Letters to the Churches

else must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment;

so Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation.

For the law having a shadow of the goodthingsto come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect them that draw nigh.

Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year.

For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins.

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, But a body didst thou prepare for me;

In whole burnt offerings andsacrificesfor sin thou hadst no pleasure:

Then said I, Lo, I am come (In the roll of the book it is written of me) To do thy will, O God.

Saying above, Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings andsacrificesfor sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein (the which are offered according to the law),

then hath he said, Lo, I am come to do thy will. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest indeed standeth day by day ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, the which can never take away sins:

but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

And the Holy Spirit also beareth witness to us; for after he hath said,

This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, saith the Lord: I will put my laws on their heart, And upon their mind also will I write them; then saith he,

And their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus,

by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

and having a great priest over the house of God;

let us draw near with a true heart in fulness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience: and having our body washed with pure water,