TRV
And he entered not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus setting people free forever.
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Commentary on Hebrews 9 verses 8–14
In these verses the apostle undertakes to deliver to us the mind and meaning of the Holy Ghost in all the ordinances of the tabernacle and legal economy, comprehending both place and worship. The scriptures of the Old Testament were given by inspiration of God; holy men of old spoke and wrote as the Holy Ghost directed them. And these Old Testament records are of great use and significancy, not only to those who first received them, but even to Christians, who ought not to satisfy themselves with reading the institutes of the Levitical law, but should learn what the Holy Ghost signifies and suggests to them thereby. Now here are several things mentioned as the things that the Holy Ghost signified and certified to his people hereby.
I. That the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while the first tabernacle was standing, Heb 9:8. This was one lesson the Holy Ghost would teach us by these types; the way to heaven was not so clear and plain, nor so much frequented, under the Old Testament as under the New. It is the honour of Christ and the gospel, and the happiness of those who live under it, that now life and immortality are brought to light. There was not that free access to God then that there is now; God has now opened a wider door; and there is room for more, yea, even for as many as are truly willing to return unto him by Christ.
II. That the first tabernacle was only a figure for the time then present, Heb 9:9. It was a dark dispensation, and but of short continuance, only designed for awhile to typify the great things of Christ and the gospel, that were in due time to shine forth in their own brightness, and thereby cause all the shadows to flee away and disappear, as the stars before the rising sun.
III. That none of the gifts and sacrifices there offered could make the offerers perfect as pertaining to conscience (Heb 9:9); that is, they could not take away the desert, or defilement, or dominion, of sin; they could not deliver conscience from a dread of the wrath of God; they could neither discharge the debts, nor resolve the doubts, of him who did the service. A man might run through them all in their several orders and frequent returns, and continue to do so all his days, and yet not find his conscience either pacified or purified by them; he might thereby be saved from corporal and temporal punishments that were threatened against the non-observers, but he could not be saved by them from sin or hell, as all those are who believe in Christ.
IV. The Holy Ghost hereby signifies that the Old Testament institutions were by external carnal ordinances imposed upon them until the time of reformation, Heb 9:10. Their imperfection lay in three things: - 1. Their nature. They were but external and carnal meats and drinks, and divers washings. All these were bodily exercises, which profit little; they could only satisfy the flesh, or at best sanctify to the purifying of the flesh. 2. They were not such as were left indifferent to them to use or disuse, but they were imposed upon them by grievous corporal punishments, and this was ordered on purpose to make them look more to the promised Seed, and long more for him. 3. These were never designed for a perpetuity, but only to continue till the time of reformation, till the better things provided for them were actually bestowed upon them. Gospel times are and should be times of reformation, - of clearer light as to all things necessary to be known, - of greater love, inducing us to bear ill-will to none, but good-will to all, and to have complacency in all that are like God, - of greater liberty and freedom both of spirit and speech - and of a more holy living according to the rule of the gospel. We have far greater advantages under the gospel than they had under the law; and either we must be better or we shall be worse. A conversation becoming the gospel is an excellent way of living; nothing mean, foolish, vain, or servile becomes the gospel.
V. The Holy Ghost signifies to us hereby that we never make the right use of types but when we apply them to the antitype; and, whenever we do so, it will be very evident that the antitype (as in reason it should) greatly excels the type, which is the main drift and design of all that is said. And, as he writes to those who believed that Christ had come and that Jesus was the Christ, so he very justly infers that he is infinitely above all legal high priests (Heb 9:11, Heb 9:12), and he illustrates it very fully. For,
1.Christ is a high priest of good things to come, by which may be understood, (1.) All the good things that were to come during the Old Testament, and now have come under the New. All the spiritual and eternal blessings the Old Testament saints had in their day and under their dispensation were owing to the Messiah to come, on whom they believed. The Old Testament set forth in shadows what was to come; the New Testament is the accomplishment of the Old. (2.) All the good things yet to come and to be enjoyed in a gospel state, when the promises and prophecies made to the gospel church in the latter days shall be accomplished; all these depend upon Christ and his priesthood, and shall be fulfilled. (3.) Of all the good things to come in the heavenly state, which will perfect both the Testaments; as the state of glory will perfect the state of grace, this state will be in a much higher sense the perfection of the New Testament than the New Testament was the perfection of the Old. Observe, All things past, present, and to come, were, and are, founded upon, and flowing fRom. the priestly office of Christ.
