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HTR 79:1-3(1986)1-9

THE USES OF ANTITHESIS IN HEBREWS 8-10

Harold W. AttridgeUniversity of Notre Dame

The interaction between early Christianity and the Judaism from whichit emerged took many and diverse forms, and Christians' attitudestoward their Jewish heritage varied considerably. The Epistle to theHebrews represents a particularly complex case of both the appropriation and the rejection of that heritage. This ambivalent attitude reachesits climax in the central expository section of the text, where thesignificance of the death of Christ is explored using primarily the anal

ogy of the Yom Kippur sacrifice. This portion of Hebrews is repletewith exegetical difficulties which cannot be resolved here. What thisessay will attempt is an analysis of the literary techniques throughwhich the model of the Yom Kippur ritual is appropriated.

The examination needs to begin with a consideration of what theboundaries of the central expository section are. For while many commentators recognize 8:1-10:18 as a single literary unit, some dividethis material into discrete blocks. Most influential among the latter is

Albert Vanhoye.1

Using a variety of indices, he articulates the centralexpository section of Hebrews into three segments: 7:1-28; 8:1-9:28;and 10:1-18. To construe the surface structure in this fashionobscures the literary dynamics of Hebrews' key argument.

1 Vanhoye's preliminary works on the structure of Hebrews ("Les indices de la structure littraire de Pptre aux Hbreux," StEv II [TU 87; ed. F. L. Cross; Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1964] 493-507 and "De structura litteraria Epistolae ad Hebraeos," VD40[1962] 73-80) culminated in La structure littraire de Vpitre aux Hbreux (StudNeot


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2 Essays in Honor of Krister Stendahl

A review of Vanhoye's analysis and its weakness2will suggest an

alternative. Vanhoye first finds in Heb 5:9-10 an announcement of the

themes of the chapters which follow.3

The participle "perfected"(0) announces the theme of perfection to be developed in8:1 -9:29. The designation of Christ as the "cause of eternal salvation"( ) prepares for the theme of 10:1-18. Thereference to the order of Melchizedek ( )prepares for chap. 7. Vanhoye's third "announcement" is beyonddispute and chap. 7 is clearly a discrete unit. The other "announcements" are, as we shall see, problematic.

In support of a division of 8:1-9:28 from 10:1-18 Vanhoye invokesother structural indices. Both segments are, he claims, marked byinclusions involving various forms of the verb "to offer" ()at 8:3; 9:28; 10:1; and 10:18. Next Vanhoye finds that the two sectionsare distinguished by characteristic vocabulary, terms such as "offer,gifts and sacrifices, sanctuary, tabernacle, blood and covenant" for thefirst and "offering, sanctification and sacrifice" for the second. Finally,

Vanhoye finds a catchword association between the two sections in theterms for offering, at 9:28 and at 10:1.

4

We may consider these structural indices in reverse order. First, theproposed catchword is hardlya good example of this device which certainly does play a role elsewhere in Hebrews.

5Here the audial dissimi

larity and distance between the supposedly interlocking terms suggestthat their presence serves no structural function. Of equal importanceis the fact that we are dealing here with a verb which is ubiquitous inthe central chapters of Hebrews. This fact diminishes its value as astructural index of any sort.

Second, the supposedly distinctive vocabulary of the two segments ishardly that at all. Of six items assigned by Vanhoye to 8:1-9:28, fouralso appear in 10:1-18. Of nine items assigned to 10:1-18, six appear

2

Despite its wide acceptance, Vanhoye's analysis has had its critics. See esp. JohnBligh, "The Structure ofHebrews," HeyJ5 (1964) 170-77; Jukka Thurn, Dos Lobopfgrder Hebrer: Studier^ zum Aufbau und Anliegen von Hebrerbrief13 (Acta Academiaeboensis A, 47, 1; Abo: Akademie Verlag, 1973); Michel Gourges, "Remarques sur lastructure centrale

defptre

auxHbreux," RB

84(1977) 26-37; James Swetnam,

"Form and Content in Hebrews 1-6," Bib 53 (1972) 368-85; and idem, "Form andContent in Hebrews 7-13," Bib 55 {1974) 335-48. Space does not permit a full treat


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Attridge: Hebrews 8-10 3

in 8:1-9:28. Forms of , which Vanhoye curiously lists asdistinctive of each segment, appear with roughly equal frequency in

both, five times in 8:1 -9:28 and seven times in 10:1-18.Third, the inclusions, all involving , are as unpersuasive as

the catchword. If offering language by itself is to be taken as an inclusion, its appearance at 8:3 and 10:18 could function as such.

