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The apostle knew very well that the Hebrews, to whom he wrote, were strangely fond of the Levitical dispensation, and therefore he fills his mouth with arguments to wean them from it; and in order thereto proceeds in this chapter, I. To lay low the whole of that priesthood and sacrifice (Heb 10:1-6). II. He raises and exalts the priesthood of Christ very high, that he might effectually recommend him and his gospel to them (Heb 10:7-18). III. He shows to believers the honours and dignities of their state, and calls them to suitable duties (Heb 10:19 to the end).

INTRODUCTION TO HEBREWS 10 In this chapter the apostle pursues his argument, showing the weakness and imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, and the superior excellency of Christ's, which he closes with suitable exhortations to faith on Christ, as the alone high priest, and to a constant profession of him. The imperfection of the Levitical priesthood is proved, from the law by which it was established, being only a shadow of good things to come; from the insufficiency of annual sacrifices to perfect the comers to them, or to purge the consciences of the worshippers from sin; and from the non-cessation of these sacrifices which would have been, if the above ends could have been answered by them, Heb 10:1, but on the contrary, by the annual return of these sacrifices, sins are afresh remembered, and very good reason there is for it, since it is an impossible thing that the blood of slain beasts should take away sin, Heb 10:3 moreover, the apostle proves the insufficiency of such sacrifices, by a divine testimony, out of Psa 40:6 by which it appears, that they are not agreeable to the will of God, and are rejected by him as useless, Heb 10:5 and this leads the apostle to discourse of the excellency of Christ's sacrifice above them; that they are taken away, and his is substituted in their room; that as they are not agreeable to the will of God, his is a fulfilment of it; that though they could not expiate sin, yet by the offering up of the body of Christ, once for all, his people are sanctified, or their sins are expiated, Heb 10:9 and this is further illustrated by a comparison between the priests under the law, and Christ; they were many, he but one; they daily offered the same sacrifices, he offered but one sacrifice; theirs could not take away sin, by his offering he has perfectly expiated the sins of his people; they stood daily ministering, their work being never at an end; he is set down at the right hand of God, expecting his enemies to be made his footstool, having done his work to perfection, Heb 10:11 and that legal sacrifices are ceased, and no more to be used, is proved by a testimony of the Holy Ghost, out of Jer 31:33 relating to the covenant of grace, among the promises of which stands that of the forgiveness of sin; from whence the apostle justly concludes, that where remission of sin is, there is, and there needs no more offering for it, Heb 10:15 and from hence, the apostle passes to exhortations to the exercise of grace, and discharge of duty, which he strongly urges from the consideration of Christ's priesthood, and the efficacy of it: and first, he presses them to the duty of prayer, to draw nigh to God to the throne of his grace. The manner in which he would have them approach to God, is in the sincerity of their hearts, in a plerophory of faith, an high and full exercise of it, and impurity of soul and body: the motives or encouragements to it are taken from their having boldness and liberty to enter by faith into heaven itself with their prayers, through the blood of Jesus; from there being a new and living way opened for them through, the flesh of Christ; and from their having such an high priest over the house of God as he is, Heb 10:19, and next he exhorts them to a constant and steadfast profession of their faith, to which he animates them by the faithfulness of a promising God, who will never leave nor forsake his people, Heb 10:23 and then to consider one another in their church relation, and to stir up one another to the exercise of the grace of love, and to the performance of good works, Heb 10:24, and also not to forsake their public assemblies, as was the custom of some, but to exhort each other to greater diligence in attending there, especially since they might observe that a time of great tribulation was at hand, Heb 10:25 and in order to deter from apostasy, which is expressed by a sinning wilfully, after a man has received and professed the knowledge of the truth, the apostle observes that the destruction of such is inevitable; since there never will be another propitiatory sacrifice offered up, and therefore there can be no other than a dreadful expectation of an awful judgment, and of the wrath of God, which, like a consuming fire, will destroy such adversaries of Christ, Heb 10:26 the justice of which is argued from the less to the greater; that if the transgressors of the law of Moses had no mercy shown them, but died when there were proper and sufficient witnesses of their crimes, then such must be deserving of a far greater punishment, who treat with the greatest rudeness the person of the Son of God, and his precious blood, and with the greatest contempt the person and grace of the Holy Spirit, Heb 10:28, and such persons have reason to expect the vengeance of God will fall on them, since it is threatened them in the word of God, Deu 32:35 and a dreadful thing it is to fall into his hands, Heb 10:30. But in order to encourage these believing Hebrews to hold on and out unto the end, the apostle puts them in mind of their good beginning, how well they set out, and how bravely they behaved, by bearing afflictions and reproaches themselves; by being the companions of those that were afflicted and reproached; by having compassion on the apostle when in bonds; and by cheerfully suffering the loss of their goods upon this consideration, that they had in heaven a better and a more enduring substance, Heb 10:32 wherefore it would be exceeding wrong and very unbecoming, after all this, to drop their faith and a profession of it, which otherwise would issue in the enjoyment of the great recompense of reward, Heb 10:35 and as patience is necessary, it is right to exercise it under sufferings for Christ's sake, partly because it is doing the will of God, and partly because that after that is done, such shall receive the promised happiness; and what may serve the more to engage to the exercise of it is, it is but a little while and Christ will come and put an end to all the sufferings of his people, Heb 10:36 and that faith should be in exercise, is proved from a divine testimony, Hab 2:4 and so must be pleasing to God, when the contrary is highly resented by him, Heb 10:38 and now, lest the believing Hebrews should conclude from all this that the apostle suspected them as going into apostasy, he declares his belief, that he and they were not in the number of apostates, but of believers, whose souls would be saved, Heb 10:39.