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Or else wouldn`t they have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins?

Verse Takeaways

1

The Repetition Test

Multiple commentators, including Charles Spurgeon, emphasize that the author's argument is simple and powerful: if the Old Testament sacrifices had truly and permanently cleansed people from sin, they would have stopped. The very fact that they had to be repeated daily and yearly was proof of their inability to provide a final solution for sin. Albert Barnes compares it to medicine that, if taken repeatedly without a cure, proves its own deficiency.

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Book Overview

Hebrews

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Commentaries

11

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes

On Hebrews 10:2

18th Century

Theologian

For then would they not have ceased to be offered? A marginal note says, "Or they would have." The meaning is the same. The idea is that t…

AT Robertson

AT Robertson

On Hebrews 10:2

Else they would not have ceased? (επε ουκ αν επαυσαντο; ). Ellipsis of condition after επε (since if they really did perfect) with…

Charles Ellicott

Charles Ellicott

On Hebrews 10:2

19th Century

Bishop

For then.—Better, otherwise. The very repetition of the annual ceremonial was a testimony to its imperfection. The idea o…

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Charles Spurgeon

Charles Spurgeon

On Hebrews 10:1–2

19th Century

Preacher

For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered ye…

Expositor's Bible Commentary

Expositor's Bible Commentary

On Hebrews 10:2

The rhetorical question here emphasizes the truth that the very continuity of the sacrifices witnesses to their ineffectiveness. Had the sacrifices…

John Gill

John Gill

On Hebrews 10:2

17th Century

Pastor

For then would they not have ceased to be offered
The Complutensian edition, and the Syriac and Vulgate Latin versio…

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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry

On Hebrews 10:1–10

17th Century

Minister

The apostle, having shown that the tabernacle and ordinances of the covenant of Sinai were only emblems and types of the gospel, concludes that the…