Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 10:1

"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." — Hebrews 10:1 (ASV)

“The law” as used here stands for the whole OT, with particular reference to the sacrificial system. This is dismissed as no more than “a shadow” (GK 5014). It points to something unsubstantial in opposition to what is real. The law is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Perhaps those exegetes are right who see a metaphor from painting. The “shadow” then is the preliminary outline that an artist may make before he gets to his colors, and the “reality” (GK 1635) is the finished portrait. Thus the law is no more than a preliminary sketch. It shows the shape of things to come, but the solid reality is not there. It is in Christ. The “good things that are coming” are not defined, but this general term is sufficient to show that the law pointed forward to something well worthwhile.

In the second half of this verse, the expression translated “endlessly” can go with what precedes it in the Greek (as NIV) or with what follows, meaning that the law can never bring worshipers to perfection “for all time.” The latter interpretation is preferable. The author is saying, then, that the Levitical sacrifices continue year by year, but they are quite unable to bring the worshipers into a permanent or endless state of perfection. The yearly sacrifices mark another reference to the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement—ceremonies of which the author makes a good deal of use. “Can never” points to an inherent weakness of the old system: the animal sacrifices are quite unable to effect the putting away of sin. The yearly repetition repeats the failure. The same rites that were unavailing last year are all that the law can offer this year. There is an inbuilt limitation in animal sacrifice.