There is a divine wisdom stamped upon every part of the word of God, which needs only the key to its understanding and a heart subject to God, in order to the perception and the precious enjoyment of it.
In this epistle that wisdom shines with peculiar brightness; while the importance of the subjects upon which its rays are concentrated gives it a special claim upon the mind.
Sacrifice, priesthood and religious ordinances—the subjects of this Epistle—are elements, one might almost say, for which there is a natural affinity in the human mind, almost independently of the adventitious circumstances of rudeness or intellectual culture, the possession of a divine revelation, or what men call natural religion. They are elements which make their appeal to the conscious necessity of man, whether that necessity is measured by the scattered notices of traditionary truth or by the perfect revelation of the word of God.
Thus the immense practical importance of this Epistle will at once be seen, since its object is to define the character of these elements, and to give 'them their just. place and force according to the light of the gospel of the grace of God. Everything of the character of divinely-appointed ordinances that ever had a claim upon the conscience, is here taken up and treated of with a wisdom essentially divine.
The circumstances of the persons to who in this Epistle was addressed gave the natural occasion' (so to speak) for the application of this divine wisdom given to the apostle. These circumstances are forcibly expressed in Rom. 9:4, 54Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. (Romans 9:4‑5). " Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Jaw, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen."
The manner in which this wisdom is applied can however be only understood by a consideration of the Epistle itself.
Generally, it may be said, that its design is to prove an entire abrogation of the whole range of religious, ordinances-ordinances that had been divinely-appointed, be it remembered. But the way in which it is shown they are abrogated is that in which this wisdom is conspicuous, and reflects the most wonderful light on the person and work and offices of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is striking to notice by what terms the Spirit of God characterizes everything connected with a divinely-appointed ritual, after the work of Christ, by which it was abrogated, is accomplished.
In its first constitution there was no latitude permitted, as it was said to Moses, " Look that thou make them after their pattern which was showed thee in the mount:" and this on the very ground that " the law was a shadow of good things to come." But now, since the work of Christ is accomplished, they are characterized as " meats and drinks and divers washings, carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation."
Now these are superseded, as the Epistle shows, not by an array of more spiritual ordinances, but by showing that their whole meaning, and harmony, and force are concentrated in the person and work, the position and offices of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when it is considered that all which is called religion (in these days), apart from the blood of Christ and a conscience purged by His sacrifice, is composed of these ordinances, it will readily be conceived how important is the bearing of our Epistle; for its express object is to take up the whole means (of God's appointment) by which man could have to do with God, and to show that in their abrogation the believer now, through the means of their putting away, is brought into the nearest possible connection with God, and into an entire dissociation from the world in which these ordinances had their place. So entirely is this so, that the position of the Christian is only to be expressed, according to the typical language of the Epistle, so that of " boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil:" that is to say, the most unquestioned right of immediate access to God, on the one side, and on the other, as to the world, whether religious or profane, it is but the " going forth therefore unto HIM, without the camp, bearing His reproach."
In the first two chapters of the Epistle we have everything on which this hinges. As plainly the glory of the person of Christ is essentially connected with His sacrifice, which is the foundation of all. But then it is Christ which is presented to us, and not merely a doctrine. But it is Christ as filling out these types, bringing the heart to see their meaning in Him, and in His work, which draws as naturally to Him, where He is, and thus sustains us, instead of those ordinances which are but the shadows of that which in its reality is seen in Christ.
The principle thus indicated, the study of the Epistle will supply the rest.