Hebrews 9:1

Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

IX.

(1) The subject commenced in the last chapter (Hebrews 9:1-6) is continued here. The mention of the “more excellent ministry” led to the description of the new covenant with which it is united (Hebrews 9:6-13). This verse, then, attaches itself to the fifth and sixth verses of Hebrews 8 (Hebrews 8:5-6): “Even the first (covenant), then, had ordinances of divine service and its sanctuary, of this world.” The “service” is spoken of again in Hebrews 9:6; the “ordinances” in Hebrews 9:10, where they are called “carnal.” Very similar is the language here, for the words so emphatically standing at the close of the verse are probably descriptive not of the “sanctuary” only, but also of the “ordinances.” Both place and ministrations belonged to this world, and thus stand in contrast with “the heavenly things,” of which the Tabernacle was a token and shadow. (See Note on Hebrews 8:5.) The ordinary Greek text (here following the first printed Greek Testament) has “the first Tabernacle,” and this reading was followed by Tyndale and Coverdale. All ancient MSS. omit the word; and, as in a long succession of verses “covenant” has been the leading thought, the rendering of the Authorised version is certainly correct.

Benson Commentary

Hebrews 9:1. To show that the old covenant was justly laid aside, the apostle judged it necessary to enter into a particular examination of the religious services which it enjoined, and to prove that these were designed not for cleansing the consciences of the worshippers, but to prefigure the services and blessings of the new or gospel covenant: so that the latter being come, there was no longer occasion for continuing the former to prefigure them. This chapter, therefore, is an illustration of chap. Hebrews 8:5, where the apostle affirms that the priests worshipped God in the tabernacles unto the example or pattern and shadow of heavenly things. And it was proper to explain this matter copiously, because it must have had a great influence in weaning the Hebrews from the Levitical services, and in reconciling them to the abrogation of a form of worship which, though of divine appointment, was now become useless, having accomplished its end.

Then verily the first covenant — Many copies read here πρωτη σκηνη, the first tabernacle; but as that reading does not agree with Hebrews 9:2, Beza and Mill prefer the reading of the Alexandrian and other MSS. of good authority, which have πρωτη, leaving the reader to supply διαθηκη, covenant, from the preceding verse. This reading our translators likewise have adopted. Had ceremonial ordinances of outward worship, and a worldly, that is, a visible, material sanctuary, or tabernacle. The meaning of the apostle is, that the Sinai covenant had these things annexed to it when it was first made, as its privileges and glory. For in the whole discourse he has continual respect to the first making of the covenant, and the first institution of its administrations; and this was that part of divine worship about which God had so many controversies with the people of Israel, under the Old Testament. The law of this worship was a hedge that God had set about them to keep them from superstition and idolatry. And, if at any time they brake over it, or neglected it, they failed not to rush into the most abominable idolatries. On the other hand, oftentimes they placed all their trust and confidence for their acceptance with God, and reception of blessings from him, on the external observance of its institutions. And hereby they countenanced themselves, not only in a neglect of moral duties and spiritual obedience, but in a course of flagitious sins, and various wickednesses. To repress these exorbitances, with respect to both extremes, the ministry of the prophets was, in an especial manner, directed.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:1-5 The apostle shows to the Hebrews the typical reference of their ceremonies to Christ. The tabernacle was a movable temple, shadowing forth the unsettled state of the church upon earth, and the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. The typical meaning of these things has been shown in former remarks, and the ordinances and articles of the Mosaic covenant point out Christ as our Light, and as the Bread of life to our souls; and remind us of his Divine Person, his holy priesthood, perfect righteousness, and all-prevailing intercession. Thus was the Lord Jesus Christ, all and in all, from the beginning. And as interpreted by the gospel, these things are a glorious representation of the wisdom of God, and confirm faith in Him who was prefigured by them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then verily - Or, moreover. The object is to describe the tabernacle in which the service of God was celebrated under the former dispensation, and to show that it had a reference to what was future, and was only an imperfect representation of the reality. It was important to show this, as the Jews regarded the ordinances of the tabernacle and of the whole Levitical service as of divine appointment, and of perpetual obligation. The object of Paul is to prove that they were to give place to a more perfect system, and hence, it was necessary to discuss their real nature.