2.Christ is a high priest by a greater and more perfect tabernacle (Heb 9:11), a tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, but his own body, or rather human nature, conceived by the Holy Ghost overshadowing the blessed virgin. This was a new fabric, a new order of building, infinitely superior to all earthly structures, not excepting the tabernacle of the temple itself.
3.Christ, our high priest, has entered into heaven, not as their high priest entered into the holiest, with the blood of bulls and of goats, but by his own blood, typified by theirs, and infinitely more precious. And this,
4.Not for one year only, which showed the imperfection of that priesthood, that it did but typically obtain a year's reprieve or pardon. But our high priest entered into heaven once for all, and has obtained not a yearly respite, but eternal redemption, and so needs not to make an annual entrance. In each of the types there was something that showed it was a type, and resembled the antitype, and something that showed it was but a type, and fell short of the antitype, and therefore ought by no means to be set up in competition with the antitype.
5.The Holy Ghost further signified and showed what was the efficacy of the blood of the Old Testament sacrifices, and thence is inferred the much greater efficacy of the blood of Christ. (1.) The efficacy of the blood of the legal sacrifices extended to the purifying of the flesh (Heb 9:13): it freed the outward man from ceremonial uncleanness and from temporal punishment, and entitled him to, and fitted him for, some external privileges. (2.) He infers very justly hence the far greater efficacy of the blood of Christ (Heb 9:14): How much more shall the blood of Christ, etc. Here observe, [1.] What it was that gave such efficacy to the blood of Christ. First, It was his offering himself to God, the human nature upon the altar of his divine nature, he being priest, altar, and sacrifice, his divine nature serving for the two former, and his human nature for the last; now such a priest, altar, and sacrifice, could not but be propitiatory. Secondly, It was Christ's offering up himself to God through the eternal Spirit, not only as the divine nature supported the human, but the Holy Ghost, which he had without measure, helping him in all, and in this great act of obedience offering himself. Thirdly, It was Christ's offering himself to God without spot, without any sinful stain either in his nature or life; this was conformable to the law of sacrifices, which required them to be without blemish. Now further observe, [2.] What the efficacy of Christ's blood is; it is very great. For, First, It is sufficient to purge the conscience from dead works, it reaches to the very soul and conscience, the defiled soul, defiled with sin, which is a dead work, proceeds from spiritual death, and tends to death eternal. As the touching of a dead body gave a legal uncleanness, so meddling with sin gives a moral and real defilement, fixes it in the very soul; but the blood of Christ has efficacy to purge it out. Secondly, It is sufficient to enable us to serve the living God, not only by purging away that guilt which separates between God and sinners, but by sanctifying and renewing the soul through the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit, purchased by Christ for this purpose, that we might be enabled to serve the living God in a lively manner.
We ought to examine not merely one single form of self-control in sexual matters but the other objects which our soul self-indulgently desires, not content with bare necessities but making a fuss about luxury. Self-control means indifference to money, comfort and property, a mind above spectacles, control of the tongue, mastery of evil thoughts. It actually happened that some angels suffered a failure of self-control, were overpowered by sexual desire and fell from heaven to earth. Valentinus in his letter to Agathopus says, “Jesus showed his self-control in all that he endured. He lived in the practice of Godhead. He ate and drank in a way individual to himself without excreting his food. Such was his power of self-control that the food was not corrupted within him, since he was not subject to corruption.” So we embrace self-control out of the love we bear the Lord and out of its honorable status, consecrating the temple of the Spirit. It is honorable “to emasculate oneself” of all desire “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” and “to purify the conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
This is what the letter of the law explains to us, so that, collecting seeds of mysteries from them, we may use them as steps to climb from the lowly to a lofty place, from earthly to heavenly things. Therefore, my hearer, climb up now, if you can, and mount above earthly senses by the contemplation of your mind and by the discernment of your heart. Forget for a while earthly concerns; climb above the clouds and above heaven itself by the tread of your mind. Seek there the tabernacle of God where “Jesus has entered.”