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For this is to be understood not in a good sense; so in general all mankind may be said to fall into, or be in the hands of God, as they are the work of his hands, the care of his providence, and are subject to his sovereignty; and in especial manner, believers, whose times and persons are in God's hand, which bespeaks his great affection for them, their nearness to him, the support they have by him, and protection from him; and they choose to fall into the hands of him as a chastising Father, rather than into the hands of men, and at death commend themselves into his hands: but here it is taken in a bad sense, and signifies to be arrested by justice as a criminal, and be brought to the bar of God, and receive the sentence of condemnation; when such will feel the weight of his hand, and the fierceness of his wrath; and this is "a fearful thing": it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of men, injured and affronted, and that have power, and will show no mercy; it is very tremendous to fall into the hands of God, in the way of his judgments in this world; the apprehensions of a future judgment are terrible before hand; and the apparatus of the judgment, when it comes, will be very striking and surprising; but to stand before the Judge, charged with sin, naked, and without righteousness, speechless, and no one to speak in favour of them; to hear the dreadful sentence pronounced, and feel the wrath of God to the uttermost, how horrible must this be! the aggravations of this are, that it is into the hands "of God" that such fall, and not into the hands of men, or mere creatures; but of God, who is omniscient, and sees through all pretences; omnipotent, and none can rescue out of his hands by force; omnipresent, and so no escaping from him; just and faithful, and not to bribed, inexorable, immutable, and unalterable: and that he is "the living God"; in opposition to the lifeless deities of the Gentiles, and to mortal men; and is expressive of his eternity, and so of the duration of the sinner's punishment, that falls into his hands. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. For this is to be understood not in a good sense; so in general all mankind may be said to fall into, or be in the hands of God, as they are the work of his hands, the care of his providence, and are subject to his sovereignty; and in especial manner, believers, whose times and persons are in God's hand, which bespeaks his great affection for them, their nearness to him, the support they have by him, and protection from him; and they choose to fall into the hands of him as a chastising Father, rather than into the hands of men, and at death commend themselves into his hands: but here it is taken in a bad sense, and signifies to be arrested by justice as a criminal, and be brought to the bar of God, and receive the sentence of condemnation; when such will feel the weight of his hand, and the fierceness of his wrath; and this is "a fearful thing": it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of men, injured and affronted, and that have power, and will show no mercy; it is very tremendous to fall into the hands of God, in the way of his judgments in this world; the apprehensions of a future judgment are terrible before hand; and the apparatus of the judgment, when it comes, will be very striking and surprising; but to stand before the Judge, charged with sin, naked, and without righteousness, speechless, and no one to speak in favour of them; to hear the dreadful sentence pronounced, and feel the wrath of God to the uttermost, how horrible must this be! the aggravations of this are, that it is into the hands "of God" that such fall, and not into the hands of men, or mere creatures; but of God, who is omniscient, and sees through all pretences; omnipotent, and none can rescue out of his hands by force; omnipresent, and so no escaping from him; just and faithful, and not to bribed, inexorable, immutable, and unalterable: and that he is "the living God"; in opposition to the lifeless deities of the Gentiles, and to mortal men; and is expressive of his eternity, and so of the duration of the sinner's punishment, that falls into his hands. Hebrews 10:32 heb 10:32 heb 10:32 heb 10:32But call to remembrance the former days,.... The words may be considered either as a declaration of what they had done, and be read, "but ye do call to remembrance", &c. or as an exhortation to remember the days of their espousals, the times of their first conversion: and the apostle's design in this is, to mitigate the terror the preceding words might strike them with; and to aggravate the disgrace of turning back, when they had behaved so bravely in former times; and to encourage their faith and trust in God: in which after ye were illuminated, by the Spirit of God, to see their impurity, impotence, and unrighteousness, and their lost and miserable state by nature; and to behold Christ and salvation by him; and to have some light into the doctrines of the Gospel; and some glimmering of the glories of another world. The Syriac and Ethiopic versions render it "baptized"; now such as are converted, and are brought to make a public profession of their faith, and submit to the ordinances of Christ, are, in common, immediately called to suffer reproach and persecution of one kind or another; so Christ, after his baptism, was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil: Satan is spiteful and malicious, and God suffers afflictions to befall his people to try their graces, and to inure them to troubles early, as follows; ye endured a great fight of afflictions; meaning some violent persecution from their own countrymen, either at the death of Stephen, in which the apostle, being then unconverted; was concerned himself; or rather some other time of trouble, after the apostle was converted, to which he seems to have respect in Th1 2:14, these Hebrews, being enlisted as soldiers under Christ, the Captain of their salvation, were quickly engaged in a warfare, and were called forth to fight a fight of afflictions, and a very great one; and which they endured with patience, courage, and intrepidity.

