John Calvin Commentary Hebrews 9:14

"how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" — Hebrews 9:14 (ASV)

Who through the eternal Spirit, etc. He now clearly shows how Christ’s death is to be understood, not by the external act, but by the power of the Spirit. For Christ suffered as a man, but that death becomes saving for us through the effective power of the Spirit; for a sacrifice, which was to be an eternal expiation, was a work more than human.

And he calls the Spirit eternal for this reason: so that we may know that the reconciliation, of which the Spirit is the worker or agent, is eternal.

By saying, without spot, or unblemished, although he alludes to the victims under the Law which were not to have any blemish or defect, he still means that Christ alone was the lawful victim, capable of appeasing God. For there was always in others something that might justly be considered lacking. And therefore, he said before that the covenant of the Law was not ἀμεμπτον, blameless.

From dead works, etc. Understand by these either works that produce death, or works that are the fruits or effects of death. For as the life of the soul is our union with God, so those who are alienated from Him through sin may justly be considered dead.

To serve the living God. This, we must observe, is the purpose of our purgation. For we are not washed by Christ so that we may plunge ourselves again into new filth, but so that our purity may serve to glorify God.

Besides, he teaches us that nothing can come from us that can be pleasing to God until we are purified by the blood of Christ. For as we are all enemies of God before our reconciliation, He regards all our works as abominable. Therefore, the beginning of acceptable service is reconciliation.

And then, since no work is so pure and so free from stains that it can of itself please God, it is necessary that the purgation through the blood of Christ should intervene, which alone can remove all stains. And there is a striking contrast between the living God and dead works.