Talking about the renovation of the union with God, the author of the epistle connects it to the death of the One, Who made possible this renovation. And as argumentation of his words, he quotes for example with the testament, which comes into force only after the death of the...
Talking about the renovation of the union with God, the author of the epistle connects it to the death of the One, Who made possible this renovation. And as argumentation of his words, he quotes for example with the testament, which comes into force only after the death of the testator. At first sight, the link is not obvious: because the union with God, quite as any other union, can not be transmitted by inheritance, as goods transfer, it is not a matter of property here, but of relationship, that each has to establish again and himself.
But all the same, if it is impossible to establish for man a relation with God, or with people, it is at least possible to put him into a well-known group of people, where to establish such relations is easier. The environment doesn’t certainly define completely the fate of man, but gives in certain cases such possibilities, that in another case the same person would never have received.
That is exactly what Jesus did for all of us together and for each in particular: He led us into His Kingdom, in this environment, where love to God and to the neighbor is a natural habitat. And, having led, He ended His earthly way: it is not by chance if the day before His death, the last thing He did, was the Last Supper, Passover seder, becoming thereby the messianic wedding, which was the first sacred meal of the Kingdom.
And then He goes away after the resurrection and the Ascension, somehow moving away, dissolving in the depths of the Kingdom, which coming into the world, becomes wider and more spacious. He leaves, granting us the possibility of living in the Kingdom He left. To live one life with Him, and at the same time be completely independent, free and responsible. So that at the end of time, when the Kingdom will be revealed in all its plenitude, we would meet again with Him. This time not like slaves or mercenaries, but as friends.
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9:16 I say by means of death; for where such a covenant is, there must be the death of him by whom it is confirmed - Seeing it is by his death that the benefits of it are purchased.It seems beneath the dignity of the apostle to play upon the ambiguity of the Greek word, as the common translation supposes him to do.
9:17 After he is dead - Neither this, nor after men are dead is a literal translation of the words. It is a very perplexed passage.