"Through his own blood he entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained
eternal redemption" — Heb. 9:12

"By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men" (Rom. 5:12).

"Through the offense of one, many be dead" (v. 15).

"Judgment was by one to condemnation" (v. 16).

"By one man's offense death reigned" (v. 17).

"By the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation" (v. 18).

"By one man's disobedience many were made sinners" (v. 19).

THE above quotations teach that death came upon all men through Adam—that condemnation came upon the whole race by the offence of one man, Adam—that the consequences of Adam's sin passed through him to all his posterity—that "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15.22).

This is the "breach" (as a question expresses it) between God and the human race. Christ's mission was to heal that breach and reconcile the race to God. If we carefully examine all Paul's teachings on this subject, we shall find that all the advantage for us of Christ's sacrifice hinges upon the fact that he was one of us "in all points" and under the same condemnation that Adam brought upon the race.

Christ was one of the race which, as a race, was separated from God by the defilement caused by Adam's sin, and only as one of that defiled race could he fulfill the requirements for that race's redemption.

Christ was a man, born of a woman, born of the flesh. It would naturally follow, even in the absence of any other testimony that he was subject to the same constitution and racial condemnation as the rest of mankind—that he had the same law of sin in his members as Paul and everyone else had. Condemnation came upon all men, and Christ was a man.

But we are not left to infer this. It is very clearly and definitely stated. It is put forward as an absolute necessity that he should be—

"Made in all points like his brethren . . to make reconciliation for sin" (Heb. 2:17).

This fact is the very basis and foundation of all Paul's reasoning upon the subject. Consider the following points—

1. "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that it, the devil.

"Wherefore IN ALL THINGS it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren" (Heb. 2:14-17).

There are two points here. First: the fact—

Second: the reason—

Paul says it was necessary for him to take part of the same flesh and blood in order that he might destroy the devil by death. We know that the devil is sin in the flesh. Jesus had to have sinful flesh in order to overcome sinful flesh, and by dying to destroy sinful flesh. Is not this the very strength of Paul's whole argument?

2. "He offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to SAVE HIM FROM DEATH, and was heard in that he feared" (Heb. 5:7).

NOTE: "To save him from death." He was saved from death by his godly fear and obedience.

3. "He needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, FIRST FOR HIS OWN SINS, and then for the people's: for THIS HE DID ONCE, when he offered up himself" (Heb. 7:27).

The simple and obvious meaning of this is that he offered once for his own sins and for the people's. The force of this is sometimes evaded by objecting to the expression "his own sins," inasmuch as Christ was free from personal transgression, but by an examination of the ordinance to which Paul refers, we find (Lev. 16) that the high priest offered (v. 16)—

So "sins" in this passage in Hebrews includes uncleanness as well as actual transgression; it includes the whole conception of the sin constitution. It is only by considering these two aspects of sin as inseparable parts of one whole that we can understand how Christ, by destroying the body of sin on the cross, could cover our transgressions.

Our sins are not something separate from our nature—they are a development of it. In us, sin is too strong for us and becomes manifest in our actions: in Christ sin was controlled and overcome and never became manifest in action. But in both cases it is the same battle with the same adversary.

4. "BY HIS OWN BLOOD he entered into the Holy Place" (Heb. 9:12).

We know what the Holy Place signified—the immortal state beyond the veil of the flesh; and Christ entered it "BY" (RV: through) his own purifying, sacrificial blood. Then Paul continues—

He entered having obtained eternal redemption by his own blood.

The spurious "for us" in italics in the Authorized Version is incorrect and is omitted in the Revised Version. The lexicons tell us that the verb "obtained" is in the middle voice, indicating reflexive action, that is, it means "having obtained FOR HIMSELF."

This is what one would naturally take from the passage as it stands in English. It is obvious that the translators of the Authorized Version added the "for us" in direct violation of the grammatical meaning and just to support a false theory.

5. "He was IN ALL POINTS tempted as we are" (Heb. 4:15).

How are we tempted? Paul says:

"I see a law in my members, warring against the law of my mind" (Rom 7:23).

And James says (1:14)—

This is how Christ was tempted, and this is what he perfectly resisted and overcame, and this is what he destroyed by death.

6. "God sending His Own Son IN THE LIKENESS OF SINFUL FLESH, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3).

He had to be in the very likeness of sinful flesh to be in a position to condemn sin in the flesh. Do we question the meaning of "likeness" and seek to weaken this statement by saying ‘likeness’ does not here mean identity but only apparent similarity? —

Gen. 5:3 —"Adam begat a son in his own likeness, and called his name Seth."

Christ is said many times to be a man, and also to be in the likeness of a man (Phil. 2:7).

7. According to Jesus’ own testimony (John 3:16), he was the antitype of the brazen serpent that Moses erected in the wilderness (Num. 21:9).

What did this symbolize? How did this typify Christ?

That which caused death was lifted up as a type of sin's body being crucified and forming the basis of reconciliation for all who look toward it. Paul refers to this when he says (Rom. 6:8)—

Christ overcame and crucified our master, sin-in-the-flesh, and delivered us from his service. He raised up the body of sin on the cross just as Moses raised up the serpent, exhibiting and condemning that which brought death, and those who look upon him are delivered.

8. "Almost all things are by the Law purged with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.

"It was necessary, therefore, that the PATTERNS of things in the heaven should be purified with THESE (animal sacrifices), but the HEAVENLY THINGS THEMSELVES with BETTER SACRIFICES than these" (Heb. 9:22).