The first covenant - The word "covenant" is not in the Greek, but is not improperly supplied. The meaning is, that the former arrangement or dispensation had religious rites and services connected with it.

Had also ordinances - Margin, "Ceremonies." The Greek word means "laws, precepts, ordinances;" and the idea is, that there were laws regulating the worship of God. The Jewish institutions abounded with such laws.

And a worldly sanctuary - The word "sanctuary" means a holy place, and is applied to a house of worship, or a temple. Here it may refer either to the temple or to the tabernacle. As the temple was constructed after the same form as the tabernacle, and had the same furniture, the description of the apostle may be regarded as applicable to either of them, and it is difficult to determine which he had in his eye. The term "worldly," applied to "sanctuary," here means that it pertained to this world; it was contradistinguished from the heavenly sanctuary not made with hands where Christ was now gone; compare Hebrews 9:11-24. It does not mean that it was "worldly" in the sense in which that word is now used as denoting the opposite of spiritual, serious, religious; but worldly in the sense that it belonged to the earth rather than to heaven; it was made by human hands, not directly by the hands of God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 9

Heb 9:1-28. Inferiority of the Old to the New Covenant in the Means of Access to God: The Blood of Bulls and Goats of No Real Avail: The Blood of Christ All-sufficient to Purge Away Sin, Whence Flows Our Hope of His Appearing Again for Our Perfect Salvation.

1. Then verily—Greek, "Accordingly then." Resuming the subject from Heb 8:5. In accordance with the command given to Moses, "the first covenant had," &c.

had—not "has," for as a covenant it no longer existed, though its rites were observed till the destruction of Jerusalem.

ordinances—of divine right and institution.

service—worship.

a worldly sanctuary—Greek, "its (literally, 'the') sanctuary worldly," mundane; consisting of the elements of the visible world. Contrasted with the heavenly sanctuary. Compare Heb 9:11, 12, "not of this building," Heb 9:24. Material, outward, perishing (however precious its materials were), and also defective religiously. In Heb 9:2-5, "the worldly sanctuary" is discussed; in Heb 9:6, &c., the "ordinances of worship." The outer tabernacle the Jews believed, signified this world; the Holy of Holies, heaven. Josephus calls the outer, divided into two parts, "a secular and common place," answering to "the earth and sea"; and the inner holiest place, the third part, appropriated to God and not accessible to men.Hebrews 9:1-14 The service and sacrifices of the first tabernacle

were far less perfect and efficacious to purge the

conscience than the blood of Christ.

Hebrews 9:15-22 The necessity of Christ’s death for the confirmation

of the new covenant,

Hebrews 9:23,24 and of better sacrifices than those legal ones to

purify the heavenly things.

Hebrews 9:25-28 Christ was offered once for all.

The Holy Spirit, Hebrews 9:1-10:18, is illustrating his two last arguments taken from the tabernacle and covenant administrations, about which both the Aaronical priests and the gospel High Priest did minister; in both which Christ hath beyond all comparison the pre-eminence, which the Spirit proves by an argument drawn a comparatis, of the tabernacle and service of the Aaronical priests, and the tabernacle and work of Christ. He beginneth with a proposition of the adjuncts of the first covenant from Hebrews 9:1-10: The three particles introducing it, men, oun, and kai, agree, the one in connecting, the other demonstrating, and the last in asserting, that which followeth to depend on what went before, as: And then truly the first.

The first covenant: h prwth is an ellipsis, nothing is in the Greek text joined with it, though some Greek copies add skhnh, the first tabernacle; but this is to make the same thing a property of itself, and it is absurd to read, the first tabernacle had a tabernacle; it is therefore better supplied from that which first relates to in Hebrews 8:7,13, viz. the Mosaical covenant administration, which had or possessed, as its proper adjuncts, even those three distinct ones following.

Had also ordinances; dikaiwmata, we read ordinances; others, ceremonies or rites. It is derived from a passive verb, and may signify, a righteous sentence or ordinance of God, or a righteous event that answers that law or decree, as Romans 8:4. In the plural it notes jura, the laws of God, but especially here the ceremonial laws, these just constitutions for ministry which God gave by Moses to the Aaronical priesthood.

