Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks

Footnotes

1. Hebrews 8:1 tn Grk “the main point of the things being said.”
2. Hebrews 8:1 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1; see Heb 1:3, 13.
3. Hebrews 8:4 tn Grk “there are those who offer.”
4. Hebrews 8:5 tn Grk “who serve in,” referring to the Levitical priests, but focusing on the provisional and typological nature of the tabernacle in which they served.
5. Hebrews 8:5 tn Or “prototype,” “outline.” The Greek word ὑπόδειγμα (hupodeigma) does not mean “copy,” as it is often translated; it means “something to be copied,” a basis for imitation. BDAG 1037 s.v. 2 lists both Heb 8:5 and 9:23 under the second category of usage, “an indication of someth. that appears at a subsequent time,” emphasizing the temporal progression between the earthly and heavenly sanctuaries.sn There are two main options for understanding the conceptual background of the heavenly sanctuary imagery. The first is to understand the imagery to be functioning on a vertical plane. This background is Hellenistic, philosophical, and spatial in orientation and sees the earthly sanctuary as a copy of the heavenly reality. The other option is to see the imagery functioning on a horizontal plane. This background is Jewish, eschatological, and temporal and sees the heavenly sanctuary as the fulfillment and true form of the earthly sanctuary which preceded it. The second option is preferred, both for lexical reasons (see tn above) and because it fits the Jewish context of the book (although many scholars prefer to emphasize the relationship the book has to Hellenistic thought).
6. Hebrews 8:5 tn The word τύπος (tupos) here has the meaning “an archetype serving as a model, type, pattern, model” (BDAG 1020 s.v. 6.a). This is in keeping with the horizontal imagery accepted for this verse (see sn on “sketch” earlier in the verse). Here Moses was shown the future heavenly sanctuary which, though it did not yet exist, became the outline for the earthly sanctuary.
7. Hebrews 8:5 sn A quotation from Exod 25:40.
8. Hebrews 8:6 sn The Greek text indicates a contrast between vv. 4-5 and v. 6 that is difficult to render in English: Jesus’ status in the old order of priests (vv. 4-5) versus his superior ministry (v. 6).
9. Hebrews 8:6 tn Grk “he”; in the translation the referent (Jesus) has been specified for clarity.
10. Hebrews 8:6 tn Grk “to the degree that.”
11. Hebrews 8:6 tn Grk “which is enacted.”
12. Hebrews 8:6 sn This linkage of the change in priesthood with a change in the law or the covenant goes back to Heb 7:12, 22 and is picked up again in Heb 9:6-15 and 10:1-18.
13. Hebrews 8:7 tn Grk “no occasion for a second one would have been sought.”
14. Hebrews 8:8 tn Grk “for,” but providing an explanation of the God-intended limitation of the first covenant from v. 7.
15. Hebrews 8:8 sn The “fault” or limitation in the first covenant was not in its inherent righteousness, but in its design from God himself. It was never intended to be his final revelation or provision for mankind; it was provisional, always pointing toward the fulfillment to come in Christ.
16. Hebrews 8:8 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17. Hebrews 8:8 tc ‡ Several witnesses (א* A D* I K P Ψ 33 81 326 365 1505 2464 al latt co Cyr) have αὐτούς (autous) here, “[in finding fault with] them, [he says],” alluding to Israel’s failings mentioned in v. 9b. (The verb μέμφομαι [memphomai, “to find fault with”] can take an accusative or dative direct object.) The reading behind the text above (αὐτοίς, autois), supported by P⁴⁶ א² B D² 0278 1739 1881 M, is perhaps a harder reading theologically, and is more ambiguous in meaning. If αὐτοίς goes with μεμφόμενος (memphomenos, here translated “showing its fault”), the clause could be translated “in finding fault with them” or “in showing [its] faults to them.” If αὐτοίς goes with the following λέγει (legei, “he says”), the clause is best translated, “in finding/showing [its] faults, he says to them.” The accusative pronoun suffers no such ambiguity, for it must be the object of μεμφόμενος rather than λέγει. Although a decision is difficult, the dative form of the pronoun best explains the rise of the other reading and is thus more likely to be original.
18. Hebrews 8:9 tn Grk “not like the covenant,” continuing the description of v. 8b.
19. Hebrews 8:10 tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”
20. Hebrews 8:10 tn Grk “mind.”
21. Hebrews 8:10 tn Grk “I will be to them for a God and they will be to me for a people,” following the Hebrew constructions of Jer 31.
22. Hebrews 8:11 tn Grk “they will not teach, each one his fellow citizen…” The Greek makes this negation emphatic: “they will certainly not teach.”
23. Hebrews 8:11 tn Grk “from the small to the great.”
24. Hebrews 8:12 sn A quotation from Jer 31:31-34.
25. Hebrews 8:13 tn Grk “when he says, ‘new,’” (referring to the covenant).
26. Hebrews 8:13 tn Grk “near to disappearing.”
27. Hebrews 9:1 tn Grk “the first” (referring to the covenant described in Heb 8:7, 13). In the translation the referent (covenant) has been specified for clarity.
28. Hebrews 9:2 tn Grk “the first,” in order of approach in the ritual.
29. Hebrews 9:2 tn Grk “in which [were].”
30. Hebrews 9:2 tn Grk “which,” describing the outer tent.
31. Hebrews 9:4 tn Grk “in which”; in the translation the referent (the ark) has been specified for clarity.
32. Hebrews 9:5 tn Grk “above it”; in the translation the referent (the ark) has been specified for clarity.
33. Hebrews 9:5 sn The cherubim (pl.) were an order of angels mentioned repeatedly in the OT but only here in the NT. They were associated with God’s presence, glory, and holiness. Their images that sat on top of the ark of the covenant are described in Exod 25:18-20.
