Does Hebrews 9:24-26 imply mankind was sinning since the beginning of the world?

Question

Hebrews 9:24-26 has the following explanation of Jesus' once-for-all death (NKJV, emphasis mine):

For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world [απο καταβολης κοσμου]; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Why would Jesus have had to suffer since the beginning of the world? If it was to account for man's sins, would this imply that mankind was sinning (and thus in existence) since the foundation of the world?

Answer 1

The simple answer is "YES" - man has been sinning since the "beginning". In Heb 9:26 we have the phrase καταβολῆς κόσμου = "foundation of the world" which occurs ten times in the NT:

1. Matt 13:35 - So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”
2. Matt 25:34 - Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
3. Luke 11:50 - As a result, this generation will be charged with the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the foundation of the world
4. John 17:24 - Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, that they may see the glory You gave Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
5. Eph 1:4 - just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world for us to be holy and blameless before Him, in love
6. Heb 4:3 - Now we who have believed enter that rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’ ” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world.
7. Heb 9:26 - Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
8. 1 Peter 1:20 - He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.
9. Rev 13:8 - All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.
10. Rev 17:8 - The beast that you saw—it was, and now is no more, but is about to come up out of the Abyss and go to its destruction. And those who dwell on the earth whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet will be.

Note that this phrase always implies the point at which our world became our world - the time in the garden of Eden when sin entered. (That is, before that time, there was a different world very different from what we now have.)

Thus, a number of things occurred before the foundation of the world:

• God and Jesus had determined to save humanity
• God and Jesus had prepared the "kingdom" for the saved
• The Father had (always) loved the Son
• Jesus had been selected as Messiah or "The Lamb" to be slain

A number of things have occurred since the foundation of the world:

• Sin has existed since the foundation of the world
• The wicked have been murdering prophets
• God's creative works have been completed
• the spiritual mysteries of heaven have been hidden from the unsaved

In the particular case of Heb 9:25-28, the author of Hebrews is simply saying that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was:

• once for all (time and people)
• Therefore, it was unlike the earthly sanctuary (V24) scarifies that had to be offered continually

Notice how often this is emphasized:

25 Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise, Christ would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

27 Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

Answer 2

OP's question is on regard to this verse.

He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world [απο καταβολης κοσμου];

"Why would Jesus have had to suffer since the beginning of the world? If it was to account for man's sins, would this imply that mankind was sinning (and thus in existence) since the foundation of the world? Hebrews 9:26"

That is a really good question. According to the way this verse is translated it would seem that there has never been a time when there was no sin in the world. Considering this view, it does not make sense.

What's interesting is that there is another word for foundation and there is a good reason it was not used here. Here is the word for foundation in scripture that accurately describes a foundation.

Strong's Number:   2310 Browse Lexicon

Definition
1 laid down as a foundation, the foundation (of a building, wall, city) 2 metaph. the foundations, beginnings, first principals a of institution or system of trut

θεμέλιον (themelion) — 8 Occurrence

Englishman's Concordance

θεμέλιον (themelion) — 8 Occurrences

Luke 6:48 N-AMS GRK: καὶ ἔθηκεν θεμέλιον ἐπὶ τὴν KJV: and laid the foundation on a rock:

Luke 14:29 N-AMS GRK: θέντος αὐτοῦ θεμέλιον καὶ μὴ NAS: he has laid a foundation

Romans 15:20 N-AMS GRK: ἐπ' ἀλλότριον θεμέλιονοἰκοδομῶ INT: upon another's foundation I might build

1 Corinthians 3:10 N-AMS GRK: σοφὸς ἀρχιτέκτων θεμέλιον ἔθηκα ἄλλος NAS: I laid a foundation, and another

2Corinthians 3:11 N-AMS GRK: θεμέλιον γὰρ ἄλλον KJV: For other foundation can no man

1 Corinthians 3:12 N-AMS GRK: ἐπὶ τὸν θεμέλιον χρυσόν ἄργυρον NAS: builds on the foundation with gold,

1 Timothy 6:19 N-AMS GRK: ἀποθησαυρίζοντας ἑαυτοῖς θεμέλιον καλὸν εἰς NAS: of a good foundation for the future,

Hebrews 6:1 N-AMS GRK: μὴ πάλιν θεμέλιον καταβαλλόμενοι μετανοίας NAS: again a foundation of repentance

But the one having heard and not having done is like to a man having built a house on the ground without a foundation, on which the stream burst, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great." Luke 6:49

Here again the word for foundation is: themeliou

2310 [e] themeliou θεμελίου   a foundation

The word in Hebrews that is translated foundation is from the word:

◄ 2602. katabolé ► Thayer's Greek Lexicon STRONGS NT 2602: καταβολή

καταβολή, καταβολῆς, ἡ (καταβάλλω, which see);

1. a throwing or laying dow

Two words are translated foundation. They are not similar in meaning. They have no common elements. One means place-care and the other means down-casting.

place-care as foundation, and down-casting as disruption.