For if he that rises up against kings is justly held worthy of punishment, inasmuch as he dissolves public order, of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy,

According to the law, "the adulterer and the adulteress were put to death." They could not say, "We seek repentance and we pray for mercy." There was no place for tears, and no opportunity was granted for any correction, but in every way it was necessary for those who had contravened the law to be punished. This was observed in certain individual offenses for which the death penalty was ascribed. But among Christians, if adultery has been committed, the precept is not that "the adulterer and adulteress" be punished by the destruction of the body. No power was given to episcopal authority to sentence an adulterer to immediate death, as had happened earlier according to the levitical law who gave this power to elders. What does this mean? That while the law of Moses takes adultery seriously enough to punish it unmercifully, the gospel of Christ through gentleness frees the adulterer to go from bad to worse? It is not so. For this reason, we brought forth the word of Paul, saying above, "How much worse punishment will be deserved by one who has spurned the Son of God," etc. Hear, therefore, how neither was the law cruel then, nor does the gospel now appear dissolute because of the abundance of mercy, but in both instances the benevolence of God is held in a different dispensation.

But if you sin again, the old reproaches return again against you and all the more so, since it is a much greater crime "to spurn the Son of God and to profane the blood of the covenant" than to neglect the law of Moses.

And who have “outraged the Spirit of grace,” which is in us? These are the people who consider the gospel to be equal to the law of Moses.

If then under the Old Covenant, when the law of Moses is set at nought, there is so great punishment, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the covenant an unholy [a common] thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" And how does a man "tread under foot the Son of God"? When partaking of Him in the mysteries (he would say) he has wrought sin, has he not trodden Him under foot? Has he not despised Him? For just as we make no account of those who are trodden under foot so also, they who sin have made no account of Christ; and so they have sinned. Thou art become the Body of Christ, and givest thou thyself to the devil, so that he treads thee under foot. "And accounted the blood a common thing," he says. What is "common"? It is "unclean," or the having nothing beyond other things. "And done despite unto the Spirit of grace." For he that accepts not a benefit, does despite to the benefactor. He made thee a son: and thou wishest to become a slave. He came to dwell with thee, and thou bringest in wicked imaginations to Him. Christ wished to stay with thee: and thou treadest Him down by surfeiting, by drunkenness. Let us listen, whoever partake of the mysteries unworthily: let us listen, whoever approach that Table unworthily. "Give not" (He says) "that which is holy unto the dogs, lest in time they trample them under their feet" (Matt. vii. 6), that is, lest they despise, lest they repudiate them. Yet he did not say this, but what was more fearful than this. For he constrains their souls by what is fearful. For this also is adapted to convert, no less than consolation. And at the same time he shows both the difference, and the chastisement, and sets forth the judgment upon them, as though it were an evident matter. "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy?" Here also he appears to me to hint at the mysteries.

