Lectio 1
Lecture 1
Lex umbra futurorum bonorum
The law a shadow of the good to come
10:1 Umbram enim habens lex futurorum bonorum, non ipsam imaginem rerum: per singulos annos, eisdem ipsis hostiis quas offerunt indesinenter, numquam potest accedentes perfectos facere: [n. 479]
10:1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, by the selfsame sacrifices which they offer continually every year, can never make the comers thereunto perfect. [n. 479]
10:2 alioquin cessassent offerri: ideo quod nullam haberent ultra conscientiam peccati, cultores semel mundati: [n. 481]
10:2 For then they would have ceased to be offered: because the worshippers once cleansed should have no conscience of sin any longer. [n. 481]
10:3 sed in ipsis commemoratio peccatorum per singulos annos fit.
10:3 But in them there is made a commemoration of sins every year:
10:4 Impossibile enim est sanguine taurorum et hircorum auferri peccata. [n. 483]
10:4 For it is impossible that with the blood of oxen and goats sin should be taken away. [n. 483]
10:5 Ideo ingrediens mundum dicit: hostiam et oblationem noluisti: corpus autem aptasti mihi: [n. 484]
10:5 Wherefore, when he comes into the world he says: sacrifice and oblation you want not: but a body you have fitted to me. [n. 484]
10:6 holocautomata pro peccato non tibi placuerunt.
10:6 Holocausts for sin did not please you.
10:7 Tunc dixi: ecce venio: in capite libri scriptum est de me: ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam. [n. 489]
10:7 Then said I: behold I come: in the head of the book it is written of me: that I should do your will, O God. [n. 489]
10:8 Superius dicens: quia hostias, et oblationes, et holocautomata pro peccato noluisti, nec placita sunt tibi, quae secundum legem offeruntur, [n. 491]
10:8 In saying before, sacrifices, and oblations, and holocausts for sin you want not, neither are they pleasing to you, which are offered according to the law. [n. 491]
10:9 tunc dixi: ecce venio, ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam: aufert primum, ut sequens statuat.
10:9 Then said I: behold, I come to do your will, O God: he takes away the first, that he may establish that which follows.
10:10 In qua voluntate sanctificati sumus per oblationem corporis Jesu Christi semel. [n. 493]
10:10 In the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once. [n. 493]
10:11 Et omnis quidem sacerdos praesto est quotidie ministrans, et easdem saepe offerens hostias, quae numquam possunt auferre peccata: [n. 494]
10:11 And every priest indeed standeth daily ministering and often offering the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. [n. 494]
10:12 hic autem unam pro peccatis offerens hostiam, in sempiternum sedet in dextera Dei, [n. 496]
10:12 But this man, offering one sacrifice for sins, for ever sits at the right hand of God, [n. 496]
10:13 de cetero exspectans donec ponantur inimici ejus scabellum pedum ejus.
10:13 From henceforth expecting until his enemies be made his footstool.
10:14 Una enim oblatione, consummavit in sempiternum sanctificatos. [n. 499]
10:14 For by one oblation he has perfected for ever those who are sanctified. [n. 499]
10:15 Contestatur autem nos et Spiritus Sanctus. Postquam enim dixit: [n. 500]
10:15 And the Holy Spirit also doth testify this to us. For after that he said: [n. 500]
10:16 Hoc autem testamentum, quod testabor ad illos post dies illos, dicit Dominus, dando leges meas in cordibus eorum, et in mentibus eorum superscribam eas:
10:16 And this is the testament which I will make unto them after those days, says the Lord. I will give my laws in their hearts and on their minds will I write them:
10:17 et peccatorum, et iniquitatum eorum jam non recordabor amplius.
10:17 And their sins and iniquities I will remember no more.
10:18 Ubi autem horum remissio: jam non est oblatio pro peccato.
10:18 Now, where there is a remission of these, there is no more an oblation for sin.
479. Supra Apostolus consideratis his, quae aguntur in utroque testamento, ostendit praeeminentiam Novi Testamenti ad Vetus, hic probat unum quod supponit, scilicet quod Vetus non poterat mundare peccata. Et hoc est ultimum illorum quinque, quae praemiserat de Christo.
479. Having considered the things done in both testaments to show the superiority of the New Testament over the Old, the Apostle now proves something he had presupposed, namely, that the Old was not able to cleanse sins. This is the last of the five things he had prefaced about Christ.
Et circa hoc duo facit.
In regard to this he does two things.
