The passage
      v1. With his mind still on the Day of Atonement sacrifices, the writer of Hebrews opens his fifth point by noting that the cultic regulations in Leviticus for the tabernacle rites, are not a reality in themselves, but rather prefigure, or foreshadow, Christ's high priestly sacrificial work. Unlike the free grace that flows from Christ's work, the tabernacle rituals cannot save.
      v2. Of course, if the Levitical sacrifices did cleanse inwardly, there would be no need to repeat them, but repeated they are.
      v3-4. The sacrificial system had only a limited function. It could remind the worshiper that their relationship with God was broken because of sin, but certainly did not have the power to restore that relationship.
      v5-7. Our writer uses Psalm 40:6-8 to identify the sacrifice that does take away sin. Although the quotation of the Psalm is a little rough, it none-the-less teaches that obedience is the sacrifice that God desires, not the spilling of the blood of dumb animals. Blood sacrifices only have worth when done out of devotion toward God. That is, the condition of the heart (attitude) is of more importance than the actual offering. So, in the passage there is a contrast between the sacrifices of dumb animals which unknowingly give their lives, and the sacrifice of a knowing man who gives his life up to God in complete obedience. Passivity is contrasted with submission. The scripture is clearly saying that cultic sacrifices are not pleasing to God. Only a sacrifice of obedience to the will of God is pleasing to him.
      v8-9. Our writer now comments on the quote by underlining its salient points. We see that in the priestly sacrifice of Christ (an offering of his life in complete obedience to the will of God even unto death) a new order is inaugurated which replaces the Levitical cultic. In v8 our writer makes the point that the old order has been abolished. In fact, God takes no pleasure in the cult of animal sacrifice. In v9 the establishment of a new order is recorded, the sacrificial offering of obedience. The sacrifice pleasing to God involves a total submission to Biblical ethics. This is the very thing Jesus has done, and having done it, he supersedes the old order of blood sacrifice.
      v10. Finally, our writer points out that since Jesus knowingly submitted himself to the will of God in perfect obedience, we in turn, in consequence of that perfect offering of obedience, are cleansed of our sin, declared holy, and are able to stand before God as obedient sons. Jesus, in a body made/incarnate for him, a human body, performed the required will of God for a son of God. He fulfilled the divine requirements, which requirements no other son of God (a person in submission to God) has ever fulfilled. In so doing we share in his perfect humanity. In his perfection we are declared perfect. So, it is through the obedience of Christ that we are treated as obedient sons. This is applied to us by grace through faith.

Doing God's will
      In our passage for study we see the writer of Hebrews applying a text from the Psalms to Jesus. Jesus is the faithful child of God who comes into a world of flesh and blood, of limitations, to live out the will of God in perfect obedience. Such obedience is a sacrifice acceptable to God. It is a sacrifice which fulfills and therefore replaces the Levitical sacrificial system, a system that could only remind the worshipper of their sin and thus their separation from God, but did not have the power to restore that relationship.
      Any person who wishes to be a child of God, and stand acceptable before God, must be a holy person. If we are to claim the right and privilege of free access into the presence of the living God, we must offer a sacrifice acceptable to God. Yet, although Bible reading, church attendance, charity ...., are all worthy acts of devotion, they will never gain, restore, retain or advance our standing in the sight of God. Repeated forever-and-a-day, they cannot change us from what we are, sinners through and through.
      The business end of being an obedient child of God, begins with a recognition of our state of loss and of what Jesus has done for us. It is through Jesus' obedience - "the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" - that we are "made holy". It is because of "God's mercy" that we can stand obedient in the sight of God. So, first and foremost, we need to recognize that our sacrifice of obedience is a gift of God's grace, appropriated through faith. It is only because of Jesus' obedience that we are accepted as "holy" children.
      Our response to God's amazing kindness toward us in Christ begins with our acceptance of, our reliance on, his mercy.

v2
      epei "if it could" - since otherwise. Here adversative. Introducing a rhetorical question which serves to demonstrate the limitations of the Levitical sacrificial system.
      suneidhsin aJmartiwn "felt guilt for their sins" - conscious of sins. Where inward cleansing has not taken place a person is conscious of their separation from God, aware of the gulf created by their rebellion.

v3
      anamnhsiV (iV ewV) "reminder" - remembrance. The only useful function served by the sacrificial system is to remind the worshiper that their sinful state has separated them from God. Their only hope is to rely on God's mercy to provide a sacrifice that will cleanse. As is always the case, the function of the law is to expose sin and so drive the sinner toward a reliance upon God's mercy.

v5
      dio eisercomenoV eiV ton kosmon legei "therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said" - upon coming into the kosmos he said. The words of Psalm 40:7-9 are attributed to Christ, who enters the flesh and blood domain to offer the perfect sacrifice. The coming is probably aligned with the incarnation, although the coming is what is important. Of course, for such an offering to be acceptable it would have to be an offering of complete obedience. Our writer sees the Psalm as Davidic and referring to Christ - David's greater son. Christ is the incarnate son whose body has been prepared for him. He is the one who has "come to do thy will", and who has done it perfectly. Through his obedience he has made a complete offering for sin which has superseded the cultic offerings for sin. His offering is his life, a life lived in obedience to God, obedience which ended in death. As the writer explains elsewhere, the sacrifice offered by our great high priest (the sacrifice of his own obedience unto death), is not for his own sins, but for the sins of the people of God. So then, Jesus offered the acceptable sacrifice to God, the one and only acceptable sacrifice. He offered it for us; he offered himself. This sacrifice superseded all others.

v7
      en keqalidi bibliou gegraptai "it is written [about me] in the scroll" - in the scroll of the book it is written. The phrase "it was written about me in the scroll" ("your law is within my heart", v8 is a similar idea), presents the notion that God's intentions for us are contained in the book of the Law - the scriptures, the Bible. The scriptures contain God's personal instructions for us. This was so for Jesus, who accepted his calling as messiah and set out on the path of obedience, an obedience which led to great suffering. None-the-less, in the face of this great opposition he continued to trust God, and even when feeling abandoned, he did not curse God. Rather, Jesus continued to put his trust in the living God.