
London : Cassell and Company, Limited, [1905-1906] Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019. *"Perdition": or "destruction".Note [a] 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 Epistle to the Hebrews chapters, 10