Primo enim ostendit defectum Veteris Testamenti circa abolitionem culpae;
First, he shows the failure of the Old Testament in regard to abolishing guilt;
secundo ex hoc comparat sacerdotem Novi Testamenti ad sacerdotem Veteris Testamenti, ibi omnis quidem sacerdos.
second, on this point he compares the priest of the New Testament with the priest of the Old Testament, at and every priest.
Iterum prima in duas.
In regard to the first he does two things.
Primo enim proponit, quod intendit;
First, he states his intention;
secundo probat per auctoritatem Scripturae, ibi ideo ingrediens mundum.
second, he proves it on the authority of Scripture, at wherefore, when he comes into the world.
Item prima in duas.
In regard to the first he does two things.
Primo enim proponit intentum suum;
First, he sets forth what he intends;
secundo probat, ibi alioquin cessant.
second, he proves it, at for then they would have ceased.
480. Circa primum sciendum est, quod Apostolus ex conditione et ritu veteris legis concludit ipsum defectum. Per peccatum autem fit privatio futurorum bonorum, et ideo quasi illud peccatum pertineat ad bona futura, scilicet caelestia, ad illa bona se habet lex vetus sicut umbra ad corpus, sed nova lex sicut imago. Umbra autem et imago quantum ad hoc conveniunt quod utrumque repraesentat, sed umbra in communi, et quantum ad naturam speciei, imago vero in particulari, et quantum ad naturam individui, et in speciali. Sic etiam nova lex quantum ad bona futura repraesentat expressius quam vetus. Primo quia in verbis Novi Testamenti fit expressa mentio de bonis futuris et promissio, non autem in Veteri, sed tantum de carnalibus. Secundo quia virtus Novi Testamenti consistit in caritate, quae est plenitudo legis. Et ista caritas licet sit imperfecta, ratione fidei cui inhaeret, tamen est similis caritati patriae.
480. In regard to the first it should be noted that the Apostle concludes to this failing from the condition and rite of the old law. But sin deprived man of future goods; hence, as though that sin pertained to future goods, i.e., heavenly, the old law is related to those goods as a shadow to a body, but the new law as an image. Now a shadow and an image agree in the fact that each represents something: but a shadow represents in general, and as to the nature of the species; an image, however, does so in particular and as to the nature of the individual, and specifically. So, too, the new law, as far as future goods are concerned, represents more explicitly than the old: first, because express mention and a promise of good things to come are found in the words of the New Testament, but not in the Old, which mentions only carnal goods; second, because the power of the New Testament consists in charity, which is the fulfillment of the law. And although this charity is imperfect by reason of the faith in which it inheres, it is, nevertheless, similar to the charity of heaven.
Unde nova lex dicitur lex amoris. Et ideo dicitur imago, quia habet similitudinem expressam bonorum futurorum. Sed lex vetus illam repraesentat per quaedam carnalia, et valde a remotis: et ideo dicitur umbra. Col. c. II, 17: quae sunt umbra futurorum. Haec est ergo conditio Veteris Testamenti, quod habet umbram futurorum, non rerum imaginem.
Hence, the new law is called the law of love. Hence, it is called an image, because it has an expressed likeness to the goods to come. But the old law represented it by carnal things; hence it is called a shadow: which are a shadow of things to come (Col 2:17). This therefore is the condition of the Old Testament, that it was but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities.
Ritus autem erat, quod per singulos annos offerebant in festo expiationis easdem hostias, scilicet sanguinem hircorum et taurorum pro eodem, scilicet pro peccato, sicut patet Lev. XXIII.
Its rite consisted in offering the same sacrifice every year on the day of atonement, namely, the blood of goats and bulls, for sin, as is clear from Leviticus (Lev 23).
Ex his duobus concludit intentum, scilicet quod lex habens umbram futurorum bonorum, non rerum imaginem, non potest facere perfectos accedentes, scilicet pontifices, eisdem hostiis, quas offerunt indesinenter, id est, per singulos annos. Supra VII, 19: neminem ad perfectum adduxit lex. Sed ista perfectio reservatur novae legi, quae consistit in caritate, quae est vinculum perfectionis, Col. III, 14. Ideo dicitur Matth. V, 48: estote ergo perfecti.
From these two facts he draws his conclusion, namely, the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things, by the selfsame sacrifices which they offer continually every year, can never make the comers thereunto perfect, i.e., the high priests: the law brought no one to perfection (Heb 7:19). But that perfection is reserved for the new law and consists in charity, which is the bond of perfection (Col 3:14). Therefore, it says in Matthew: be you, therefore, perfect (Matt 5:48).
481. Deinde cum dicit alioquin cessassent, probat ex duobus intentum:
481. Then when he says, for then they would have ceased, he proves his conclusion from two facts:
et primo ex ritu;
first, from the rite;