Of divine service; latreiav, which our translators make of the genitive case singular; but this is repugnant to the next words connected to it, which should strictly be of the same case; it is therefore best rendered in the accusative case plural, and by apposition to ordinances, and so is read services or worship, which because it refers to God, our translators have added to it the word Divine. How various this worship was in the ministry of the high priest and ordinary priests, the apostle showeth afterward, and therefore most properly to be rendered services.

And a worldy sanctuary: to agion was the sanctuary where these services were performed, called the holy, from its relation to God and his service. It consisted of two tabernacles, as is described, Hebrews 9:2,3. It is styled kosmikon, being externally decent, beautiful, and glorious, as is evident by its description, Exodus 26:1-37. Made it was after God’s own model, a mystical structure, and a type of a better; yet though that were so pleasing to the eye of the world, its materials were, like it, frail, brittle, and passing away, as things made with hands make way for better, Hebrews 9:24.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then verily the first covenant had ordinances of divine service,.... The design of the apostle in this chapter, as it stands in connection with what goes before, is to show the pre-eminence of Christ, from the tabernacle, and the things in it; as well as from the priesthood and covenant; and as also the abrogation of the Levitical ceremonies in particular, as well as the first covenant in general; and that they were all types and figures of Christ, and had their fulfilment in him: the word "first", here used, designs not the tabernacle, but the covenant; therefore it is rightly thus supplied in our version, as it is in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions: which is said to have "ordinances of divine service"; belonging to the service of God, which was performed both by the priests, and by the people; and these ordinances were no other than the carnal ordinances, or rites of the ceremonial law: the word used signifies "righteousnesses"; and they are so called, because they were appointed by a righteous God; and were imposed on the people of the Jews in a righteous way; and by them men became externally and typically righteous; for they were figures and types of justification by the righteousness of Christ, though no complete, perfect, real righteousness, came by them.

And a worldly sanctuary. Philo the Jew says (l), it was a type of the world, and of the various things in it; though it was rather either a type of the church, or of heaven, or of Christ's human nature: the better reason of its being so called is, because it consisted of earthly matter, and worldly things; it was in the world, and only had its use in the world, and so is opposed to the heavenly sanctuary; for the Jews often speak of , "a sanctuary above", and , "a sanctuary below" (m), and of , "a tabernacle above", and , "a tabernacle below" (n); which answered to one another: the words may be rendered "a beautiful sanctuary", a well adorned one; and such especially was the temple, or sanctuary built by Solomon, rebuilt by Zerubbabel, and repaired and adorned by Herod, Luke 21:5. And the Jews say, that he that never saw Herod's building, meaning the temple, never saw a beautiful building; see Luke 21:5.

(l) De Vita Mosis, p. 667. (m) Jarchi in Genesis 28.17. (n) Zohar in Exod. fol. 65. 4. & 94. 4. & 96. 2. & in Lev. fol. 1. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

Then verily {1} the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a {a} worldly sanctuary.

(1) A division of the first tabernacle which he calls worldly, that is to say, transitory, and earthly, into two parts, that is, into the holy places, and the Holiest of all.

(a) An earthy and a fleeting.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Hebrews 9:1. Εἰχεν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ πρώτη] sc. διαθήκη. Against the supplementing of σκηνή (Cameron, Peirce, Whitby, Wetstein, Semler), see the critical remark.

εἶχεν] had. ἔχει is not written by the author, although the cultus of the Old Covenant was still continuing at the time when he wrote, not so much because—as is shown by Hebrews 9:2—it was his intention to describe the primitive arrangement thereof (comp. Hebrews 8:5), which is the opinion of Böhme, Kuinoel, Stengel, and Tholuck, as, what is more naturally suggested by the coherence with Hebrews 8:13, because the Old Covenant had already been declared by God in the time of Jeremiah to be feeble with age and nigh unto disappearing, and consequently now, after the actual appearance of the promised New Covenant, has no longer any valid claim to existence. Chrysostom: ὡσεὶ ἔλεγε, τότε εἶχε, νῦν οὐκ ἔχει· δείκνυσιν ἤδη τούτῳ αὐτὴν ἐκκεχωρηκυῖαν· τότε γὰρ εἶχε, φησίν. Ὥστε νῦν, εἰ καὶ ἕστηκεν, οὐκ ἔστιν.