Our Lord did not enter yearly like their high priest. After his coming he entered only once, not into the shrine which ceases, like their priesthood, but “into the Holy” of Holies of eternity, and he made a propitiation through his blood for all nations.
"Neither by the blood," he says, "of goats and calves" (All things are changed) "but by His own Blood" (he says) "He entered in once for all into the Holy Place." See thus he called Heaven. "Once for all" (he says) "He entered into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption." And this expression "having obtained," was expressive of things very difficult, and that are beyond expectation, how by one entering in, He "obtained everlasting redemption."
"not made with hands." Not according to the imitation, he says, of the tabernacle among the Jews. For here he called the tabernacle not made with hands the human nature that Christ the Lord took on. For it is not only a marriage chamber that is prepared for the marriages, but the most Holy Spirit has constructed the tabernacle.
And the phrase, "not of this creation," instead of "Not according to the law of nature as it is governed in creation." "Not of this creation." The body of Christ, and this was of creation, and not of this. Of this, inasmuch as it is and is similar to our body, but not of this, inasmuch as it possesses the divinity without confusion and without division. Therefore, what is said to the Apostle, "Not of this creation," accept as pertaining to the possession of divinity. As for the body itself, it was consubstantial with ours. The fact that it was not of this creation, he says, from which the tabernacle of the Jews came. For since he had called the body of Christ a tabernacle, it was necessary to prescribe words of this kind.
"nor by the blood of goats and calves." For it was Jewish, and through which the high priest entered into the Holy of Holies.
“He entered once and for all into the Holy Place.” That is, into heaven.
"having obtained eternal redemption." That is, having succeeded, he found eternal redemption. Not for himself, (for how could the sinless one?) but for his people.
“But Christ, having come as a high priest.” The old covenant high priests, Paul says, worship did not enter into the heavens; but Christ, having come, entered once for all into the holy place; for here the meaning is given. He did not say, “having become a high priest”, but having come as a high priest, that is, having come for this purpose. He did not come first, and then, after this happened, become a high priest; but the purpose of his coming to earth was the priesthood.
“of the good things to come.” He did not say, High Priest of those being sacrificed, but, of the future good things, the good things that have evidently come to us; since the word could not fully present everything precisely, he simply and vaguely called good those things that have come to us; but he said these are future, as to the time of the law. For just as he called that one present, so he calls those future things according to Christ, as in comparison to that one; or even of the mysteries that will be revealed to us in the coming age.
"through the greater and more perfect tabernacle." He refers to the body of Christ as the tabernacle, because in it all the fullness of deity dwells bodily. (Col. 2:9) “Greater”, because it is God; more perfect, because it perfects those who draw near to Him.
Here a not-made-by-hand tabernacle called the human nature, which the Lord Christ took upon Himself. For it was not made according to the law of marriage, but the Most Holy Spirit prepared the tabernacle. And the phrase, Not of this creation, instead of, Not according to the law of nature, which is governed in creation.
Since the head of humanity deemed it fitting to be, the Apostle says that the things which were obtained for us were obtained by Him.
