CLOSE TO GOD, FAR FROM SIN
For God to get close to us, it is necessary that we stay away from sin. Our body is like a temple within which God dwells. But since God is holy, he does not dwell with sin. Our body is a kind of holy place.
For this reason, the Bible speaks of our relationship with sin in terms of staying away from it or, as we will see below, having the sins taken away from us.
TAKING THE SIN OUT OF LIFE
In the verse from Hebrews 10: 4, we have:
ἀδύνατον γὰρ αἷμα ταύρων καὶ τράγων ἀφαιρεῖν ἁμαρτίας. (Heb. 10:4)
“Because the blood of bulls and goats are unable to take away sins.” (My translation)
Writers Low and Nida define the verb “take away” (ἀφαιρέω): “to put or take something away from its normal location – ‘to put away, to put out of the way, to remove.”
The meaning of the verb “to take away” (ἀφαιρέω) involves two spatial features. The first is that of an object being within a place. The second is that of moving away, distancing an object from its location. Sin is understood as AN OBJECT INSIDE A RECIPIENT.
Metaphorically, sin is something that is inside us. It is as if our body is a place where sin lives. If it is inside us, then it is something that controls us, exercising dominion over our lives. So, the concept of sin involves a certain idea of superiority and control over the person.
THE POWERLESSNESS OF SACRIFICES
The verse states that the “blood of bulls and goats” do not have the power (ἀδύνατον) to take away sins. Power is the ability to perform an action. Use of the phrase “take away sins” (ἀφαιρεῖν ἁμαρτίας), in the infinitive, highlights a type of power of action impossible to sacrifices.
Every action considers an agent. Sacrifices are not agents, but instruments. The Old Testament sacrifices were temporary instruments of how Israel would deal with their sins.
And who were the agents?
We can think of two. First, the person who would offer the animal. The individual would take the animal by delivering it to the priest and participating in the ceremony. Second, the priest who came forward to offer the one who came to offer the sacrifice.
All this made up the sacrificial system of the Law of Moses. By this, the author of Hebrews is speaking, in a metonymic way, about the inability of the law of Moses to save a person from his sins. In other words, the Mosaic law is fleeting within God’s plan of salvation history.
SACRED PLACE OF GOD’S PRESENCE
In Hebrews theology, the concept of a sacred place is important. This idea comes from the Old Testament in which Eden, Tabernacle and Temple were seen as sacred places of God’s presence. The priest’s function was to protect the sacred place. At the time of the readers of Hebrews, there was possibly no more temple. Therefore, there was no way to perform sacrifice.
For a Jew, it was difficult to deal with sin without temple and sacrifice. For the author of the book, Jesus is the sacrifice and the high priest in the presence of God, so that we are the holy place of God’s dwelling because sin has been removed (taken away) from us.