μὲν οὖν] now truly. Admission that that which the author is about to detail is indeed something relatively exalted. The antithesis, by which again this admission is deprived of its value and significance, is then introduced by Hebrews 9:6 (not first with Hebrews 9:11, as is supposed by Piscator, Owen, Carpzov, Cramer, Stuart, Bloomfield, Bisping, Maier, M‘Caul, and others); yet in such wise that the material antithesis itself is first contained in the statement, Hebrews 9:8, which is connected syntactically only as a parenthetic clause.

καΐ] also. Indication that with the Old Covenant the New is compared, and possessions of the former are enumerated, which also (although, it is true, in a more perfect form) are proper to the latter.

δικαιώματα λατρείας] legal ordinances[87] in regard to worship, i.e. regulations made by virtue of divine authority respecting the cultus.

λατρείας] is genitive. To take the expression as accusative (Cameron, Grotius, Hammond, al.), according to which δικαιώματα, λατρείας, and τὸ ἅγιον κοσμικόν would as three members be made co-ordinate with each other, is untenable; because the signification of δικαιώματα in itself would be too extensive to fit in with the further development of Hebrews 9:1, to which the author himself at once passes over, from Hebrews 9:2 onwards. For as the statement τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν receives its more full explication by means of Hebrews 9:2-5, so does the discourse in Hebrews 9:6-7 return to the unfolding of the twofold δικαιώματα λατρείας, blended as this is in a logical respect into a unity of idea.

τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν] and the mundane sanctuary. Since, in accordance with the καί, possessions of the Old Covenant are to be mentioned, such as this has in common with the New,—while to the New Covenant there pertains no mundane, earthly sanctuary,

τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν must be regarded as a concise mode of designation for καὶ ἅγιόν τι, τὸ κοσμικόν, “and a sanctuary, namely the mundane.” That such is the meaning of the author, is indicated by the fact that the article is placed before this second member, although it ought properly to have been inserted before κοσμικόν also. Yet the omission of the article in the case of adjectives placed after their substantives is not a thing unknown among other writers of the later period. See Bernhardy, Synt. p. 323; Winer, Gramm., 7 Aufl. p. 126. Forced is the explanation of Delitzsch, with the adherence of Kurtz and Woerner, that κοσμικόν as an adjectival predicate is to be taken in association with εἶχεν: “the first covenant had likewise δικαιώματα λατρείας, and its sanctuary as mundane, i.e. a sanctuary of mundane nature.” Had the author intended the readers to suppose such a conjoining, he would also—equally as Hebrews 7:24, Hebrews 5:14—have indicated the same to them by the position of the words. He must, in order to be understood, at least have written: εἶχεν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἡ πρώτη δικαιώματα λατρείας κοσμικόν τε τὸ ἅγιον. Under an entire misapprehension, further, does Hofmann (Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 408 f., 2 Anfl.) suppose that τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν is not to be taken as a second object attaching itself to the δικαιώματα λατρείας, but as a second subject joining itself on to ἡ πρώτη,—a construction which, upon the presupposition of the Recepta ἡ πρώτη σκηνή being the correct reading, already Olearius adopted (comp. Wolf ad loc.), and upon the same supposition also more recently M‘Caul maintained, in connection with which, however, τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν would limp behind in an intolerable manner, and would afford evidence of a negligence of style, such as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews would least of all have been guilty of.

The view of Thomas Aquinas, Luther, Zeger, Carpzov, and others, that ἅγιον is to be taken not in the local sense (sanctuary), but in the ethical sense (holiness, ἁγιότης, sanctitas, mundities), is altogether erroneous; since the expression chosen would be a remarkable one, the immediate sequel does not point thereto, and the more exalted seat of the cultus of the New Covenant forms the theme of the fresh train of thought opened up with the beginning of chap. 8

Quite as much to be disapproved is the opinion of Wolf, who will have ἅγιον to mean “vasa sacra totumque apparatum Leviticum.”