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SUMMARY
Hebrews 9:12 profoundly articulates the superiority and finality of Christ's atoning work, contrasting it sharply with the Old Covenant sacrificial system. It reveals that Jesus, as the ultimate High Priest, entered the true heavenly sanctuary not with the inadequate blood of animals, but with His own perfect blood, thereby securing a complete and everlasting deliverance from sin for all who believe.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The verse powerfully employs Contrast as its primary literary device, setting the insufficient, temporary sacrifices of the Old Covenant ("blood of goats and calves") against the perfect, eternal sacrifice of Christ ("his own blood"). This contrast is further amplified by the temporal distinction: the high priest entered yearly, but Christ entered "once." This highlights the Superiority of Christ's work. Furthermore, the passage utilizes Typology, where the earthly tabernacle and its rituals serve as types or shadows that point forward to the ultimate reality found in Christ. The "holy place" functions as Symbolism, representing God's heavenly presence, which Christ's blood now grants access to. The phrase "eternal redemption" is a powerful Hyperbole in the sense that it describes a redemption so complete and lasting that it transcends all human understanding of temporary deliverance.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Hebrews 9:12 is a cornerstone of Christian theology, profoundly articulating the nature of atonement and the finished work of Christ. It establishes Jesus as the ultimate and final High Priest, whose sacrifice is not merely a covering for sin but a complete removal of its guilt and power. This verse shifts the focus from human effort and ritualistic performance to the divine efficacy of Christ's perfect offering, emphasizing that our salvation is secured by His singular act, not by our repeated attempts to appease God. It underscores the New Covenant's superiority, where direct access to God is granted through faith in Christ's accomplished work, rather than through intermediaries and animal sacrifices. This eternal redemption provides believers with an unshakeable assurance of forgiveness and a permanent standing before a holy God.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Hebrews 9:12 offers immense comfort and profound implications for the believer's life. Knowing that Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary "once" with "his own blood" to obtain "eternal redemption" means that our salvation is not precarious or dependent on our fluctuating performance, but is eternally secure in His finished work. This truth liberates us from the burden of striving to earn God's favor or fearing that our sins are not fully paid for. It calls us to live in profound gratitude for such a costly and complete deliverance. Our confidence before God is not based on our own merit, but on the perfect sacrifice of Christ, which has opened a permanent way into His presence. This should motivate us to draw near to God with boldness, to live lives that reflect the holiness and love of the One who redeemed us, and to share this glorious truth with a world still seeking temporary solutions for eternal problems.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What is the "holy place" that Jesus entered?
Answer: The "holy place" (Greek, hágion) that Jesus entered refers not to the earthly tabernacle or temple, but to the true, heavenly sanctuary—the very presence of God in heaven. The earthly tabernacle was merely a "copy and shadow" (Hebrews 8:5) of this ultimate reality. Christ, as the great High Priest, passed through the heavens (Hebrews 4:14) and entered God's presence, not as a temporary visitor, but as one who had completed the perfect sacrifice, securing eternal access for His people.
Why is it significant that Christ entered "once"?
Answer: The word "once" (Greek, ephápax) is profoundly significant because it highlights the singular, unrepeatable, and definitive nature of Christ's sacrifice and priestly work. Under the Old Covenant, the high priest had to enter the Holy of Holies yearly with animal blood (Hebrews 9:7), signifying that those sacrifices were incomplete and temporary. Christ's "once for all" sacrifice means that His work was perfectly sufficient to atone for all sins for all time, never needing to be repeated. This underscores the finality and eternal efficacy of His redemption, distinguishing it sharply from all previous sacrificial systems (Hebrews 10:10-14).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Hebrews 9:12 finds its profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus as the ultimate High Priest and the Lamb of God. The Old Testament sacrificial system, with its repeated offerings of "the blood of goats and calves," served as a divinely ordained foreshadowing, a type pointing to the antitype—Christ Himself. Jesus perfectly embodies the sinless victim, the spotless "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). Unlike the Levitical priests who offered sacrifices for their own sins first, Christ, being without sin, offered "his own blood"—His perfect, unblemished life—as the one sufficient payment for humanity's sin (Hebrews 7:26-27). His entry "once into the holy place" signifies His triumphant ascension into the true, heavenly sanctuary, not merely an earthly copy, where He now intercedes for believers before the Father (Romans 8:34). This singular act secured "eternal redemption," a permanent liberation from sin's bondage and condemnation, fulfilling the longing of all previous covenants and establishing a new, everlasting covenant sealed by His precious blood (1 Peter 1:18-19). Thus, Hebrews 9:12 powerfully declares that in Christ, the shadows have given way to the glorious reality, and the temporary has been swallowed up by the eternal.