Foundation is always a basis for building. Nothing is ever built on the disruption. FOUNDATION = THEMELIOS (PLACE-CARE) DISRUPTION = KATABOLE (DOWN -CAST)

Most every version I have seen translates this word katabole as foundation.

There is one that translates that the word katabole as disruption.

Nor is it that He may be offering Himself often, even as the chief priest is entering into the holies of holies yearly by the blood of others, since then He must often be suffering from the disruption of the world, Hebrews 9:26 Concordant Literal

Before the disruption there was no sin. No enmity. No estrangement. No darkness. Before the disruption there existed only good. There was no evil.

There was some sort of event ominous that took place, and is a down casting of sorts…

There was a reason the Son of God was slain from the disruption of the world:

From the disruption there has come sin and suffering, opposition and estrangement. From that point the death of God's Son was a certainty. God cannot now be approached by the creature. The headship of Christ is denied by creation. There is now not only an event, but also a state of disruption. The following list of Scriptures shows all the occurrences of disruption when it refers to the disruption of the world. Note the distinction between ‘before' and ‘from' the disruption.

Before the disruption:

John 17:24. "Thou lovest Me before the disruption of the world."

Eph. 1:4 "He chooses us in Him before the disruption of the world."

1 Peter 1:20 "The precious blood of Christ, as of a flawless and unspotted lamb, foreknown, indeed, before the disruption of the world."

From the disruption:

Matt. 13:35 "I shall be opening My mouth in parables, I shall be emitting what is hid from the disruption of the world."

Matt.25:34 "The kingdom made ready for you from the disruption of the world."

Luke 11:50 "The blood of all the prophets which is shed from the disruption of the world."

Heb. 4:3 "Although the works occur from the disruption of the world."

Heb. 9:26 "He must be suffering often from the disruption of the world."

Rev. 13:8 "The Lambkin, slain from the disruption of the world."

Rev. 17:8 "The scroll of life, from the disruption of the world."

We can see there are three things stated to have been "before the disruption," and seven things which are "from the disruption." One of the outstanding occurrences of ‘disruption' is found in Ephesians One, verse four. There we read, the saints were chosen in Christ "before the disruption of the world," C.V." Quoted from The Disruption Its Place in God's Ways By Andrew Maclarty

Answer 3

If someone says "If I had a nickel for every time I felt regret in my life, I'd be rich" they are not saying that they felt regret the moment they exited the birth canal, and it's frankly a very odd interpretation to think that's what the speaker meant.

The verse does not say he would suffer right at the beginning of the world. It is using the phrase "since the foundation of the world" to define a time window in which many sufferings would need to occur.

Hebrews 9:26 (KJV 1900)

26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The reason why "the world" is mentioned is that the sufferings would start with the fall and continue every year that God's presence was in the world -- even if the only sin that ever happened was Adam's sin -- because as a result of the fall, the ground became cursed, as Adam is made from the ground [adamah], as the sin extended to the dust from which Adam was made.

Genesis 3:17 (KJV 1900)

17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

This is why they had to be driven out, with a flame of fire between them and Eden - fire as the dividing line between the cursed and holy place, as God is holy.

But God wants to dwell with his people, so in order to have the tabernacle/temple in the cursed ground required annual purification of the temple and and all its vessels.

Hebrews 9:21–22 (KJV 1900)

Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

Do not confuse the sin offering with a trespass offering. The sin offering is about holiness, it is a purification offering allowing a holy place to exist on cursed ground - provided that the tabernacle and all its vessels are routinely purified with the blood of animals sacrificed on the altar of fire.

And as the tabernacle is just a type for the presence of God that dwells in us, then there is the same problem -- how can a holy God dwell in cursed flesh without us instantly being devoured by fire? This is a problem even if we ourselves never commit a single trespass, as the ground is cursed and we are made of the same dust as Adam.

Romans 8.20-22:

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

So if Christ was just a minister of the Mosaic covenant, he would need to keep shedding blood every year and sprinkling that blood on the utensils of the tabernacle every year, and moreover it would not be possible for God to dwell in a temple not made by hands -- e.g. to dwell within us -- at all. So the tabernacle with the annual sprinklings was an inferior situation to God dwelling in our hearts, with all sin removed from both the ground and the flesh, by a single purification.

26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.