Finally, the announcement of the themes at 5:9-10 is quite artificial.A minor problem is that the order of the themes as they are laterdeveloped appears in the "announcement" as 2, 3, 1. In a text such asHebrews, which so often displays neat parallelisms and chiastic arrange

ments, this is jarring. More significantly, 8:1 -9:28 has a rather tenuousrelationship with the theme of perfection, announced by 0 at5:9. Verbally the only links are & karpevovra at 9:9 and? at 9:11. In other cases of themes announced anddeveloped the explicit verbal connections are more explicit.

6The other

portions of the central expository section 7:1-28 and 10:1-18 havesuch verbal links

7and are equally relevant to the development of this

complex theme.8

In chap. 7 there is a presentation of Christ in his perfected or exalted state, culminating in the participle at

7:28, which encapsulates what it means for Christ to be a priest"according to the order of Melchizedek." In chaps. 8 through 10 as a

whole there is a development of the process by which Christ attainsthat exalted state, a process which in turn "perfects" his followers(10:2, 14).

Structural indices of the sort which Vanhoye uses appear in Hebrews,but they clearly point to the unity of 8:1-10:18. Motifs which areprominently developed in that section are anticipated or announced in

chap. 7. These motifs include the reference to the weakness of thepriests of the old order, noted at 7:23 and 28 and reaffirmed at 9:6-10,9:25, and 10:1-3; and the reference to the covenant, mentioned at 7:22and developed in 8:6-13; 9:15-20; and 10:16. But if there is anything

which announces the overarching theme of 8:1-10:10, it is the phraseof 7:27, "he did this, having offered himself for all."

9This is the first

reference to Christ's self-sacrifice in Hebrews. This theme is extensively and explicitly explored throughout the next three chapters.

6

The most obvious major "announcements" are at 1:4; 2:1718; and 10:36-39


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An inclusion also marks off those chapters. In fact the most obviouscase of this device in Hebrews is the repetition at 10:16-17 of part of

the quotation from Jer 31:31-34, first cited at 8:8-12. Another smallbut significant item marks the boundaries of 8:1-10:18. The sectionbegins at 8:1 with an allusion to one of the key scriptural texts ofHebrews, Ps 110:1 and its image of Christ "seated at the right hand."The repetition of the material from Jeremiah is introduced with anotherallusion to the same text at 10:12, the first such allusion since 8:1.

In the review of Vanhoye's discussion of vocabulary characteristic ofthe material from 8:1 to 10:18, it became clear that the language of

offering was a common feature of these chapters. It is also significantthat the verb appears in what has emerged as the"announcement" of this section, 7:27. Another element of that verseoccurs regularly and emphatically in these chapters, the adverb or. The vocabulary characteristic of the section is thus closelyconnected with another major structural index.

A further structural indexalternation of genrewhich Vanhoyeuses to analyze Hebrews elsewhere, he does not find relevant to thearticulation of the central section. Indeed, the section does not alternate between exposition and exhortation as does Hebrews as a whole.Nonetheless, the section marked by the other structural indices whichwe have considered does have a formal generic identity which meritsconsideration. Like other well-defined blocks of material in Hebrews,8:1-10:18 consists basically of a citation from scripture and commentsrelated to that citation.

The closest formal parallel to the section under consideration is3:1-4:13, well analyzed by Vanhoye.

10That pericope begins with a

brief introductory paragraph (3:1-6), contrasting Moses and Christ asexamples of fidelity in different capacities. The paragraph serves as atransition from the portrait of Christ as a faithful high priest (2:17-18)to the exhortation to be faithful, based on the events of the Exodus.There follows a lengthy quotation from Psalm 95 (3:7-11), then a hortatory exposition and application of the text (3:12-4:11). This exposition concludes with a rhetorical flourish on God's word (4:12-13),

11

which balances the quotation from the Psalm. The text moves on with

a resumptive paragraph beginning at 4:14 with the phrase "having


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therefore a great high priest."The central expository section, 8:1-10:18, is a unit much like the

block of material focused on Psalm 95. The pericope begins with atransitional introduction (8:1-6) summarizing the image of Christ as anexalted or heavenly high priest which emerged from chap. 7. Therefollows a lengthy quotation from Jeremiah 31 (8:7-13), then an exposition of the themes enunciated in the introduction and the quotation(9:1-10:10). The exposition concludes with a rhetorical flourish explicitly recalling the beginning of the unit (10:11-18). The text thenmoves on at 10:19 with an expression similar to that used at 4:14,

"having therefore boldness."12

A striking feature of the central expository unit, as it has emergedfrom this analysis of the surface structure of Hebrews, is the deployment throughout of certain fundamental antitheses. Some ofthese, theopposition of flesh and spirit, earth and heaven, many and one, alreadyappeared in chap. 7 and these will continue to operate in 8:1-10:18.To them will be added antitheses of old and new and external andinternal. The force of the exposition will depend to a large extent on

the way in which the poles of these antitheses are interrelated, that is,on how the spiritual, heavenly, and unique act of Christ is seen to benew and interior. That much is often recognized by commentators.

