What Does Hebrews 9:15 Mean?
And for this reason he is the one who stands in the middle of a new covenant, so that, with a death having come for the release from the crossings over under the first covenant, those who are called might take hold of the promise of the inheritance of the ages.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.THE KEY
Death is the hinge by which transgressions under the first covenant are released, opening the promised inheritance to those who are called.
THE MEANING
You are within the movement this verse names: what lies under the first covenant’s transgressions is released through death, and those called receive the promise. The mediator of the new covenant stands at the hinge between what held you and the inheritance opening before you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that a transgression remains an unanswerable claim against you: the verse speaks of release and of a promised inheritance received by the called.
THE ROOT
ἀπολύτρωσις
apolýtrōsis
GROWS FROM
λυτρόω (lytrōō, redeem or ransom), from λύω (lyō, loosen or release)
The word family carries the sense of release by ransom.
The noun gathers ransom and release into one movement, so the verse frames death as release for the transgressions held under the former covenant. The result is reception: those called receive what was promised.
ALSO GROWS
lytron: Ransom; the price of release.
λύτρον
It shows the release named here has a cost tied to it.
lytrōō: To ransom or release.
λυτρόω
This verb carries the same release family as the verse’s “redemption.”
παραβάσεων
parabaseōn
GROWS FROM
βαίνω
bainō
The root carries the image of stepping or going; with παρά- (para, beside or beyond), it forms the image of crossing a boundary.
“crossings over” in this verse is parabaseōn. The term’s image is a step beyond a boundary. The verse places those crossings under the first covenant and names release as what death makes possible.
ALSO GROWS
parabainō: Step beyond; transgress.
παραβαίνω
It makes the movement in “transgressions” visible as crossing beyond a boundary.
parabasis: A crossing or transgression.
παράβασις
It names the crossing whose release the verse describes.
αἰωνίου κληρονομίας
aiōniou klēronomias
GROWS FROM
αἰών (aiōn, age) + κλῆρος (klēros, allotted share)
One word names an age or ages; the other names an allotted share. Together they frame inheritance as a received portion tied to the ages.
“of the ages” in this verse is aiōniou klēronomias. The word rendered “eternal” is built from “age,” while “inheritance” is a share received; the phrase keeps both horizon and portion in view. Those called receive a promised share whose horizon is the ages.
ALSO GROWS
aiōn: An age or era.
αἰών
It gives “eternal” the horizon of the ages.
klēronomos: An heir; one who receives a share.
κληρονόμος
It brings the emphasis back to the called as recipients of the promised inheritance.
THE PATTERN
Release clears the way for a promised share and belonging to be received.
Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the loads of the Egyptians, and I will snatch you from their service, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and who shaped you, O Israel. Do not fear, for I have bought you back; I have called you by your name; you are mine.So you are no longer a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered once into the set-apart places, having found a ransom for the ages.Hebrews 9:12 uses the same Greek word, ἀπολύτρωσις (apolýtrōsis, release by ransom), and calls that redemption eternal. Verse 15 opens the movement further: release addresses transgressions under the first covenant so the called receive the promised inheritance.
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