Once more, note, he brings out the difference under the guise of exhortation, namely, the Son in one case and the slave in the other, those sacrifices of brute beasts in one case and in the other this rational and all-holy sacrifice. To the law he set in opposition not a law but the “blood” and the “Spirit.” Through them salvation comes to us.

"who has trampled the Son of God."How does one trample on the Son of God? When he does not listen to Him, when he who shares in Him commits sins: for that is to trample, namely to despise. "in the blood of the covenant." He refers to the blood of Christ: for through it we have received the new covenant. "and having shared." Having shared, as having nothing more excellent than the others, just as those who say that he is a naked man. For they say that he is nothing but blood, in which he differs from ours as far as honor is concerned. Then, showing their ingratitude, he says: by which he was sanctified. "and insulted the Spirit of grace? " For he who has not received the benefit of the gift insulted the one who gave it. He made you a son of God, but you prefer to become a servant. He came to dwell in you, yet you introduce the Devil within yourself. Are these not injuries and insults against the Spirit?

He submits the matter to their own judgment, which is what we usually do regarding what is firmly acknowledged by all, turning the listeners into judges. What does "tramples" mean? That is, despises. Just as we count despised people as nothing, so too, counting Christ as nothing, we thus come to the point of sinning. "And does not regard as holy the Blood of the covenant," that is, considers it no better than everything else. "Of the covenant," because for its sake a covenant was established with us, granting us an inheritance of blessings, as we said above. This is said concerning the sacraments. For when we, partaking of the Most Pure Body and Blood, plunge the flesh that has received the Mysteries into the filth of bodily impurity, do we not thereby also trample the Son of God? The dust of the earth is not as unworthy of the Divine Body as impurity is. Make use of what has been said against the Nestorians as well. They, considering Christ a mere man, regard His Blood as defiled, in no way different from that of anyone else. Here he shows the insensibility and ingratitude, for, he says, it was fitting to regard with fear the sanctification of which one had been deemed worthy in the Blood. For he who has unworthily managed the granted benefaction has insulted the Benefactor. Did He not make you a son of God? Yet you make yourself a slave of passions. Did He not come to dwell in you? Yet you introduce the devil into yourself. Is this not, then, an insult to the Spirit?