Now we know that all the Mosaic pattern points forward to Christ. Consider Lev. 16:15-19—

What is the antitypical fulfillment of the cleansing of the Mercy-seat and the Altar by blood? What is signified by this? Who is it that was typified by the Mercy-seat and the Altar?—

"God set him forth to be a Mercy-seat" (Rom. 3:25).

"We have an Altar whereof they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle" (Heb. 13:10).

Christ is the Mercy-seat and Altar, cleansed by his own blood from the uncleanness of sinful flesh.

9. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the (Mosaic) Law, being made a curse for us, for it is written —

"Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13).

He had to come under the curse of the Mosaic law, reasons Paul, in order to redeem those under that curse. Is not this parallel with Paul's declaration that he had to be flesh and blood in order to destroy the Adamic curse? He had to come under it in order to destroy it in himself, and open a way out of it for himself, and for all those who united themselves with him in the appointed way.

The Adamic curse he came under by birth as we all do. The Mosaic curse he came under, as Paul says, by the manner of his death—both without the loss of his personal righteousness.

10. ALL who took part in the ceremonial and typical processes under the Mosaic Law where themselves defiled in so doing (See Num. 19:7-10, etc.).

What is this intended to teach? Does it not typify the fact that the one whom all these things represented was defiled by the process required for cleansing the human race from sin, and had to be cleansed himself?

11. "He was made sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21).

In what way was he "made sin," other than as Paul explains by partaking of the same flesh and blood as the children in which the law of sin reigned?

12. "Who his own self bare our sins IN HIS OWN BODY on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24).

In what way did he bear our sins "in his own body," except as Paul explains by partaking of sinful flesh, bearing "in his body" the root and tendencies of sin which he conquered and subdued.

"In his own body" establishes the connection between him and us. He was one of the defiled race. Therefore he could be accepted by God as representing the race.

If God had exacted a penalty from someone upon whom it did not rightly fall, this would be neither justice nor love. But when God especially provides and strengthens one of the race, and enables him to fulfill the conditions which all (including himself) should fulfill, and then is willing to receive all the rest on the basis of an identification with this one perfect example and sacrifice—there indeed is both love and justice demonstrated with beautiful and unsearchable divine wisdom and power!

13. "God ... BROUGHT AGAIN FROM THE DEAD our Lord Jesus BY THE BLOOD of the everlasting covenant" (Heb. 13:20).

Here is another key statement of great importance. Jesus was brought from the dead by his own blood.

14. Jesus was the effectual SUBSTANCE of the SHADOWS of the Mosaic Law.

HE did ACTUALLY what THEY did SYMBOLICALLY. They could not take away sin, Paul says, because they were only symbols, only types. Christ was the actual fulfillment. He actually "destroyed the body of sin" (Rom. 6:6). He actually destroyed the devil (Heb. 2:14).

If he did not do this ACTUALLY, in himself, then his sacrifice was no more efficacious than those under the Law. He too dissolves into merely another symbol, merely another shadow.

To actually destroy the body of sin he had to have the body of sin. To actually destroy the devil in himself, he had to have the devil in himself, THEREFORE—

The whole plan of salvation is based upon the fact that Christ was ONE OF US—the seed of the woman—one of the condemned race—"A man made strong" (Psa. 80:17).

In redeeming himself he redeemed all who accept him as their head and make themselves one with him by baptism. Adam fell and involved the whole race in his ruin. Christ, as one of the fallen race, leads it back to God by his acceptable life and sacrificial death.

The "breach" between Christ and God, if one choose to put it that way (it is not really a scriptural expression or mode of thought) was involved in the fact that for his work to be effective for us, he had to be—

He had to "also himself likewise take part of the same" flesh and blood as the race he was to redeem (Heb. 2:14). To remove the curse he had to come under the curse—to remove the condemnation he had to come under the condemnation.

He was not a substitute FOR us, as the orthodox churches of Christendom teach; he was a representative OF us, and to be such he had to be truly one of us, made "in all points like unto" us, that God's righteous law might be vindicated in him, and we might escape from it by coming under the shadow of his escape, by becoming one with him.

1. That the nature of Christ was not exactly like ours.

2. That the offering of Christ was not for himself, and that Christ never made an offering for himself.

3. That Christ's offering was for personal sins or moral impurity only. That our sins laid on Christ made him unclean and accursed of God, and that it was from this curse and this uncleanness that Christ needed cleansing.

4. That Christ died as a substitute; that is, that he was punished for the transgression of others and that he became a bearer of sin by suffering the punishment due for sins.

1. That death came into the world extraneously to the nature bestowed upon Adam in Eden, and was not inherent in him before the sentence.

2. That the sentence defiled him (Adam) and became a physical law of his being, and was transmitted to all his posterity.

3. That the word "sin" is used in two principal acceptations in the scriptures. It signifies in the first place "the transgression of law," and in the next it represents that physical principle of the animal nature, which is the cause of all its diseases, death and resolution to dust.

4. That Jesus possessed our nature, which was a defiled, condemned nature.

5. That it was therefore necessary that Jesus should offer for himself for the purging of his own nature, first, from the uncleanness of death, that having by his own blood obtained eternal redemption for himself, he might be able afterward to save to the uttermost those that come to God by him.

6. That the doctrine of substitution, that is, that a righteous man can, by suffering the penalty due to the sinner, free the sinner from the penalty of his sin, is foreign to the scripture and is a dogma of heathen mythology.