Thomas Aquinas Commentary Hebrews 9:11-14

"But Christ having come a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: 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 9:11-14 (ASV)

Having shown the significance of things related to the Old Testament and the first tabernacle, the Apostle now describes the condition of things related to the second tabernacle, which represented the New Testament. Here he does two things: first, he presents that significance; secondly, he proves something he had previously assumed, as mentioned in verse 13.

It should be noted that, considering what has already been said, five things have been mentioned concerning the second tabernacle:

1. Who entered it: the high priest.
2. The dignity and condition of the place he entered: it was called the holy of holies.
3. How he entered: with blood.
4. When he entered: once a year.
5. Why he entered: to atone for sins.

Here, the Apostle explains all of this. First of all, he explains who enters: Christ. For the high priest is the chief among the priests, and Christ was such: “And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a never-fading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4); “Having therefore a great high priest that has passed into the heavens” (Hebrews 4:14).

Every high priest is an administrator of a testament. In every testament, two things are to be considered: the end promised in that testament, and the things handed down in it. The blessings promised in the Old Testament were temporal: “If you are willing and will listen to me, you shall eat the good things of the land” (Isaiah 1:19). Therefore, the high priest of the Old Testament was a high priest of temporal blessings. But Christ is the high priest of heavenly blessings: “Rejoice and be glad, because your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:12). Therefore, He is a high priest of the good things to come, because by His high priesthood we are brought to these future blessings: “We shall be filled with the good things of your house” (Psalms 65:4).

Furthermore, symbolic things were administered in the Old Testament, but Christ administers the spiritual things they prefigured: “Your Father from heaven will give the good Spirit to them that ask him” (Luke 11:13). Thus, “the good things to come” can be understood either as heavenly blessings, with respect to the New Testament, or as spiritual things, with respect to the Old, which was their figure.

This high priest is not negligent, but actively present. For a high priest is a mediator between God and the people, and Christ is a mediator: “The mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5); “I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you” (Deuteronomy 5:5). Therefore, He assists the Father by interceding for us: “Christ Jesus who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34). He also assists us with His help: “He is at my right hand that I be not moved” (Psalms 16:8); “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). Thus, it is clear who entered.

Secondly, he shows the dignity of the inner tabernacle when he says, by a greater, and its condition when he says, and more perfect tabernacle, because it is immovable: “Your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed” (Isaiah 33:20). This is the tabernacle of heavenly glory: “Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle?” (Psalms 15:1). It is called a tabernacle because it is the dwelling of pilgrims, for it is not due to us because of our nature, but only through grace: “My people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest” (Isaiah 32:18). It is greater because of the immeasurable multitude of good things, which is indicated in the scripture cited: “My people shall sit in the beauty of peace” (Isaiah 32:18); “O Israel, how great is the house of God” .

The phrase by a greater can be read in two ways. In one way, it is a single phrase as if to mean “very great.” The reading would then be: When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered into the holy of holies, which is a very large tabernacle. In another way, “by” is a preposition, which is expressed better in Greek. The meaning is then: Christ entered into the holies by means of a greater, more spacious, and more perfect tabernacle. It was more perfect because all imperfection ceased there: “When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Corinthians 13:10). Furthermore, it is of a different condition, because the old one was made by human hands, but this one by the hand of God: “Your sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established” (Exodus 15:17); “We know, if our earthly house of this habitation is dissolved, that we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:1); “For he looked for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Hence, he says, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, because it is not made with hands like the old one, nor is it of this creation—that is, it does not consist in sensible created goods, but in spiritual goods.

Alternatively, the tabernacle can be understood as Christ’s body, in which He fought against the devil: “He has set his tabernacle in the sun” (Psalms 19:4–5). This tabernacle is very large, because “in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9), and more perfect, because “we have seen his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). It is not made with hands because it was not conceived from human seed: “A stone was cut out of a mountain without hands” (Daniel 2:34).

Thirdly, he shows how He entered: not without blood. The old high priest entered with the blood of calves and goats, as it says in Leviticus 16. But Christ did not do so; that is, He did not enter with the blood of another. He took not the blood of goats or of calves but his own blood, which He offered on the cross for our salvation: “This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). The author uses the plural, “of goats and of calves,” not because more than one was offered at a time, but because the high priest entered many times over various years. Christ is signified by the goat because of the “likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3), and by the calf because of His strength and because He uses the two testaments as two horns: “Horns are in his hands” (Habakkuk 3:4).