524. – Then (v. 29) he describes something which refers to the New Testament: first, he states the punishment; secondly, the crime (v. 29b). 525. – In regard to the punishment he says, how much worse punishment do you think he deserves? For since the New Testament was preached by Christ, a person who sins under it is punished more severely: 'But I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you' (Mt. 11:22). 526. – But is a Christian who sins punished more than an unbeliever? If he is, it were better for all to be unbelievers. I answer that the case of those who scorn the faith is one thing, because they are scorners in the full sense; but the case of those who from ignorance do not hold to the faith not announced to them is another. For the sin of unbelief is not imputed to the latter. But those who scorn the faith announced to them are punished more severely, because the sin of unbelief is the greatest. Therefore, if we compare a Christian with a Jew who does not scorn, and each is an adulterer, the Christian is punished more severely than the Jew, not only because he is an adulterer, but because he is more ungrateful. 527. – But is it generally true that the same specific sin is punished more severely in a greater person? I answer that there are two ways of sinning: one way is on a sudden, and so when a person dedicates himself to the things of God, if he sins all of a sudden, he is punished less: 'The Lord who is good will show mercy to all of those who with their whole heart seek the Lord, the God of our fathers' (2 Chr. 30:18); 'When the just man falls, he shall not be bruised' (Ps. 36:24). But if he sins from contempt, he sins more grievously, because, since he is in a higher state, he is more scornful. It is of these that he is speaking here, because they are more ungrateful. 528. – In regard to guilt he says, who has spurned the Son of God. Here it should be noted that the Apostle weighs the gravity of guilt in those who sin in the New Testament from the benefits conferred on us by God in it. But God has given us something He considered most important, the precious, namely, His only begotten Son: 'By whom he has given us most great and precious promises' (2 Pt. 1:4). He also gave the Holy Spirit: 'I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh' (Jl. 2:28); 'The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us' (Rom. 5:5). But ingratitude after such favors aggravates the sin. 529. – In regard to the ingratitude after receiving the Son, two things must be considered and pondered, namely, the mystery of the incarnation, in which He was given to us (Is. 9), and the sacrament of the passion in which He offered Himself for us: 'The blood of Christ who by the Holy Spirit offered himself unspotted unto God' (Heb. 9:14). Therefore, in regard to the first he says, who has spurned the Son of God made incarnate for us, i.e., has belittled Him by believing that faith in the Son of God is not sufficient for salvation: 'Before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been set forth' (Gal. 3:1). Also not by obeying His commandments and not living according to His teaching: 'They that despise me shall be despised' (1 Sam. 2:30). In regard to the second he says, and profaned the blood of the testament, i.e., Christ's blood which confirmed the New Testament: 'This is my blood of the new testament' (Mt. 26:28) and has profaned, i.e., has considered it unable to cleanse, as something unclean in itself does not cleanse: 'What can be made clean by the unclean?' (Sir. 34:4). As if to say: no one, namely, in the sense that only the blood of animals can cleanse. Furthermore, he has esteemed it unclean, who, after being washed by His power in baptism, sins by returning to his vomit: 'He loved us and cleansed us from our sins in his blood' (Rev. 1:5). Therefore, he says, by which he was sanctified: 'But you are washed, but you are sanctified, in the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. 6:11); 'In every place there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles' (Mal. 1:11). Again, one who sins after the other sacraments can also be said to esteem Christ's blood unclean. 530. – Furthermore, the sin is aggravated for scorning the Holy Spirit; hence, he says, and outraged the Spirit of grace, by not believing that the grace of the Holy Spirit is given through Christ, as it says in John (14:16): 'I will ask the Father, and he shall give you another Paraclete', and that it is not sufficient for salvation without the solemnities of the Law, as though ascribing the remission of sins to the observances of the Law. 531. – Or he treads Christ under foot by receiving Him unworthily after being given freely by the Holy Spirit: 'For it is the gift of God; not of works' (Eph. 2:8), and he injures Christ by expelling Him by sin: 'He shall not abide when iniquity comes in' (Wis. 1:5); 'Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God' (Eph. 4:30); 'Extinguish not the spirit' (1 Th. 5:19).

The insufficiency of the legal sacrifices to take away sin, Heb 10:1-4. The purpose and will of God, as declared by the Psalmist, relative to the salvation of the world by the incarnation of Christ; and our sanctification through that will, Heb 10:5-10. Comparison between the priesthood of Christ and that of the Jews, Heb 10:11-14. The new covenant which God promised to make, and the blessings of it, Heb 10:15-17. The access which genuine believers have to the holiest by the blood of Jesus, Heb 10:18-20. Having a High Priest over the Church of God, we should have faith, walk uprightly, hold fast our profession, exhort and help each other, and maintain Christian communion, Heb 10:21-25. The danger and awful consequences of final apostasy, Heb 10:26-31. In order to our perseverance, we should often reflect on past mercies, and the support afforded us in temptations and afflictions; and not cast away our confidence, for we shall receive the promise if we patiently fulfill the will of God, Heb 10:32-37. The just by faith shall live; but the soul that draws back shall die, Heb 10:38. The apostle's confidence in the believing Hebrews, Heb 10:39.

Of how much sorer punishment - Such offenses were trifling in comparison of this, and in justice the punishment should be proportioned to the offense. Trodden under foot the Son of God - Treated him with the utmost contempt and blasphemy. The blood of the covenant - an unholy thing - The blood of the covenant means here the sacrificial death of Christ, by which the new covenant between God and man was ratified, sealed, and confirmed. And counting this unholy, or common, κοινον, intimates that they expected nothing from it in a sacrificial or atoning way. How near to those persons, and how near to their destruction, do they come in the present day who reject the atoning blood, and say, "that they expect no more benefit from the blood of Christ than they do from that of a cow or a sheep!" Is not this precisely the crime of which the apostle speaks here, and to which he tells us God would show no mercy? Despite unto the Spirit of grace? - Hath insulted the Spirit of grace. The apostle means the Holy Spirit, whose gifts were bestowed in the first age on believers for the confirmation of the Gospel. See Heb 6:4-6. Wherefore, if one apostatized in the first age, after having been witness to these miraculous gifts, much more after having possessed them himself, he must, like the scribes and Pharisees, have ascribed them to evil spirits; than which a greater indignity could not be done to the Spirit of God. Macknight. This is properly the sin against the Holy Ghost, which has no forgiveness.

