For there is truly a cancellation of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
For there is truly a cancellation of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness
So the law which went before is put on one side, because it was feeble and without profit.
For there is verily a disannulling of the preceding commandment on account of its weakness and unprofitableness.
For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness
For there is verily a disannulling - There is a total abrogation, προαγουσης εντολης, of the former law, relative to the Levitical priesthood. See Hebrews 7:19.
For the weakness - It had no energy; it communicated none; it had no Spirit to minister; it required perfect obedience, but furnished no assistance to those who were under it.
And unprofitableness - No man was benefited by the mere observance of its precepts: it pardoned no sin, changed no heart, reformed no life; it found men dead in trespasses and sins, and it consigned them to eternal death. It was therefore weak in itself, and unprofitable to men.
The Jews, who still cleave to it, are a proof that it is both weak and unprofitable; for there is not a more miserable, distressed, and profligate class of men on the face of the earth.
For there is verily a disannulling - A setting aside. The Law which existed before in regard to the priesthood becomes now abrogated in consequence of the change which has been made in the priesthood; see the note at Hebrews 7:12.
Of the commandment - Relating to the office of priest, or to the ceremonial rites in general. This does not refer to the moral law, as if that was abrogated, for:
(1) the reasoning of the apostle does not pertain to that, and,
(2) that law cannot be abrogated. It grows out of the nature of things, and must be perpetual and universal.
Going before - Going before the Christian dispensation and introducing it.
For the weakness and unprofitableness thereof - That is, it was not adapted to save man; it had not power to accomplish what was necessary to be done in human salvation. It answered the end for which it was designed - that of introducing a more perfect plan, and then vanished as a matter of course. It did not expiate guilt; it did not give peace to the conscience; it did not produce perfection Hebrews 7:11, and therefore it gave place to a better system.
7:18 For there is implied in this new and everlasting priesthood, and in the new dispensation connected therewith, a disannulling of the preceding commandment - An abrogation of the Mosaic law. For the weakness and unprofitableness thereof - For its insufficiency either to justify or to sanctify.