SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:18
El mandamiento precedente, cierto queda abolido por su flaqueza e inutilidad;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Hebrew 7:18
Verse 18. For there is verily a disannulling] There is a total abrogation, proagoushv entolhv, of the former law, relative to the Levitical priesthood. See ver. 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 18. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment , etc..] Not the moral law; though what is here said of the commandment may be applied to that; that is sometimes called the commandment, ( Romans 7:12,13) it went before the promise of the Messiah, and the Gospel of Christ, and the dispensation of it; it is in some respects weak; it cannot justify from the guilt of sin, nor free from the power of it, nor secure from death, the punishment of it, nor give eternal life; though it has a power to command, accuse, convince, and condemn: and it is also unprofitable in the business of justification and salvation; though otherwise it is profitable to convince of sin, to show what righteousness is, and to be a rule of conversation to the saints in the hand of Christ; yet not this, but the ceremonial law is meant, which is the commandment that respected the Levitical priesthood, and is called a carnal one, and is inclusive of many others, and, which distinguishes that dispensation from the Gospel one: and this may be said to be going before ; with respect to time, being before the Gospel state, or the exhibition of the new covenant of grace; and with respect to use, as a type or shadow of good things to come; and as it was a schoolmaster going before, and leading on to the knowledge of evangelical truths: and this is now disannulled, abrogated, and made void; the middle wall of partition is broken down, and the law of commandments contained in ordinances is abolished: for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof ; the ceremonial law was weak; it could not expiate or atone for sin, in the sight of God; it could not remove the guilt of sin from the conscience, but there was still a remembrance of it; nor could it cleanse from the filth of sin; all it could do was, to expiate sin typically, and sanctify externally to the purifying of the flesh; and all the virtue it had was owing to Christ, whom it prefigured; and therefore, being fulfilled in him, it ceased: and it was unprofitable; not before the coming of Christ, for then it was a shadow, a type, a schoolmaster, and had its usefulness; but since his coming, who is the body and substance of it, it is unprofitable to be joined to him; and is of no service in the affair of salvation; and is no other than a grievous yoke of bondage; yea, is what renders Christ unprofitable and of no effect, when submitted to as in force, and as necessary to salvation; and because of these things, it is abolished and made null and void. The Jews, though they are strenuous assertors of the unalterableness of the law of Moses, yet sometimes are obliged to acknowledge the abrogation of the ceremonial law in the times of the Messiah; the commandment, they say f113 , meaning this, shall cease in the time to come; and again, all sacrifices shall cease in the future state, or time to come, (i.e. the times of the Messiah,) but the sacrifice of praise f114 .
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 11-25 - The priesthood and law by which perfection could not come, are don away; a Priest is risen, and a dispensation now set up, by which tru believers may be made perfect. That there is such a change is plain The law which made the Levitical priesthood, showed that the priest were frail, dying creatures, not able to save their own lives, muc less could they save the souls of those who came to them. But the Hig Priest of our profession holds his office by the power of endless lif in himself; not only to keep himself alive, but to give spiritual an eternal life to all who rely upon his sacrifice and intercession. The better covenant, of which Jesus was the Surety, is not here contraste with the covenant of works, by which every transgressor is shut u under the curse. It is distinguished from the Sinai covenant with Israel, and the legal dispensation under which the church so lon remained. The better covenant brought the church and every believe into clearer light, more perfect liberty, and more abundant privileges In the order of Aaron there was a multitude of priests, of high priest one after another; but in the priesthood of Christ there is only on and the same. This is the believer's safety and happiness, that thi everlasting High Priest is able to save to the uttermost, in all times in all cases. Surely then it becomes us to desire a spirituality an holiness, as much beyond those of the Old Testament believers, as ou advantages exceed theirs.
Greek Textus Receptus
αθετησις 115 μεν 3303 γαρ 1063 γινεται 1096 5736 προαγουσης 4254 5723 εντολης 1785 δια 1223 το 3588 αυτης 846 ασθενες 772 και 2532 ανωφελες 512
Vincent's NT Word Studies
18. There is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before (aqethsiv men gar ginetai proagoushv entolhv). Verily is superfluous. jAqethsiv only here and ch. ix. 26; a very few times in LXX: The fundamental idea is the doing away of something established (qeton). The verb ajqetein to make void, do away with, is common in N.T. and in LXX, where it represents fifteen different Hebrew words, meaning to deal falsely, to make merchandise of, to abhor, to transgress, to rebel, to break an oath, etc. The noun, in a technical, legal sense, is found in a number of papyri from 98 to 271 A.D., meaning the making void of a document. It appears in the formula eijv ajqithsin kai ajkurwsin for annulling and canceling. Proagoushv ejntolhv rend. of a foregoing commandment. The expression is indefinite, applying to any commandment which might be superseded, although the commandment in ver. 16 is probably in the writer's mind. Foregoing, not emphasizing mere precedence in time, but rather the preliminary character of the commandment as destined to be done away by a later ordinance. With foregoing comp. 1 Tim. i. 18; v. 24.
For the weakness and unprofitableness thereof (dia to authv asqenev kai anwfelev). Rend. "because of its weakness and unprofitableness." It could not bring men into close fellowship with God. See Rom. v. 20; viii. 3; Gal. iii. 21. jAnwfelhv unprofitable, only here and Tit. iii. 9.
