How much more shall the blood of Christ
Which is not the blood of a mere man, but the blood of the Son of
God; and the argument is from the lesser to the greater; that if
the ashes of the burnt heifer, which was a type of Christ in his
sufferings, mixed with water, typically sanctified to the
purifying of men externally, in a ceremonial way, then much more
virtue must there be in the blood of Christ, to cleanse the soul
inwardly:
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot
to God;
Christ is a priest, and the sacrifice he has offend up is
"himself"; not his divine nature, but his human nature, soul and
body, as in union with his divine person; which gives his
sacrifice the preference to all others; and is the reason of its
virtue and efficacy, and is expressive of his great love to man:
and this sacrifice was offered up "to God", against whom his
people had sinned, and whose justice must be satisfied, and which
is of a sweet smelling savour to him; besides, he called him to
this work, and engaged him in it, and is well pleased with this
offering, as he must needs be, since it is offered up "without
spot"; which expresses the purity of Christ's nature and
sacrifice, and the perfection of it, which is such, that no fault
can be found in it by the justice of God; and hence, the saints,
for whom it is offered, are unblamable and irreprovable, There is
an allusion in the clause, both to the priests and to their
sacrifices, which were neither of them to have any spot or
blemish on them; and this unblemished sacrifice was offered unto
God by Christ,
through the eternal Spirit;
not the human soul of Christ; for though that is a spirit, yet
not eternal, and besides, was a part of the sacrifice; but rather
the divine nature of Christ, which is a spirit, and may be so
called in distinction from the flesh, or human nature, as it
sometimes is, and this is eternal; it was from everlasting, as
well as is to everlasting; and this supported him under all his
sufferings, and carried him through them, and put virtue unto
them; and Christ was a priest, in the divine, as well as human
nature: though by it may be better understood "the Holy Ghost";
and so the Vulgate Latin version reads, and also several copies;
since the divine nature rather acts by the human nature, than the
human nature by the divine; and Christ is often said to do such
and such things by the Holy Spirit; and as the Holy Ghost formed
and filled the human nature of Christ, so he assisted and
supported it under sufferings. This whole clause is inserted by
way of parenthesis, showing the efficacy of Christ's blood, and
from whence it is:
to purge your conscience from dead works;
that is, "from the works of sin", as the Ethiopic version renders
it; which are performed by dead men, separate and alienated from
the life of God, are the cause of the death of the soul, and
expose to eternal death, and are like dead carcasses, nauseous
and infectious; and even duties themselves, performed without
faith and love, are dead works; nor can they procure life, and
being depended on, issue in death; and even the works of
believers themselves are sometimes performed in a very lifeless
manner, and are attended with sin and pollution, and need
purging: the allusion is to the pollution by the touch of dead
bodies; and there may be some respect to the sacrifices of slain
beasts, after the sacrifice and death of Christ, by believing
Jews, who were sticklers for the ceremonies of the law, and
thereby contracted guilt; but immoralities are chiefly designed,
and with these the conscience of man is defiled; and nothing
short of the blood of Christ can remove the pollution of sin; as
that being shed procures atonement, and so purges away the guilt
of sin, or makes reconciliation for it, so being sprinkled on the
conscience by the Spirit of God, it speaks peace and pardon, and
pacifies and purges it, and removes every incumbrance from it:
the Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions,
read, "our conscience". The end and use of such purgation is, "to
serve the living God"; so called to distinguish him from the
idols of the Gentiles, and in opposition to dead works; and
because he has life in himself, essentially and independently,
and is the author and giver of life to others; and it is but the
reasonable service of his people, to present their souls and
bodies as a living sacrifice to him; and who ought to serve him
in a lively manner, in faith, and with fervency, and not with a
slavish, but a godly filial fear; and one that has his conscience
purged by the blood of Christ, and is sensibly impressed with a
discovery of pardoning grace, is in the best capacity for such
service. The Alexandrian copy reads, "the living and true God".