SPOKENWORD
Hebrews 7:27 is a favorite of many non-Catholics (and non-Eastern Othodox I might add):
[27] He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people; he did this once for all when he offered up himself. (Hebrews 7:27, RSV)
The authoer speaks of a once-for-all offering. Protestants invariably assume this means his earthly death upon the cross, that what Christ offered there, he offered once and only once, never to be repeated or rejoined. Now while we may technically say that Christ offered himself on the cross, this is not the meaning of offering in the passage. Keep reading and a few verses later you get the explicit definition of offering:
[3] For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. [4] Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. (Hebrews 8:3-4, RSV)
Note that the author is still speaking of offering “gifts and sacrifices”. Christ as our eternal High Priests offers a sacrifices as well but it is not an earthly sacrifice exclusively or even primarily for the Text says that “if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law”. Protestants say that Christ offered himself exclusively upon the cross. But the offering of which Hebrews 7:27 speaks is not an earthly offering but a heavenly offering. How can that be?
The Book of Hebrews is comparing and contrasting the Old Covenant rite of atonement with the New Covenant rite of atonement. Hebrews tells us that the Christ’s one, perfect sacrifice was written in the language of the Levitcal sacrifices. It is more correct perhaps to say that these former sacrifices prefigured or pointed to the one, perfect sacrifice of Christ, presumably that the Jews might recognize Christ’s sacrifice for what it was. In the these former sacrifices, the high priests shed the blood of an unblemished goat on the altar outside the temple sanctuary and then carried some of this blood into the Holy of Holies and offered it directly to God for the atonement of sins. Note, the rite was not concluded with the shedding of blood. To say that the shedding of blood was necessary is one thing; to say that it is sufficient is quite another.
In the same way, Christ shed his blood on the altar of the cross and then rose from the dead and ascended into true sanctuary of Heaven to present his blood, indeed his life, directly to God for the atonement of sins. When we speak of Christ’s sacrificial offering, we are speaking of atonement in two parts: the shedding of blood on earth, and the offering in heaven. Hebrews makes this point quite clear:
[11] But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) [12] he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:11-12, RSV)
Also:
[24] For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. (Hebrews 9:24, RSV)
Atonement is not something that occurred exclusively on the cross. It is something that began there and occurs even now in heaven. Christ’s shedding of blood purifies or makes efficacious the heavenly offering (Hebrews 9:22-23). Furthermore, Hebrews calls Christ our “eternal high priest”. The Bible defines the office of high priest as he who “offers gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Hebrews 5:1). The designation of “eternal high priest” is not an empty one then. It means that Christ offers on our behalf even now, that atonement occurs in heaven even now (Hebrews 7:25).
So again in Hebrews 7:27, when the author speaks of a “once for all offering”, he is not referring exclusively to Christ’s earthly death on a cross. He is referring to the whole sacrifice, both the shedding of blood and the offering in the heavenly sanctuary. This sacrifice does indeed occur “once for all” in that it is *one *sacrifice offered for all time.
When you fail to interpret Hebrews 7:27 in light of the context, you engage in a fallacy I call sound-bite theology. The Bible can be made to say anything if you pick and pry words like “once for all offering” from the page and so divorce it from the context.
If you would like to email me that we might discuss this further outside this forum, please do so. I would love to hear from you.
Best Regards and God Bless,
RodK
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