34. Hebrews 9:6 tn Grk “the first tent.”
35. Hebrews 9:7 tn Grk “the second tent.”
36. Hebrews 9:7 tn Or perhaps “the unintentional sins of the people”; Grk “the ignorances of the people.” Cf. BDAG 13 s.v. ἀγνόημα, “sin committed in ignorance/unintentionally.” This term seems to be simply a synonym for “sins” (cf. Heb 5:2) and does not pick up the distinction made in Num 15:22-31 between unwitting sin and “high-handed” sin. The Day of Atonement ritual in Lev 16 covered all the sins of the people, not just the unwitting ones.
37. Hebrews 9:8 tn Grk “the first tent.” The literal phrase “the first tent” refers to either (1) the outer chamber of the tabernacle in the wilderness (as in vv. 2, 6) or (2) the entire tabernacle as a symbol of the OT system of approaching God. The second is more likely given the contrast that follows in vv. 11-12.
38. Hebrews 9:10 tn Grk “only for foods and drinks.”
39. Hebrews 9:10 tc Most witnesses (D¹ M) have “various washings, and external regulations” (βαπτισμοῖς καὶ δικαιώμασιν, baptismois kai dikaiōmasin), with both nouns in the dative. The translation “washings; they are…regulations” renders βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα (baptismois, dikaiōmata; found in such significant mss as P⁴⁶ א* A I P 0278 33 1739 1881 al sa) in which case δικαιώματα is taken as the nominative subject of the participle ἐπικείμενα (epikeimena). It seems far more likely that scribes would conform δικαιώματα to the immediately preceding datives and join it to them by καί than they would to the following nominative participle. Both on external and internal evidence the text is thus secure as reading βαπτισμοῖς, δικαιώματα.
40. Hebrews 9:10 tn Grk “until the time of setting things right.”
41. Hebrews 9:11 tn Grk “But Christ, when he came,” introducing a sentence that includes all of Heb 9:11-12. The main construction is “Christ, having come…, entered…, having secured…,” and everything else describes his entrance.
42. Hebrews 9:12 tn This verb occurs in the Greek middle voice, which here intensifies the role of the subject, Christ, in accomplishing the action: “he alone secured”; “he and no other secured.”
43. Hebrews 9:13 tn Grk “for the purifying of the flesh.” The “flesh” here is symbolic of outward or ritual purity in contrast to inner purity, that of the conscience (cf. Heb 9:9).
44. Hebrews 9:14 tc The reading adopted by the translation is attested by many authorities (A D* K P 365 1739* al). But many others (א D² 0278 33 1739^c 1881 M lat sa) read “your” instead of “our.” The diversity of evidence makes this a difficult case to decide from external evidence alone. The first and second person pronouns differ by only one letter in Greek, as in English, also making this problem difficult to decide based on internal evidence and transcriptional probability. In the context, the author’s description of sacrificial activities seems to invite the reader to compare his own possible participation in OT liturgy as over against the completed work of Christ, so the second person pronoun “your” might make more sense. On the other hand, TCGNT 599 argues that “our” is preferable because the author of Hebrews uses direct address (i.e., the second person) only in the hortatory sections. What is more, the author seems to prefer the first person in explanatory remarks or when giving the logical grounds for an assertion (cf. Heb 4:15; 7:14). It is hard to reach a definitive conclusion in this case, but the data lean slightly in favor of the first person pronoun.
45. Hebrews 9:15 tn The Greek word μεσίτης (mesitēs, “mediator”) in this context does not imply that Jesus was a mediator in the contemporary sense of the word, i.e., he worked for compromise between opposing parties. Here the term describes his function as the one who was used by God to enact a new covenant which established a new relationship between God and his people, but entirely on God’s terms.
46. Hebrews 9:15 tn Grk “the promise of the eternal inheritance.”
47. Hebrews 9:15 tn Grk “a death having occurred.”
48. Hebrews 9:16 tn Grk “there is a necessity for the death of the one who made it to be proven.”
49. Hebrews 9:18 sn The Greek text reinforces this by negating the opposite (“not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood”), but this double negation is not used in contemporary English.
50. Hebrews 9:20 tn Grk “which God commanded for you (or in your case).”sn A quotation from Exod 24:8.
51. Hebrews 9:23 tn Or “prototypes,” “outlines,” referring to the earthly sanctuary. See Heb 8:5 above for the prior use of this term.
52. Hebrews 9:23 tn Grk “with these”; in the translation the referent (sacrifices) has been specified for clarity.
53. Hebrews 9:23 tn Grk “the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.”
54. Hebrews 9:24 tn Or “prefiguration.”
55. Hebrews 9:24 tn The word “sanctuary” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.
56. Hebrews 9:25 tn Grk “and not that he might offer,” continuing the previous construction.
57. Hebrews 9:27 tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anthrōpois) has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).
58. Hebrews 9:27 tn Grk “and after this—judgment.”
59. Hebrews 9:28 sn An allusion to Isa 53:12.
60. Hebrews 9:28 tn Grk “without sin,” but in context this does not refer to Christ’s sinlessness (as in Heb 4:15) but to the fact that sin is already dealt with by his first coming.
61. Hebrews 9:28 tn Grk “for salvation.” This may be construed with the verb “await” (those who wait for him to bring them salvation), but the connection with “appear” (as in the translation) is more likely.