Hebrews 9:9Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"It is," he says, "a figure for the present time." What time does he call "to come"? The time before the coming of Christ. The time after the coming of Christ is no longer "to come."

How indeed can it be "to come" when it has already come and is coming to an end?

He expresses something else here as well: "It is," he says, "a figure for the present time," that is, it was a type.

"In which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper in conscience." Do you see how clearly he has shown here what it means that "the Law made nothing perfect," and, "if the first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for another"?

What the apostle said above, he now confirms. The tabernacle into which the priests always entered was a parable, that is, an image and shadow of the present time according to the law, the time before the coming of Christ. In that time such sacrifices are offered, and they are so weak that they cannot perfect those who offer them in conscience, that is, according to the inner man. They cleansed bodily defilements, but not transgressions of the soul. They could cleanse neither adultery, nor murder, nor sacrilege.

Thus the outer tabernacle was a likeness and parable, or a symbol, referring to a certain time. In it gifts and sacrifices were offered which could not make the people perfect, nor the conscience of those who performed the service...

The Apostle says that by the tabernacle we are taught in a parable that the Law is useful in this life and suited to those who still have a mortal nature.

For this reason "the priests entered the first tabernacle" and performed the prescribed service, but they did not enter the Holy of Holies.

Only the "one" high priest entered, presenting the image of the Master Christ, who first ascended into heaven and made it accessible to us.

By these words the Apostle also clearly taught us that he does not reject the whole Law, but only the prescriptions concerning foods and drinks, the man with a discharge, the leper, the woman in childbirth, and the woman with an issue of blood.

For they were washed and cleansed by sprinkling. None of these means had power to make the conscience pure.

“Which was established as a parable for the present time.” Such, in general, is the typological meaning of the service in the tabernacle. All these symbols and enigmatic indications were established and had a definite order until the time then coming, that is, until the coming of Christ. “In which gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot perfect the worshiper according to conscience.” Sacrifices cannot inwardly cleanse the one who offers them, that is, cleanse him spiritually. They cleansed only the flesh and had the power of cleansing only in relation to it. Therefore it was said above that the law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:11).

Hearing that the Apostle regards "gifts and sacrifices," "foods and drinks, washings and rites" as imperfect, the Stundists apply this to the mysteries of the New Testament Church, to the sacrifice and table of the Eucharist, and to water baptism.

By "the present time" they understand the time of Orthodoxy's dominion, and by "the time of correction" the time when their own "spiritual" Christianity spreads.

Therefore, when Orthodox missionaries prove the undoubtedly divine institution of baptism and Communion, they answer that all such things were established only until "the time of correction."

Yet the Apostle clearly gives us to understand that by the time of correction he means the time of Christ's coming.

The Old Testament tabernacle, the holy Apostle continues, "is a figure for the present time, in which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper in conscience" (Heb 9:9).

What time does the Apostle here call present? The very time when he wrote these words.

For then, that is, in the Apostle's own day, sacrifices continued to be offered according to the Old Testament priestly rite.

By the words cited above, the Apostle wishes to incline his readers to reflect now on the hidden meaning of the tabernacle.

This mystery and hidden meaning were not unknown even to the Jews themselves. Yet they could understand it fully only now, when it became possible to compare the fulfilled truth with its type, and to judge Christianity in relation to Judaism.

Even now, says the Apostle, this front part of the tabernacle, ήτις, can serve as a parable, vividly presenting to us the essence of the present time to which it belongs.

This time is the last period of the existence of sacrifices which, in the Apostle's view, cannot give heartfelt rest to the person offering them, nor set him in a right relation to God.

It is a time when all the legal ordinances concerning purity and impurity, which relate only to the flesh and to man's bodily life, are living out their final hours.

They press upon the Jews as a heavy burden, επικείμενα, and await the time when everything will be set in order and true divine service will be established in its rights, καιρός διορθώσεως (vv. 9-10).