13

What is not usually observed is how at a decisive point there is a reversal in the polarity of the antithetical pattern and how the spiritual,unique and new, is seen to be earthly as well as heavenly. The text willsuggest that precisely because Christ's sacrifice is such a combination ofopposites it is the sort of act which can inaugurate the covenant promised by Jeremiah. A review of the central section will illustrate how theantitheses function.

In the introduction (8:1-6), the opposition between earth andheaven comes to the fore. Christ is a priest of the true, heavenly tabernacle (8:2) of which the desert sanctuary is but a shadowy imitation(8:3). These affirmations drawon widespread imagery of the heavenlytabernacle

14and recall elements of the description of the eternal

12

Vanhoye (La structure, 104) prefers to see 4:14 as the conclusion of the sectionbeginning with 3:1, but that division is quite artificial. See Swetnam, "Hebrews 1-6,"383 and Peterson Hebrews and Perfection 74


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to which Christ as high priest belongs; they require little comment.In the next segment (8:7-13), the author introduces the scriptural

text which serves as the basis for the following exposition, Jer31:31-34. The introductory and concluding comments (8:7, 13) articulate the second major antithesis, that of old and new. The manifestfunction of the citation and its framing comments is to show that thefirst covenant was not blameless and that a second "was sought." Thecitation also has another important function, to indicate what are the"better promises" (8:6) on which the new covenant is based.

15These

promises are implicit in the two verses of the citation from Jeremiahwhich are repeated at 10:16-17. The first promises that the newcovenant will be an interior affair (8:10; 10:16); the second that in thenew covenant sin will be effectively forgiven (8:12; 10:17). These twopromises are intimately related, as the exposition ofchaps. 8-10 makesclear. Moreover, the first suggests a new antithesis, between externaland interior, which will be the pivotal element in what follows.

In the first section of exposition (9:1-10), the author focuses on theearthly pole of the earth-heaven antithesis and offers a description ofthe or "worldly" sanctuary, the "copy and shadow" men

tioned at 8:5. Elements of other antitheses are brought into play in thisexploration of the earthly and its weakness. The opposition of old andnew is alluded to in the references to "the present time" (9:9) and the"time of correction" (9:10). The many-one antithesis surfaces in theallusion to the annual sacrifice by the high priest (9:7). The mostsignificant connection of the various antitheses, however, occurs in thefurther play on external versus internal. To equate old with externaland new with internal the author has recourse to yet another antithesis,

that of flesh and spirit which first emerged in 7:16. Here the old,earthly cultic system is seen to be operative only on the surface, since itconsists of "regulations of the flesh" regarding "foods, drinks andwashings" (9:10). As such it cannot effect the interior of the worshiper, the realm of or conscience (9:9).

The next segment (9:11-14) presents a mirror image of the preceding, focusing on the heavenly pole of the basic antithesis, through theimage of the "greater and more perfect tent" (9:11; cf. 8:2). The

image has been interpreted in various allegorical ways,16

but those need


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not concern us here. For our purpose it is sufficient to note that theheavenly pole of the earth-heaven antithesis is clearly evoked.

The positive poles of several other antitheses are now associated withthis "heavenly" pole. The heavenly is the realm of the absolutelyunique, where Christ entered "once for all" (, 9:12). It is, asopposed to the realm of flesh (9:13), the setting in which Christ makesan offering "through eternal spirit" (9:14). This phrase has alsooccasioned much interpretive comment, which need not be expandedupon here.

17It is sufficient to note the evocative function of the

language of "spirit" in establishing the equivalence of the positive

poles of the antithesis. While the old and earthly dealt merely withfleshlyexternals, the new and heavenly operates in the realm of thespirit, which is by implication the realm of the heart and mind mentioned by Jeremiah. This association is further solidified by the notethat Christ's sacrifice effectively "cleanses conscience" (10:14).

The next pericope (9:15-22) forms the midpoint of the expositorycomments inaugurated by Jer 31:31-34, and it is framed by two sets of

balanced pericopes. At this central juncture the antithesis of old andnew is emphatically deployed. Christ is the mediator of a "newcovenant" which effects "redemption from the transgressions underthe first" (9:15). The covenant theme from the Jeremiah passage isreintroduced and, in the play on which follows, an importantprinciple is introduced by appeal to the events at Sinai (Exod 24:8; Heb9:20). The inauguration of a covenant requires bloodshed. Whatremains to be explained in working out the equivalences of theantithetical pattern is how an earthly, quite fleshly act such asbloodshed can be associated with a heavenly and spiritual event.