CONCLUSION OF THE FOREGOING ARGUMENT. THE YEARLY RECURRING LAW SACRIFICES CANNOT PERFECT THE WORSHIPPER, BUT CHRIST'S ONCE-FOR-ALL OFFERING CAN. (Heb. 10:1-39) Previously the oneness of Christ's offering was shown; now is shown its perfection as contrasted with the law sacrifices. having--inasmuch as it has but "the shadow, not the very image," that is, not the exact likeness, reality, and full revelation, such as the Gospel has. The "image" here means the archetype (compare Heb 9:24), the original, solid image [BENGEL] realizing to us those heavenly verities, of which the law furnished but a shadowy outline before. Compare Co2 3:13-14, Co2 3:18; the Gospel is the very setting forth by the Word and Spirit of the heavenly realities themselves, out of which it (the Gospel) is constructed. So ALFORD. As Christ is "the express image (Greek, 'impress') of the Father's person" (Heb 1:3), so the Gospel is the heavenly verities themselves manifested by revelation--the heavenly very archetype, of which the law was drawn as a sketch, or outline copy (Heb 8:5). The law was a continual process of acted prophecy, proving the divine design that its counterparts should come; and proving the truth of those counterparts when they came. Thus the imperfect and continued expiatory sacrifices before Christ foretend, and now prove, the reality of, Christ's one perfect antitypical expiation. good things to come-- (Heb 9:11); belonging to "the world (age) to come." Good things in part made present by faith to the believer, and to be fully realized hereafter in actual and perfect enjoyment. Lessing says, "As Christ's Church on earth is a prediction of the economy of the future life, so the Old Testament economy is a prediction of the Christian Church." In relation to the temporal good things of the law, the spiritual and eternal good things of the Gospel are "good things to come." Col 2:17 calls legal ordinances "the shadow," and Christ "the body." never--at any time (Heb 10:11). with those sacrifices--rather, "with the same sacrifices. year by year--This clause in the Greek refers to the whole sentence, not merely to the words "which they the priests offered" (Greek, "offer"). Thus the sense is, not as English Version, but, the law year by year, by the repetition of the same sacrifices, testifies its inability to perfect the worshippers; namely, on the YEARLY day of atonement. The "daily" sacrifices are referred to, Heb 10:11. continually--Greek, "continuously," implying that they offer a toilsome and ineffectual "continuous" round of the "same" atonement-sacrifices recurring "year by year." comers thereunto--those so coming unto God, namely, the worshippers (the whole people) coming to God in the person of their representative, the high priest. perfect--fully meet man's needs as to justification and sanctification (see on Heb 9:9).

sorer--Greek, "worse," namely, "punishment" (literally, "vengeance") than any mere temporal punishment of the body. suppose ye--an appeal to the Hebrews' reason and conscience. thought worthy--by God at the judgment. trodden under foot the Son of God--by "wilful" apostasy. So he treads under foot God Himself who "glorified His Son as an high priest" (Heb 5:5; Heb 6:6). an unholy thing--literally, "common," as opposed to "sanctified." No better than the blood of a common man, thus involving the consequence that Christ, in claiming to be God, was guilty of blasphemy, and so deserved to die! wherewith he was sanctified--for Christ died even for him. "Sanctified," in the fullest sense, belongs only to the saved elect. But in some sense it belongs also to those who have gone a far way in Christian experience, and yet fall away at last. The higher such a one's past Christian experiences, the deeper his fall. done despite unto--by repelling in fact: as "blasphemy" is despite in words (Mar 3:29). "Of the Jews who became Christians and relapsed to Judaism, we find from the history of Uriel Acosta, that they required a blasphemy against Christ. 'They applied to Him epithets used against Molech the adulterous branch,' &c." [THOLUCK]. the Spirit of grace--the Spirit that confers grace. "He who does not accept the benefit, insults Him who confers it. He hath made thee a son: wilt thou become a slave? He has come to take up His abode with thee; but thou art introducing evil into thyself" [CHRYSOSTOM]. "It is the curse of evil eternally to propagate evil: so, for him who profanes the Christ without him, and blasphemes the Christ within him, there is subjectively no renewal of a change of mind (Heb 6:6), and objectively no new sacrifice for sins" (Heb 10:26) [THOLUCK].