For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come
instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the
same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make
perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased
to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed,
would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in these
sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is
impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken
pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin
offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added,
“Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first
in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all.
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly
the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when
Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat
down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his
enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single
offering he has perfected for all time those who are being
sanctified.
And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
“This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any
offering for sin.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy
places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he
opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and
since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw
near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts
sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with
pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without
wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how
to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to
meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one
another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the
knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire
that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law
of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three
witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be
deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and
has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified,
and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said,
“Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge
his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God.
But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you
endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly
exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners
with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison,
and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since
you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding
one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great
reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done
the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed,
but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