The next segment of the exposition (9:23-28) picks up the development of the antitheses where they had been left before the pivotal passage on the covenant, by reverting to the heavenly realm which had

been discussed in 9:11-14. The focus on this pole is clear from theintroductory remark (9:23) that as the imitations need cleansing, so toodo the heavenly or true () realities themselves. Here isanother crux and various interpretations have been offered about what


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"heavenly realities" the author ultimately has in mind.18

The earlierassociation of the positive poles of the antitheses suggests that the

author now indeed is using the imagery of the heavenly tabernacle symbolically and that heavenly archtypes need cleansing because they are infact interior realitiesthe heart, mind, and conscience. Yet rather thanresolving the question of the referent of the author's probablysymboliclanguage, it is important to note the function of his comment on theheavenly pole of the basic antithesis. The note that what is heavenlyneeds cleansing sets up an almost intolerable paradox. This is, however, only a stage in the author's exposition, a preparation for the even

greater paradoxical affirmation of the final segment of the exposition.Before examining that pericope it is worth noting that here(9:11-14) the author establishes even more firmlythan had been thecase previously that the "heavenly" act of Christ is such because it isabsolutely unique. Note the insistent repetition of in 9:26, 27,and 28. This insistence on the uniqueness of Christ's act prepares forthe following pericope verbally by way of contrast with the multiplicityof the old priestly sacrifices (10:1-3), and thematically by suggestingthat the once-for-all event is qualitativelyunique.

The final segment of the exposition (10:1-10) serves not as anappendage or separate repetitive comment, but as the climactic point inthe author's argument. The introductory verses (10:1-4) suggest twoof the antitheses. First that of new and old is evoked by the referenceto the "good things to come" of which the Law is but a "shadow." Itis interesting that in this phrase a linkage of the spatial and temporalantitheses is suggested, since "shadow" had previously (8:5) been partof the description of the relationship of earthly to heavenly tabernacles.

The phrase has played a key role in debates about the author's eschato-logical perspectives. Yet to focus on that issue is to miss the fullimport of the text's dramatic play on its antithetical patterns.

The exposition continues with the citation of and exegetical comment on Ps 40:7-9. The introductory phrase is significant. There(10:5) Christ is said to utter this psalm "upon coming into the world"(efe ). The phrase thus evokes the earthlypole of the heavenly-earthly antithesis, recalling the designation of the

earthly sanctuary as at 9:1. That evocation completes thethematic balance in the pericopes which follow the citation of Jeremiah


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and which surround the reference to the new covenant at 9:15-22.The first (9:1-10) was dominated by the earthly pole; the second

(9:11-14) by the heavenly; the third (9:23-28) by the heavenly; nowin the last (10:1-10) the earthly again comes to the fore.

Two elements stand out in the quotation of the Psalm (10:5-7).The first is in the second verse, where the LXXoffers a variant from theMT. Instead of "ears you have hollowed out for me" there appears "abody () you have prepared for me."

19The variant suits the

author's purpose well. Once again what is earthly is emphasized. Itbecomes clear that precisely here, in the , indeed in a , the

decisive covenant inaugurating act is carried out.That this should be the case is understandable given the requirement

that blood is necessary for a covenant. Yet once again, how can acosmic, somatic act accomplish the spiritual cleansing and interiorrenewal which our author takes as promises enunciated in Jeremiah?Here the other significant element in the quotation comes into play. As10:7 indicates, Christ came "to do your will, O God." The repetitionof this phrase in the exegetical comment of vs 9 suggests its

significance for our author and the exultant summary of vs 10 indicateswhat that significance is. It is "by that will," that is, the will of God towhich Christ has conformed himself, that "we" are sanctified. Yet thatwill is embodied, for the sanctification occurs, as the climax of 10:10states, "through the offering of the body ofJesus Christ once for all."

Hence the opposition between the basic antitheses is overcome.Interior and external, heavenly and earthly are united in the action ofChrist. Because his sacrifice is made in the body it can, figuratively,cast a shadow (10:1). Less imagistically, it fulfills the requirement forestablishing a lasting covenant relationship between human beings of"blood and flesh" (2:14) and God. Yet because that bodily act is aunique act of conformity to God's will it is the sort of act that establishes the interior and effective covenant promised by Jeremiah.

The application of the model of the Yom Kippur ritual to the deathof Christ in Hebrews is a complex and subtle hermeneutical effort. Inthe process of that application, Christ's death, traditionally interpretedas an atoning sacrifice, is seen in a new light as Yom Kippur becomes

blended with Sinai as a covenant inaugurating event. The catalyst forthis theological chemistry is exegetical rhetoric, a rhetoric which


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^ s

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