κοσμικός] means: belonging to the world, worldly, mundanus. Comp. Titus 2:12. The expression is equivalent to ἐπίγειος, and to it ἐπουράνοις stands opposed, as in general ὁ κόσμος in the N. T. very frequently has its tacit contrast in ὁ οὐρανός. Τὸ ἅγιον κοσμικόν is consequently nothing else than ἡ σκηνή, ἣν ἔπηξεν ἄνθρωπος (comp. Hebrews 8:2), or ἡ σκηνὴ χειροποίητος, τουτέστιν ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως (comp. Hebrews 9:11), or τὰ χειροποίητα ἅγια (Hebrews 9:24), and a twofold idea is expressed in the adjective, first, that the sanctuary of the Old Covenant is one existing in the terrestrial world, then, that it is accordingly something only temporary and imperfect in its nature. Remote from the connection are the suppositions of Chrysostom, Theophylact, Erasmus, and others: that the Jewish sanctuary was called κοσμικόν, because the access to the same stood open to the κόσμος, i.e. the Gentiles; a statement, moreover, which possesses historic truth only with reference to a part thereof, the court of the Gentiles (comp. Josephus, de Bello Jud. v. 5. 2; Acts 21:28), while here the sanctuary as a whole must be indicated;—of Theodorus Mopsuesten., Theodoret,[88] Grotius, Hammond, Wetstein, Böhme, Paulus, and others: because the Jewish sanctuary symbolically represented the universe; the holy place, earth; the most holy, heaven; and the curtain before the latter, the firmament;—of Kypke, because the sense is: toto terrarum orbe celebratum (comp. Josephus, de Bello Jud. iv. 5. 2, where the Jerusalem high priests, Ananus and Jesus, are represented as τῆς κοσμικῆς θρησκείας κατάρχοντες, προσκυνούμενοί τε τοῖς ἐκ τῆς οἰκουμένης), which, however, could only be said with reference to the temple, not with reference to the tabernacle itself, of which the author is here specially thinking.

Entirely baseless, finally, is the opinion of Homberg, that ΚΟΣΜΙΚΌΝ is to be apprehended in the sense of “adorned, well-ordered.” For only ΚΌΣΜΙΟς, ΚΟΣΜΗΤΙΚΌς, and ΚΟΣΜΗΤΌς are used for the expression of this notion; never is ΚΟΣΜΙΚΊς put for it. See the Lexicons.

[87] Wrongly Stengel: “Means of justification.”

[88] Τὴν σκηνὴν οὕτως ἐκάλεσε, τύπον ἐπέχουσαν τοῦ κόσμου παντός. Καταπετάσματι γὰρ μάσῳ διῃρεῖτο διχῆ, καὶ τὰ μὲν αὐτῆς ἐκαλεῖτο ἅγια, τὰ δὲ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων. Καὶ ἐμιμεῖτο τὰ μὲν ἅγια τὴν ἐν τῇ γῇ πολιτείαν, τὰ δὲ ἅγια τῶν ἁγίων τὸ τῶν οὐρκνῶν ἐνδιαίτημα. Αὐτὸ δὲ τὸ καταπέτασμα τοῦ στερεώματος ἐπλήρου τὴν χρείαν.

Hebrews 9:1-5. Description of the arrangement of the O. T. sanctuary as regards its essential component parts.

