ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Hebrews 10.1

Book: Hebrews · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

1. For the law having a shadow of the good things to 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.

  1. Else would they not have ceased to be offered? because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance made of sins year by year. (Hebrews 10:1-3, ASV)
WEB

1. For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

  1. Or else wouldn’t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins? 3. But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins. (Hebrews 10:1-3, WEB)
KJV

1. For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

  1. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. would: or, they would have ceased to be offered, because, etc. 3. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. (Hebrews 10:1-3, KJV)
YLT

1. For the law having a shadow of the coming good things, not the very image of the matters, every year, by the same sacrifices that they offer continually, is never able to make perfect those coming near,

  1. since, would they not have ceased to be offered, because of those serving having no more conscience of sins, having once been purified? 3. but in those [sacrifices] is a remembrance of sins every year, (Hebrews 10:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: the anonymous author of Hebrews. Pauline authorship was doubted in antiquity and Origen concluded that who wrote it, God knows
  • Audience: Jewish believers under pressure to fall back from Christ into the older covenant observances
  • Location: unknown; the closing greeting from those of Italy (13:24) points in two directions at once
  • Time period: most likely before AD 70, since the sacrificial system is discussed as still operating

Theological reading

For the law having a shadow of the good things to 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.

The verse states the letter's controlling relation between the covenants, and the two nouns are doing precise work.

Skia, shadow, and eikon, image. A shadow is cast by a real object and genuinely indicates its shape, size and position, while being neither the object nor a portrait of it. The law is not called false, and it is not called a guess. It is called a shadow, which requires a body to cast it. That is a high view of the older covenant, not a dismissive one, and it is the reason the letter can argue from Levitical arrangements to Christological conclusions at all.

The argument from repetition follows and is completed in verses 2 to 4. If the sacrifices had perfected the worshippers, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshippers once cleansed would have had no more consciousness of sins? The annual return of the Day of Atonement is treated as the system's own testimony about itself.

Make perfect is the teleioo language the letter uses of completion rather than of moral flawlessness, and what the sacrifices could not complete is specified at 9:9 as the conscience.

See Mosaic Law.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Guides:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.