Hebrews 9:13-14

Hebrews 9:13-14

[13] For  if  the blood  of bulls  and  of goats,  and  the ashes  of an heifer  sprinkling  the unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the purifying  of the flesh:  [14] How much  more  the blood  of Christ,  who  through  the eternal  Spirit  offered  himself  without spot  to God,  purge  conscience  from  dead  works  to  serve  the living  God? 

What does Hebrews 9:13-14 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Old Covenant sacrifices for sin on the Day of Atonement only provided temporary cleansing, but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ provided permanent cleansing. The reference to "the eternal Spirit" is unique in Scripture. The Holy Spirit had empowered and sustained Jesus in His office.
"It seems that the writer has chosen this unusual way of referring to the Holy Spirit to bring out the truth that there is an eternal aspect to Christ"s saving work." [1]
All three persons of the Trinity had a part in redemption ( Hebrews 9:14). The "dead works" in view are evidently those of the Mosaic Covenant (cf. Hebrews 6:1), though some commentators take them as referring to works that result in spiritual defilement. [2] They are dead in that they did not impart spiritual life but only removed sin. Thus there is a contrast between ceremonial and conscience cleansing as well as between temporary and permanent cleansing in these verses. We should not feel conscience-bound to follow the Old Covenant in view of Jesus Christ"s perfect sacrifice but should serve God under the terms of the New Covenant.
"... for the author of Hebrews syneidesis [3] is the internal faculty within man that causes him to be painfully aware of his sinfulness and, as a result, to experience a sense of guilt." [4]
"The sacrifice that inaugurated the new covenant achieved the cleansing of the conscience that all worshipers lacked under the former covenant and that all had sought through prescribed gifts and offerings ( Hebrews 10:1-2 ...). [5]
"The implication (which underlies all the epistle) is that even in his earthly life Jesus possessed eternal life. Hence what took place in time upon the cross, the writer means, took place really in the eternal, absolute order. Christ sacrificed himself ephapax [6], and the single sacrifice needed no repetition, since it possessed absolute, eternal value as the action of One who belonged to the eternal order. He died-he had to die-but only once (915-1018), for his sacrifice, by its eternal significance, accomplished at a stroke what no amount of animal sacrifices could have secured, viz. the forgiveness of sins." [7]