Fourthly, when he entered: the old high priest entered once a year. But Christ, throughout all of time, which is like a single year, entered once for all into the holies and poured out His blood once: “Christ died once for our sins” (1 Peter 3:18); “For in that he died to sin, he died once” (Romans 6:10). Furthermore, He entered once; for from the fact that He entered heaven, He is there always. Hence, he says, he entered once for all into the holies.

Fifthly, he shows why He entered. The old high priest entered to make an offering for the sins of ignorance of the people, not for his own, because he had none. But the blood of Christ is more powerful, because by it He secured an eternal redemption. This is to say that we are redeemed by that blood, and this redemption is forever because His power is infinite: “By one oblation he has perfected forever them that are sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). The fact that he says secured can refer to God’s desire for our salvation: “I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24, KJV alternate reading); “I desire not the death of him that dies” (Ezekiel 18:32). Or it can refer to the desire of the fathers to be redeemed. Because no one found a way as suitable as Christ, the author says, quite significantly, secured.

Then, in verse 13, he proves one of the things he had assumed, namely, the statement, having obtained eternal redemption. It is as if to say: I have said that He secured eternal redemption by His own blood, in which His greatest effectiveness appears. That this is so, I prove by arguing from the lesser to the greater. In regard to this, he does two things: first, he presents the premise; secondly, the conclusion (v. 14).

Regarding the first point, it should be noted that there were two cleansings in the Old Law. One took place on the Day of Atonement, as already stated, and seemed to be directly intended for cleansing from sin. The other was against legal impurity, as mentioned in Numbers 19:2, where the Lord commanded Eleazar to take from Moses a red cow without blemish, of full age, which had not carried the yoke, and bring her outside the camp and sacrifice her in the sight of all. Then, dipping his finger in her blood, he was to sprinkle it toward the door of the tabernacle seven times. Then he was to burn her flesh entirely—her flesh, hide, and even her dung. The priest was then to take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet wool. After this was done, a man who was clean was to gather up the ashes of the cow and pour them in a clean place outside the camp. Some of these ashes were to be put in water, with which an unclean person who had touched a corpse was to be sprinkled on the third and seventh days with hyssop. In this way, and no other, could he be cleansed. This is the Apostle’s point. Therefore, regarding the first cleansing, he says, If the blood of goats and oxen; and as to the second, he says, and the ashes of a heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled. This sanctification did not confer grace, but led to the cleansing of the flesh—that is, from a physical impurity that prevented them, as unclean, from divine worship. But these rituals did not take away sins, because, as Augustine says, sometimes by virtue of that sprinkling they were cleansed from bodily leprosy. Hence, he says, to the cleansing of the flesh.

Then, when he says, how much more the blood of Christ... cleanses our conscience, he presents the conclusion. It is as if to say: If blood and ashes can do this, what can Christ’s blood do? Certainly much more. The Apostle then mentions three things that show the effectiveness of Christ’s blood.

1. First, he shows whose blood it is: it is Christ’s. From this it is evident that His blood cleanses: “For he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21).
2. Secondly, he gives the reason why Christ shed His blood: this was done by the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit’s movement and prompting—namely, by the love of God and neighbor—He did this: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19). But the Spirit cleanses: “If the Lord shall wash away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall wash away the blood of Jerusalem out of the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4). Therefore, he says, who by the Holy Spirit offered himself. As it is also written: “Christ has loved us and has delivered himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a fragrant aroma” (Ephesians 5:2).
3. Thirdly, he describes His condition: He is without blemish. “It shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year” (Exodus 12:5); “What can be made clean by the unclean?” .

But can an unclean priest cleanse? I answer: No, if he acted in his own power. But he acts by the power of Christ’s blood, which is the first cause. Therefore, Christ could not have acted unless He were clean.

It should be noted that the blood of those animals merely cleansed from external defilement, namely, from contact with the dead. But the blood of Christ cleanses the conscience inwardly, which is accomplished by faith: “Purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15:9), inasmuch as it makes one believe that all who adhere to Christ are cleansed by His blood. Therefore, He cleanses the conscience.

The old rituals also cleansed from contact with a corpse, but Christ’s blood cleanses from dead works—that is, sins, which remove God from the soul, whose life consists in union with Him by charity. The old rituals also cleansed them so that they might come to the symbolic ministry, but the blood of Christ cleanses us for the spiritual service of God: “The man that walked in the perfect way, he served me” (Psalms 101:6). Therefore, he says, to serve the living God.

Furthermore, God is life: “I am the life” (John 14:6); “I live forever” (Deuteronomy 32:40). Therefore, it is fitting that one who serves Him be alive. Hence, he says, living God, for “as the judge of the people is himself, so also are his ministers” . Therefore, whoever would serve God worthily should be living, just as He is.