Hebrews 9:1-14. The author has in chap. 8 insisted upon the fact, as a second main particular of the superiority of Christ as a high priest over the Levitical high priests, that the sanctuary in which He ministers is a more excellent one, namely, the heavenly sanctuary. He has made good this proposition by the consideration that no place would be found for Christ, as regards priestly service, in the earthly sanctuary; and then has proceeded to show the naturalness of the fact that He accomplishes His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary, by the proof that He is the Mediator of a better covenant. This train of thought is still pursued in the beginning of chap. 9, in that attention is now finally called to the fact that in the arrangement of the Mosaic sanctuary itself, and the order of the priestly service corresponding thereto, there lies an indication on the part of God that Mosaism is not itself the perfect religion, but only an institution preparatory thereto (Hebrews 9:1-8). With this, however, is then connected, by means of one of those sudden transitions of which the author is so fond, the reference to the further truth, that, indeed, the Levitical sacrifices also, since they belong to the domain of fleshly ordinance, are not able really to atone; whereas the sacrifice presented by Christ, by means of His own blood, possesses, by virtue of an eternal Spirit, everlasting power of atonement (Hebrews 9:9-14), and thus a third main point in the high-priestly superiority of Christ is introduced, the development of which occupies the author as far as Hebrews 10:18.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Hebrews 9:1-14. The insufficiency of the first covenant is further illustrated from the character of its ordinances. For it was not devoid of elaborate and impressive appointments and regulations for worship, but these only pictured their own inefficiency. Especially did the exclusion from the holiest place of all but the High Priest, who himself could only enter once a year and with blood, signify that so long as these ordinances remained there could be no perfect approach of the worshipper to God. But this approach was achieved by Christ who ministered in the tabernacle not made with hands, and by His own blood cleansed the conscience and thus brought men into true fellowship with God.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

1. Then verily the first tabernacle had also ordinances] Rather, “To resume then, even the first (covenant) had its ordinances.” No substantive is expressed with “first,” but the train of reasoning in the last chapter sufficiently shews that “Covenant,” not “Tabernacle,” is the word to be supplied.

had] Although he often refers to the Levitic ordinances as still continuing, he here contemplates them as obsolete and practically annulled.

and a worldly sanctuary] Rather, “and its sanctuary—a material one.” The word kosmikon, rendered “worldly,” means that the Jewish Sanctuary was visible and temporary—a mundane structure in contrast to the Heavenly, Eternal Sanctuary. The adjective “worldly” only occurs here and in Titus 2:12.

Bengel's Gnomen

Hebrews 9:1. Ἡ πρώτη, the first) Supply διαθήκη, testament or covenant; not σκηνή, tabernacle. For the tabernacle itself was the worldly sanctuary, which we shall presently see. By a very elegant ellipsis, the word διαθήκη is left out, because it is rather appropriate to the New Testament; whence also, Hebrews 9:15, it is called διαθήκης καινῆς, the substantive being put before the adjective. [We have here an admirable description of Christ’s entrance into the true sanctuary, as far as to ch. Hebrews 10:18.—V. g.]—δικαιώματα, regular duties, or ordinances) those by which the duties of the sacred office were fulfilled [Hebrews 9:6]. The same word occurs, Hebrews 9:10.—λατρείας, of worship) external.—ἅγιον κοσμικὸν, the worldly (mundiale) sanctuary) An Oxymoron. That sanctuary was worldly (which word [mundiale] of Sidonius is well fitted to express the idea ‘material’), or mundane [mundanum] (as Paul speaks of the elements of the world, Galatians 4:3), and carnal, ch. Hebrews 7:16. It consisted of precious materials, but still it was material. This verse may be thus divided: first, the duties are set before us (as the Proposition), then the sanctuary; there follows the discussion, first, concerning the sanctuary, Hebrews 9:2-5, next concerning the duties, Hebrews 9:6, etc. (Paul has a very similar Chiasmus, 1 Corinthians 9:1, note): the antithesis to both is in Hebrews 9:11-12.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1. - Then verily (or, now indeed) the first covenant also (or, even the first covenant) had ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary (rather its sanctuary of this world (τὸ ἅγιον κοσμεκόν). The definite article points to the well-known one of the Mosaic dispensation, which, unlike the true one, was in its bearings, as well as locally and materially, of this world only). This sanctuary itself is now first described in necessary preparation for an account of priestly ministrations in it. Hebrews 9:1

Vincent's Word Studies

Ordinances of divine service (δικαιώματα λατρείας)

For δικαίωμα ordinance, see on Romans 5:16. For λατρεία service, see on Luke 1:74; see on Revelation 22:3; see on Philippians 3:3; see on 2 Timothy 1:3. The meaning is ordinances directed to or adapted for divine service.

A worldly sanctuary (τὸ ἅγιον κοσμικόν)

The A.V. misses the force of the article. Rend. and its sanctuary a sanctuary of this world. Τὸ ἅγιον in the sense of sanctuary only here. Elsewhere the plural τὰ ἅγια. of this world in contrast with the heavenly sanctuary to be mentioned later.